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Regeneus CEO takes $360K pay cut to promote company’s path to Japan

Finance
ASX:RGS
13 August 2019 00:39 (AEST)

Smallcap medical company Regeneus announced today it has cut spending costs in half, lowering its total costs to $250,000 a month.

The company, which specialises in clinical trial, says the costs were cut through a total restructuring of the business and will help promote its product ‘Progenza’.

“The Board and executive team have put in place a number of initiatives which generate significant savings for the Company and align operations with our new strategic priorities,” company CEO Leo Lee said.

In a bid to help the company carry its weight, Leo has taken a significant cut to his paycheque. The CEO has pledged to cut his annual salary from $650,000 to $290,000.

Subject to approval from the board and shareholders, Leo’s downgraded payment is to be offset through company shares coming into his pocket.

The largest priority for the company currently lies in accelerating its treatment Progenza towards Japanese distribution. – a bid to treat osteoarthritis.

“We remain confident in our ability to bring Progenza to market in Japan by 2023,” Leo added.

Progenza is a cell therapy technology that is said to also help other musculoskeletal conditions as well as general inflammation.

The cells used in the treatment are unaltered adult human cells that promote healing and repair in damaged or diseased tissue.

Before bringing the product to the market, Regneus management will work towards a Phase 2 clinical trial of the treatment’s effectiveness on osteoarthritis.

For some time now, the company has been finalising negotiations with an unnamed major Japanese distributor to commercially licence Progenza.

“The resulting 50 per cent reduction in costs from these initiatives and the restructuring of the business is expected to provide us with sufficient runway to finalise our Japanese commercialisation deal and commercially launch Progenza to this timeline,” Leo said.

Cutting costs in company operations also included reducing employee numbers, restructuring resources and securing smaller premises of operations.

The company also stated in today’s media release to the ASX, further research will be conducted in collaboration with unspecified universities to promote clinical development of additional products.

Regeneus claims not only does this decision promote better clinical growth, but lowers costs in using a partner’s resources to conduct the trials.

Share prices in Regeneus remain unchanged today, continuing to trade for 8.6 cents each. The company’s market cap is currently valued at $20.47 million.

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