Transcription of The Stock Network Interview with Starpharma (ASX:SPL,US OTC:SPHRY), CEO and Managing Director, Cheryl Maley
Lel Smits: With global interest in innovative drug delivery and radiopharmaceuticals accelerating, Star Pharma continues to advance its strategy of advancing its proprietary DEP Dendrima platform through a combination of strategic partnerships and internal pipeline development. Following a series of high-level meetings at the JP Morgan Healthcare Conference in California and the release of its latest quarterly, I’m joined by Star Pharma CEO and Managing Director Cheryl Maley to discuss the recent milestones, the significance of its Genentech collaboration and what lies ahead for the DEP platform. Cheryl, welcome back to the Stock Network.
Cheryl Maley: Hi, Lel, nice to see you again.
Lel Smits: Lovely to have you on. Now, during the second quarter of FY26, Star Pharma continued execution of its recently announced strategic partnerships, including receiving an upfront payment of around $8.3 million Australian dollars from Genentech. What progress has been made under the programs over the quarter?
Cheryl Maley: Yeah, thanks, Lel, for the question, because it’s such an important one, I think, for Star Pharma at this time. That quarter for us was intense. It was super busy, which is fantastic, but we had three partner programs, two that had really kicked off in that quarter and one that was continuing with gusto. So, it was a really busy quarter. We launched the Genentech one, the projects were set up, we actually commenced work really quickly once we had that sign-off and the payment. We were straight into it and it continues to move at the project pace that Genentech has set for us, which is great.
Similar to our progress with Medici, that project or program has been in place for longer, since 2024. We continue to deliver and work with the Battalion team to make sure we’re hitting the dates that we need to for them to get to important milestones. And Radiopharm, we kicked that off.
It was an intense quarter for taking that on and delivering to what they had as their timelines or continue to have as their timelines. Our team was just so busy with the partnerships and on top of our internal programs. So, I’m really pleased it showed what we are capable of and we’ve got really good feedback from our partners during that quarter. So, I’m really happy with the progress that we’ve made there.
Lel Smits: That is great to hear and Staff Pharma also continues to progress its DEP HER2 radiopharmaceutical program towards a first inpatient clinical study anticipated this year alongside broader internal pipeline refinement, also prioritization. What key milestones should investors really watch as these programs move closer to the clinic?
Cheryl Maley: Yeah, look, the HER2 radio program is such a priority for us and it’s a priority for a few reasons, for two key reasons. One is we want to be able to exemplify that our technology will bring benefit in the radio space. And the work that we’ve done in that last quarter or even in the last 6-12 months has really been in an effort to create a really good data package to show that our technology works well. And in addition to that, we focus on developing a really good asset that companies will be interested in to license down the track.
And so, what we have been able to achieve, you know, we’ve got a really good preclinical package that we are moving to finalize. We’ve selected the CRO, the sites, we’ve engaged experts, we’ve engaged companies that work in the space that can help inform us of if they were to license a product in this space, what would they be looking for? So, we’re building the program to meet that need. Our key goal is now to move that into clinic.
We’re seeking regulatory advice from the FDA. We’ve, as I said, we’ve selected, we’ve got all of these things in place, so now it’s on us to finalize that preclinical and get it into the clinic this year. I’m really happy about it and I’m excited about what potentially we can do in this space, aside from a great asset, also around partnering with other companies where they can use our technology.
Lel Smits: Yes, absolutely. And Cheryl, you’ve just been at the 44th Annual JPMorgan Healthcare Conference in California. How was the response to Star Pharma there? And also, what really were your main takeaways from participating?
Cheryl Maley: Yeah, it was a fantastic conference and a great opportunity for Star Pharma. I feel like it was the right time and the right place for us to be. We had so many meetings over the period of time that we were there. They were with existing partners, but also a number of new opportunities that were there.
If you’ve never been to the conference, it’s a pretty crazy time in San Francisco, just the volume of people that are there. But as I said, it was the right time for us because on the back of our recent announcements, it enabled us to have more and different conversations with companies and potential partners. So it was a really valuable exercise for us.
It was a valuable investment for us. As I said, I felt like it was the right timing for us to have a important presence at that conference.
Lel Smits: Well, it certainly looks like a strong start to the year for Star Pharma, and I look forward to hearing more as the year progresses.
Cheryl Maley: Thanks, Lel.
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