Physiomics (LSE:PYC) — Interim Results Update

0:01 Good afternoon, and welcome to the PHYSIOMICS PLC interim results update investor presentation. Throughout this recorded presentation, investors will be in listen only mode. Questions are encouraged and can be submitted at any time by the q and a tab situated in the top right hand corner of your screen. Just simply type in your questions and press send. The company may not be in a position to answer every question it received during the meeting itself. However, the company will review all questions submitted today and publish responses where it is appropriate to do so. Before we begin, I'd like to submit the following poll. And I'd now like to hand you over to doctor Jim Millen, CEO. Good afternoon, sir.

0:34 Good afternoon, and thank you very much for joining me this afternoon for this interim results presentation for the six months ended 12/31/2021. So just mindful that, some attendees may not be long term investors in, in our company. I will cover a a couple of bases, and apologies to those of you who are more familiar with our activities. But PHYSIOMICS remains a consultancy business focused on on cancer primarily and specifically is involved in the mathematical modeling of cancer interventions. So drugs, radiation, immuno oncology therapies, and so on and so forth.

1:20 We work with a variety of clients from the the very small to very large and provide a a range of services depending on the size of the client. So for small clients, we may provide a soup to nuts service where we do everything from basic data analysis through to more sophisticated modeling. And with our largest clients like Merck Serono, for example, we might be using our own in house virtual tumor software, which has been pioneered actually through the collaboration with Merck in order to assess the effect of combination cancer regimens on on various different cancer types. In parallel with our our revenue generating consultancy business, we're also engaged in some internal r and d work to generate a tool for the personalization of dosing in cancer.

2:14 We've won a number of NIHR and Innovate UK grants over the past, five years in this space, and we've applied all of that funding to developing a software tool that can be used to personalize the dose of certain oncology drugs in in certain cancer types. As many of you know, and will be well aware, you know, we have a couple of, strategic initiatives going on in that space, one of which is the agreement with Tabula Rasa's DoseMe Rx division, of which I'll say a little bit more later on and also in response to some questions that I've received prior to this meeting. And then the second initiative in that space is the ongoing observational trial, being, run down in Portsmouth, that, as you know, was unfortunately slightly delayed in starting due to COVID as were many clinical trials over the last twelve to twenty four months, but is now going strong and, you know, is scheduled to to read out and be completed over the course of this year.

3:24 In terms of our client base, we continue to work with a variety of clients from the from the small to the very large. Our main big pharma client remains Merck Serono, a client that we've had now since, I think, around 2012, even prior to my involvement with the company. But where the collaboration continues, and, in fact, goes from strength to strength every year, We seem to do a little bit more work with them and be engaged with them around more of their their leading clinical programs. And I'll say again a little bit more about that later. In parallel with the work that we do with big pharma, you know, we've continued to build our small and mid sized client base. And you will have seen that just earlier this week, we announced the signing of an agreement a first agreement with a new Boston based biotech client called Ankara Therapeutics, which has a very exciting technology that that, that we're going to be pleased to work with the with and alongside them to support.

4:30 In addition, you know, we've had repeat business from Numab Therapeutics with a a second project signed with them just before Christmas, and, you know, continue to work with, Bicycle Therapeutics that that has really become a, you know, a a long term client of ours over the last two or three years since we started working with them. In parallel, we continue to explore various opportunities for for further grant work. And as and when, you know, it becomes appropriate, we would announce progress on that front.

5:05 Again, just to to mention some of the things that that we do with clients, I won't read all of these out. Many of you will have heard and seen them before. However, at the end of the day, there is a strong imperative from regulators nowadays to, for companies that are are starting, especially human trials, to be able to justify the design of their trial in terms of the dose and the regimen of their, individual drug or or combination regimen that they're proposing. And it there's an expectation on the part of regulators that companies support their trial design with a mathematical modeling, which is what we do. So many of the engagements, which we work on on behalf of clients involve our collaborating with them to make that first step from preclinical, studies, studies in mice typically, through to studies in in human beings.

5:58 And the work that we do has been pivotal for a number of clients in, in helping them gain acceptance from regulators as to the design and indeed the success of their early clinical trials.

6:15 Moving on to what you will already have read in the in the press release yesterday, the specifically some of the financial highlights from the first half of of our financial year, ended on the 12/31/2021. Our total income, is, again, I think, the highest ever, only marginally, not not very significantly up on last year, but still, it's nice to be able to say that, you know, that's another record set. Our operating loss has widened slightly, but primarily as the result of quite deliberate investments that we have made and and indeed flagged and and previously announced around additional marketing activities and around the hiring of a of a new business development lead, the first time that PHYSIOMICS has has ever had a business development function in house other than myself as the CEO.

7:11 And we're very excited to to to have welcomed our new head of BD on board last late last autumn, and she is already making an impact on our pipeline, a positive impact. And I'll come on to talk a little bit more about that presently as well. In terms of our cash position, it remains very strong. So we have assets of of over 1,000,000. You know, our cash position is pretty stable. It fluctuates from year to year by a few 100,000, sometimes up, sometimes down, as a function of of, you know, investments that we make, and cash flow timing. But at the end of the day, our cash position is stable, and we're we're pretty much covering our costs, for the most part.

7:57 I think the real difference as I sit here, you know, today on the March 8 and compare with the collaboration sorry, with the announcement made at a similar time last year is that the second half is already looking very strong for us. So, you know, for the first time ever, we've had, you know, pretty much full visibility to what we are gonna be able to do in the next six months. And it's already the case that our contracted revenues for the second half of this financial year are around about 460,000. And if we fulfill those, assuming that there's no slippage in any of those programs, and obviously that's a flaw because we may sign new projects between now and the end of the financial year as well, then we should be on course to have another best year ever.

8:51 Probably not very substantially higher than 2020, but certainly a very strong bounce back and recovery from 2021 that that was hit by various COVID related headwinds as as we've previously discussed. So we should be very well positioned to meet market expectations for the full year ending 06/30/2022.

9:17 Here's the same thing just pictorially. And, again, you know, just to note that the the first half revenues are are, you know, higher than ever before, although not very substantially as I noted previously. But I think the big difference is that, you know, we've never had this level of visibility to second half income, and, you know, that's just based on what we have signed up right now at this moment in time.

9:46 So just to cover a few of the specific operational highlights, as usual, you know, we were awarded a a raft of contracts by Merck towards the end of the year, and we fully expect that as has been the case every year for my time at PHYSIOMICS that that initial raft of contracts will be supplemented by further extensions and other projects over the course of of this year. And indeed, you know, number of those contracts have already been extended to to to some to a greater or lesser extent over the last six months. Contracted revenues, I've already covered and market expectations also. You know, as I mentioned a couple of slides ago, we have this second contract with NewMap Therapeutics with whom we're developing a strong relationship, and I would very much hope that they will become a, you know, a a long term client of ours just as Bicycle Therapeutics has.

10:44 Talking about Bicycle Therapeutics, then we continue to work with them on a number of their most advanced clinical compounds, and and they've been a now a long term and and and exciting consulting partner. I've mentioned already the partner study, which is ongoing in Portsmouth and and should read out over the next months. And then the data that comes from that will will certainly be used to refine and further develop the the dosing tool, which is, as I mentioned, also the subject of the of the tabular asset, DoseMeRx agreement.

11:22 We recruited an additional team member, late last summer. And then as I've already mentioned, the, the new head of business development came late in the autumn. So, you know, we're continuing to expand both our capacity to deliver consulting projects, but also importantly, our capacity to fill our pipeline and develop our pipeline. And then finally and most recently, just earlier this week, sorry, at the end of yeah. Just earlier this week, we announced the the the signing of a agreement with with a new client in Cairo. So just some more general comments in terms of the the key opportunity areas for the company, and then I will wind up the presentation and go to some of the questions that we received both before the presentation, but also also during it.

12:19 So, you know, three main areas remain in terms of of the the the core areas of focus for the company. The first is is the core consulting business. So, obviously, this continues to be the main revenue generation engine for the company, and we still see significant potential to grow this business. It has been a bit of a slow burn. And with COVID related headwinds, we had to take a little step back, but it feels like we're taking a big step forward again this year. And I think we have a a very strong base upon which to build. As I mentioned earlier, there is a strong drive from regulators for companies to come to them with mathematical modeling that supports their trial designs.

13:05 And it's a fact that smaller companies rarely have that capability in house. Therefore, they they really have to look elsewhere in order to to to obtain that. And we are now well positioned to, you know, to support companies developing oncology drugs, both companies that are based in in Europe and as you've seen from the companies that are based in North America. Alongside of that core consulting business, you know, we're continuing to develop the personalized medicine initiative. You know, we still see significant benefits from personalization of dosing, we still believe that the optimization in the use of of current drugs as well as new drugs that are coming up through company pipelines, is a great way for health systems to optimize their their spending because it's surely more cost effective to make proper use of of what you have rather than pay an awful lot for for something new or at least to do the former before the latter.

14:08 In terms of of other opportunities, we are actively considering, you know, which other directions we can take the company. We want those directions to be synergistic and and sympathetic to the core business of the company at the moment. And we're looking at a number of things including, for example, companion diagnostics, software combinations, types of modeling that can be, take advantage of AI type techniques in order to enhance pharmaceutical r and d, and also even, you know, the possibility of of some sort of partition participation in a drug development program. No longer lines that that we, we have historically with with Surium and and with Valerex, you know, but but perhaps something even more substantial if we can identify an appropriate opportunity.

15:01 So all of these things are being actively looked at, by the board, and its advisers, and we will, you know, tell you more as soon as we have something, you know, material and substantive that we can that we can talk about on on on one of those topics. But in the meantime, you know, we're full steam ahead on the core consulting business and also on the personalized dosing initiatives that I've already described.

15:28 So just to summarize and and and wrap up on on the main presentation, you know, we still see significant opportunity in the core consulting business. You know, we have invested in marketing. We've invested in social media. We've invested in in various tools to help us identify new clients. We've invested in marketing materials to help make the case to those potential new clients that that we would be a good collaborator for them. And then we've hired, specifically hired, you know, a a full time individual to help drive that forwards. And I think that, we are beginning to see the results of that already insofar as, you know, existing leads that that were that were just leads when our BD head came on board have now been converted to, you know, to to contracts in a in a a time scale that's significantly reduced compared to what we've been able to achieve more, you know, in recent times under our own steam before we had that dedicated support. So I'm really excited, you know, over the next six to twelve months to see, you know, how much more difference that's going to make to the size and the growth rate of of our pipeline and and ultimately, of cost of our company.

16:47 Secondly, you know, the personalized medicine initiative is is ongoing. Obviously, you will have seen the recent announcement by, Tabula Rasa relating to DoseMeRx. You know, I I know little more than you guys and little more than what is in the public domain, But all I can tell you with certainty is that, you know, we are still very actively working with those in the Rx. They still remain, you know, interested in oncology as a as a new therapeutic area, for them to expand into. And, you know, depending on who buys them, there could be even more interest in in the pursuit of personalized dosing than than is the case currently. So, you know, I'm I'm really hoping, and I believe, although I have no knowledge at this point of who's gonna buy them, but I hope that, you know, that whoever it is is going to be at least as interested in personalized dosing as is the case currently.

17:48 And, you know, I think there's a a significant possibility that that they may be more interested, in which case that would be potentially a real upside for us. And then thirdly and and finally but not least, you know, as I mentioned, we are actively seeking other opportunities that are, you know, synergistic with what we're doing at the moment, other ways that we can use our our our talents in in mathematical modeling in the life sciences and biotech space in order to, create assets that that could be of material value to the company. And, you know, more on that as and when, as and when we we reach a stage where we feel that it's material and it's sufficiently likely to go ahead that that it's something that we want to talk about externally.

18:36 So that concludes the the main part of the presentation, and I will now go to some of the questions that we received prior to the presentation. I apologize in advance if I can't answer all of them, but I will get through as many as I can, and unable to. And then I shall take a look at the, the the questions that have also been submitted online during the presentation. And let's see where we get to. So the first question here is relating to Tabula Rasa and the DoseMe Rx platform. So I think I probably just covered this in in the comments on my last slide. Excuse me.

19:26 But I will just repeat that, you know, remains interested and is still actively working with us to look for opportunities to commercialize our personalized dosing tool and platform that I have no knowledge genuinely of of who might be interested in in buying DoseMeRx, but I I do hope. And, you know, I think there's a reasonable chance that whoever it is is going to be at least as interested in personalized dosing as DoseMeRx's current owners. But we'll have to watch that space, and I am just as interested as you guys to to see, you know, to to see what happens there. Obviously, as and when more information is available, then you'll probably see it in the public domain first.

20:17 But insofar as there's any implications for that side of our business, then we will do our best to assess those and to communicate them to you as quickly as possible. Next question is around growing the business. So, you know, there's a question that basically says that the market cap has fluctuated, but is not significantly greater than it was a couple of years ago, and what are the aspirations of of the company relating to to growing the business. So, I mean, obviously, we did take a little bit of a hit in financial year 2021 due to COVID as many of our competitors did as well. But, you know, since then and I think, you know, you've seen from the figures that have been announced this week, you know, we bounced back pretty strongly.

21:10 I hope we're gonna be bouncing back to a level, you know, that is in fact even higher than than the level that we achieved pre COVID. And from there, you know, my personal belief is that, you know, we're only going to build strongly from from here going forwards. Appreciate, you know, investors' belief in the company and those of you who've been with us a long time. You know, we are all working as hard as we can in order to to generate value in the company. Next question is in relation to the advisory board that we held around about a year ago. And, again, you know, I think I covered this in the last couple of slides. But, again, you know, last year, we were really all hands to the pumps trying to trying to address the shortfall that was created by the by the COVID crisis.

22:04 Since that has now mitigated, you know, we're now, you know, totally a 100% focused again both on growing the core business, but also investigating some of these more strategic initiatives that were the subject of that advisory board. And, again, you know, we will update the market just as soon as we can with progress that we're that we're making on that front.

22:32 A second another question is in relation to the work that we've been doing with Valorex. You know, we announced last year that we were doing some risk based work with ValorX whereby we would waive our normal fee in return for a percentage of a royalty on the revenues associated with the product that we were supporting them with. There's a question around whether, you know, other such arrangements exist or or whether, you know, any such arrangements might be entered into going forwards. I guess all I can say is that, you know, where if were we to enter into such an arrangement, we would have cost you know, make that public. ValorX is the main company where we have that sort of arrangement at the moment.

23:19 But, you know, I do think it's possible that we could seek out and secure other similar arrangements going forwards. Obviously, we have to make a careful a carefully balanced judgment about, you know, sacrificing revenues that are here and now for the possibility of revenues in the future. And we do that always on a case by case basis depending on the relationship that we have with the client or potential client and depending on the quality of the asset that they're developing. But we will continue to look at those sorts of opportunities for sure. There's a question around the Portsmouth study. What will happen to the data collected from the study, and will this be used to update the DoseMe Rx tool?

24:08 And, yeah, I guess the short answer to that is is yes. So the purpose of that study is to gather data to further validate and and to suggest further, you know, directions of of development for the personalized dosing tool. That would certainly, apply to, the version of the tool that we are progressing with with DoseMeRx. And once that data is in and we've analyzed it, then any learnings or opportunities that we see arising from it, you know, we will communicate those if we can externally, of course. But in addition, and perhaps more importantly from your perspective, we would certainly try and see whether there were opportunities to enhance, upgrade, or further develop the tools that we're developing with with DoseMe.

25:01 Another question from prior to the meeting. What competitive advantage does PHYSIOMICS have? Well, that that's a great question. You know, I believe that we have several. On the one hand, you know, we are a specialist in oncology mathematical modeling, and and, you know, there are not many companies out there. So I'm not sure there are any other companies out there that that can say that with their hand on heart. We have competitors that do mathematical modeling. They tend to be generalists. You know, we have competitors that focus on oncology, but but they don't tend to be specialists in modeling. So I think, you know, the confluence of those two things is a position where we have a a a unique market opportunity. The second thing I would say is is our people. You know, our people and our experience are are really second to none. You know, our people, they work hard.

25:52 They're smart, and they're universally well respected by by the clients that we take on. I also believe that we're making genuinely important contributions to the r and d efforts of of the of the clients that that we work with. And that has led to a significant boost in our reputation, I believe, over the last, you know, three to five years. So whereas when I arrived at the company, you know, we were were fairly little known other than amongst a small circle of of clients that we've working with for a while. Now we're getting referrals. So, you know, people that we work with talk to their friends and and literally relatives sometimes, and we get phone calls from those individuals who may be working in in other companies, and and they commission us. They commission work.

26:42 And very often, it's it's not even competitive. So, you know, we may work with someone at one big company. They have a friend who works at a biotech. We'll get a call from that biotech, and they'll say, look. You know, we we we've heard that you're great at this, and we'd really like you to to propose for a project. And we've had several of those over the last twelve months, and it's it's gratifying. And I think it's, you know, it's a real demonstration that what we do makes a difference and that, you know, our clients continue to to value that.

27:15 Another question. Please say a few words on the current pipeline. Well, look. In the the the short statement I can make about that is that the pipeline is genuinely the strongest it's ever been. For the first time, we've really been able to quantify that by, you know, by disclosing that we have contracted revenue of, you know, over 460,000 for for this half that we're in now. We've never been able to say that before. We we've never had that degree of of visibility to to you know, even to the next sort of five months. And, obviously, that's just the revenues that we we have signed up at this point in time. Below, you know, that in the or above that, if you like, in in the in the in the in the pyramid of business development, we have a a number of contracts that are in discussion, one of which with is with another big pharma company as I think we we disclosed during our as part of our full year results as well. So, you know, if we can clinch that one, then, you know, that is another very exciting opportunity and and could be a big step forward for the company, but it's not the only opportunity. You know, there are a raft of them.

28:22 And, you know, although we have now a more rigorous process for categorizing the different opportunities, thanks to our new BD lead, which is not something that I can explain in a few words. I can assure you that at every stage within that BD funnel, we now looking we are now looking stronger than than I think we ever have done before. So another question. Right. In a in a world where CEOs are quick to hide behind all manner of different excuses, you know, what keeps me motivated, I think, is the sentiment here when things could so easily drag you down. Well, listen. You know, I think we make a difference. That's that's really what motivates me on a day to day basis.

29:12 You know, I try not to make excuses either for my own personal performance or that of my team or that of my company. You know, I try and be honest and direct with with you guys people. Sorry. And, you know, I think for the most part, we you know, when we say we're gonna do something definitively, we do it. Obviously, there's always uncertainty in this game, and there are some things that we can't promise hand on heart. But for the most part, I think we've we've delivered materially on on on, you know, on the specific targets that we've set ourselves. We're gonna continue to try and raise the bar so that, you know, our our our our targets are always stretched targets. But what motivates me is making a difference, you know, for our clients both as individuals at a personal level, to help them be successful individually and as companies, and then ultimate ultimately to be making a contribution to, you know, to to the the creation of of of cancer drugs that are gonna help save lives for conditions that have a terrible negative impact on people's lives cost economies huge amounts of money.

30:22 So, really, that's what keeps me in the business. Another question on cash runway. So it just says, is the cash runway sufficient? Well, you know, I think, you know, you can do the math yourselves. You know, some we've had a a year recently where we had a positive cash flow and you know, of a 100,000 or so. You know, we've had other years where it's been a couple of 100 negative, but our cash position, I would say, is pretty stable. You know, we've had about million of assets now, the majority of which is cash for, you know, for some time, and that that looks like a stable situation. Now, you know, we may choose selectively to make some investments from that cash pile, but, obviously, we wanna be cautious and leave ourselves afloat just just in case of unexpected circumstances.

31:13 But I you know, at least from my perspective, I don't see anything to be concerned about that. So pressing on, there was a question relating to Project Optimus in the last presentation. Please, could I just elaborate on this? Well, just to to remind everyone that Project Optimus is an FDA. That's The US drug regulator. It's an FDA initiative aimed at helping companies developing drugs to focus more on the personalization of dosing. So although I don't think it's an initiative we would necessarily directly engage with, it's certainly a a clear signal that that regulators are interested in in how companies come to decisions about dosing in clinical trials.

32:06 And it's certainly a key driver of the interest by our clients in engaging with mathematical modeling and specifically with us in the field of oncology to, you know, to provide some weight, some some thought, some calculation behind the decisions that they're making on trial design, specifically in relation to dosing and scheduling, decisions that have been really made on a on a more heuristic basis in the past, which just means rule of thumb. Right? If you go back twenty or thirty years in pharmaceuticals, the way in which people calculated initial human doses was really just based on very simple algorithms. Whereas now, you know, we're able to bring to bear far more sophisticated tools, and this is becoming an expectation. And, therefore, I think, you know, the market for this sort of activity is gonna continue to grow.

33:00 So there's a question here about presentations. Could they be longer? Could they involve involve more people? And so, yes, you know, I I would I would love to get more of the team involved in these presentations. I think that's a fantastic suggestion, and we will take that on board, and into consideration and and try and make that happen, at some point perhaps later this year. K. So question. Can could I comment on our work or involvement with Merck KGAA, which is the German Merck company that used to be called Merck Serono? I think I've probably said most of this already over the course of the presentation so far, but, you know, we've been engaged with Merck since, you know, actually many years before I arrived in the company. I think it's around 2012 was our first project.

33:58 As you guys will recall, you know, shortly after my arrival in the company in around 2017, Christmas, I think, we signed an our first sort of umbrella agreement with Merck KGA where they, you know, aspired to spend at least €500,000 with us on us or retain services from us worth at least €500,000 annually. And, you know, I'm proud to say that we've done at least that, you know, at least that every year since then. It's not guaranteed, and yet they've come back for more on a regular basis. We have weathered management changes, you know, struck reorganizations that large pharmaceutical company.

34:45 And I would say that our our our relationship with them today, I believe, is, you know, as good as it has ever been, and possibly the best it's ever been. I can also say with my hand on my heart that that, you know, we are, an integral part of of of of some of their decision making and provide, you know, really important input into into some critical decisions that are being made around how they develop some of their drugs, and that makes us feel good. It's a good source of revenue. It's a good source of validation of our platform and and the virtual tumor tool in particular. Just moving on to the last couple of questions that came in prior to the presentation, and then I shall move to have a look through a selection of the ones that that came in over the course of the last half an hour or so.

35:43 So there's a question around what we can announce in terms of the value of the contracts, and and, you know, that's a there's a fairly straightforward answer to that one. You know, we we can't always disclose both the identity of our client and the value of the contract because they won't let us. In my view, it's more important for for for our shareholders and other stakeholders to understand who it is that we're working with and what we're doing rather than announce that we have a, you know, a contract with an undisclosed pharmaceutical or biotech company. Because that sort of announcement never feels very satisfying. It means that we can't then really talk in any detail about what we're doing with that client. And I think the value of of the of being able to disclose the identity of clients is is is, at least from our perspective, and I believe, in fact, from the perspective of the company and and and its shareholders, greater than than, you know, the value of of just telling you how much, you know, the contract's worth, but at the cost of not necessarily being able to also tell you who it's with.

36:52 So that's that's that's our rationale there. We don't have a lot of rigor room in many cases. You know, clients don't want us always to to to tell, the world what they're spending on particular activities. Obviously, where we're required to disclose for, reasons of compliance with AIM regulation or or other regulations, then then we do so just as we did for the, you know, for the for the Merck contracts and and continue to do for the Merck contracts. So that's the simple explanation for that. There's a final question that came in prior to the meeting here relating to whether or not we might develop a some sort of a software solution or or or a licensing software license solution. Now that is something that we have looked at periodically. I think it's something that we have even alluded to in in some of our updates, and we continue to be open minded about that. I guess all I would say is that, you know, we're not selling a sort of a a prepackaged, you know, Microsoft Word or or even sort of SAS type solution where a user can easily quickly read an instruction manual and then, you know, type a couple of keys and and get an answer out.

38:05 You know, it it is a more sophisticated software platform. We have, in fact, created standalone versions in the past that we have left with clients as part of projects, but they've tended to be bespoke for the particular engagement that we've been working with the client on, not a just a free access to the to the system for for the purposes of developing new models. However, that is something that we continue to keep an open mind in regard of. And, you know, if we saw an opportunity to do that, then we would we would, certainly take a close look at that and see whether that could be interesting for us. So I think that concludes the questions that we, you know, that we were provided with prior to the meeting. I'm just gonna have a look at a selection of the ones that that came in over the course of the last thirty or forty minutes.

39:00 So there's a question here that is as follows. Given the size of the global oncology pipeline, could you significantly increase modeling revenues even without a huge increase in new clients? What are the barriers in scaling your highly specialized skills, and how can you mitigate them? Okay. Well, that that's a great question. You know, I do think that the market for what we do, as I said earlier, is continuing to expand. I think that's part of the reason why, you know, we have such a strong pipeline at the moment. It is true that what we do is very specialized. All I can say in terms of scaling is that, you know, we've we've we've you know, given the base that we started from, you know, we were initially a little bit cautious in wanting to take on a lot of additional, you know, fixed cost in the form of, you know, full time in house consultants.

39:58 However, you know, we are certainly now in a position where we could expand the team, and I think I've already said that we're we're looking at options to do that. One option is the use of of consultants, and, you know, we have a number of people who've worked with us for many years very effectively on a part time basis as consultants, and I I anticipate we would continue to use them. That is a flexible resource that we can dial up and down to some extent depending on what's going on. But we've certainly reached the stage now where I think, you know, we we we need to be looking at increasing the full time in house headcount again, you know, having only recruited our last technical team member last July, I think. So, you know, certainly significantly less than a year ago.

40:46 So, you know, we will certainly be be be looking to that. We'll make further announcements as and when that's possible. There's another question around DoseMe. Can you please elaborate on the potential significance of DoseMeRx being integrated into other platforms? So just to clarify, you know, DoseMeRx is a subsidiary of Tabula Rasa HealthCare. It it's the name used to be the name of the company before it was acquired by Tabula Rasa. It's also the name of their software platform, which is wholly owned by them, of course. What we have done is is, together with them, do an implementation of our personalized dosing tool on their platform.

41:34 So, you know, that that was done on a research basis, and, you know, we're now looking to see in what other areas of oncology we can expand that in order to produce an offering which could be, you know, really commercially interesting to some of the, some of their clients. So that's kind of where we're at with that. I still think it's a significant initiative. Obviously, you know, we don't know whether and who is gonna buy, DoseMeRx as as we've spoken at length already. So, you know, that is a bit of a question mark, but I think, potentially, that that that could be a positive for us. But does depend on on the identity of that of that acquirer, of course.

42:20 So another question, can we say how long we've been in discussion with the new pharma? I assume that means the new big pharma client from the recent RNS. I think I don't see why not. I I would you know, we've been in discussion with them for over twelve months, and then that is not uncommon for big pharma clients. So, you know, they take a long time to bring on board. But once you, you know, once you've got through all of their myriad, procurement processes as well as, the commercial negotiation around, the contract, then, you know, with the following win, they can turn out to be a client like Merck. So, you know, I think the opportunity is significant, and it's the sort of investment of in of time that that, you know, as a CEO or or a head of business development, you you you never mind making as long as you feel like you're making progress.

43:16 And, you know, it's been a bit softly softly catchy monkey. But, you know, you know, as I said in in the RNS, we are in in in advanced discussions with the company, and, you know, we'll say more as soon as we're able to one way or another. So final question here, I think, before we conclude. Is there any update with regard to the commercialization of the Vow two zero one deal and any revenue PHYSIOMICS will benefit from? So, unfortunately, I can't comment on that. You know, it's not our asset. So you'll have to ask that question to Susie Dilly, who's the CEO of Valerex. I'm sure she'd be happy to address it. All I could say is that, you know, obviously, yes, we do have this that this deal that's been made very public in relation to that asset. And if at some stage it is commercialized and and I think there was an announcement from before Christmas that there was some discussion around the term sheet at least, then, you know, we we would, qualify for a proportion of of the revenues as has previously been detailed.

44:15 We'd love that to happen, but I, you know, I apart from the fact that I genuinely have no knowledge of of what the state of play is, it's also not our asset, so I I can't comment directly on that. Okay. So I that concludes. Thank you very much, doctor Milan. I think you've addressed all those questions you can from investors. And, of course, the company will review all questions submitted today, and we'll publish those responses on the investment company platform. Just before redirecting investors to provide you with their feedback, which I know is particularly important to the company, could I just ask you for a few closing comments? Yeah. Sure. So, I mean, just in summary again, summarizing the summary, you know, I'm enthused by the fact that we have a a really talented team, which we're almost certainly gonna add to. And what I forgot to mention earlier is that we never seem to have any shortage of people who are interested in working with us because it's a really exciting, vibrant, small company working environment. So if there are anyone listening out there that that's interested in a in a in a in a highly technical job, then please do reach out.

45:16 Know, I'm excited by the fact that we've, you know, we brought on board this new BD lead, who I believe is making a material difference already. And, you know, I'm very interested to see how that, further develops over the next six to twelve months. You know, I believe that we have a you know, I've said this before, but I genuinely mean it. I believe that we have one of our strongest ever pipelines and highest ever levels of client interest on the core consulting business. And in parallel with that, we are exploring, you know, other opportunities. And and I know that there's there's impatience to hear more about those, but we will, I promise, get back to you as soon as we can, and and have something material and significant to say on those. So, you know, just to conclude, I'm I'm honestly feeling, you know, the most optimistic and excited that that I have been since, since I joined PHYSIOMICS and and look forward to a bright future. Thank you.

46:10 Doctor Milan, thanks once again for updating investors today. Could I please ask investors not to close this session as you're now be automatically redirected to provide your feedback in order that the management team can better understand your views and expectations. This will only take a few moments to complete, but I'm sure it'll be greatly valued by the company. On behalf of the management team at PHYSIOMICS PLC, we'd like to thank you for attending today's presentation. Good afternoon to you all.