Embarassed CEO Comes Clean-Lied to Princess and Investors About Timeline.
henvironmental and dietary assessments, as well as quality of life measures.
Interviewer: Dr. Banks, recently Benitec released their second quarter financial results and provided an operational update. In the statement, you noted the enrollment of the first patient into the OPMD clinical development program and the screening process for additional participants moving quickly. However, the financial documents indicated you may have misrepresented or overly promised regarding the timeline of results. Can you talk to us about that?
Dr. Banks: Yes. Sadly, I have to admit that the timeline we initially promised and what we have delivered have not matched. We promised that we would deliver interim clinical results by the end of 2023, and we have yet to see these results. It’s embarrassing to admit, but the truth is that things didn’t quite go according to plan. We underestimated the complexity of the program, and as a result we have not been able to move as quickly as we anticipated.
To make matters worse, things got a lot worse a couple months ago when we were invited to tour the premises of a renowned European Princess. It was a great honor and I jumped at the chance to take my senior staff with me. Unfortunately, things didn’t go well. We were welcomed graciously and treated with the utmost respect. I gave her my word that we would deliver a robust set of interim results by the end of the year in order to increase public awareness of our brand.
I can honestly say that was a mistake on my part. As it turns out, the complexity of the program was greater than I expected, and when it came time to deliver on my promise I was unable to do so. Now not only do I feel embarrassed that I wasn’t able to live up to my promise to the princess, but it seems I have also let down our investors as well.
Interviewer: We understand. Are there any steps being taken to ensure that something like that doesn’t happen again?
Dr. Banks: Absolutely. Moving forward, I am taking measures to ensure that I am able to provide accurate information to our investors. We are currently working on revising our timeline to ensure everyone has realistic expectations of when we can deliver results. We will be more conservative in our estimates, and we will be monitoring our progress more closely to ensure that our timeline remains achievable.
Original Release: https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2023/02/13/2606582/0/en/Benitec-Biopharma-Releases-Second-Quarter-2023-Financial-Results-and-Provides-Operational-Update.html