Welcome to the 2022 Annual General Meeting of Pharmaxis Limited, which has been called by a notice of meeting date of the 29th of October 2022. We have a quorum, I now declare the meeting open. My name is Malcolm McComas, the Chair of Pharmaxis and the Chair of this meeting. Today's meeting is being held as a virtual meeting via live webcast with the use of the Zoho platform also the Computershare meeting platform for voting. Shareholders and proxies have the ability to ask questions via Zoho and submit votes via the Computershare meeting platform. You need to be logged into both platforms if you wish to vote. Firstly, let me introduce the other board members, Mr. Gary Phillips, our CEO, Dr. Neil Graham, Non-Executive Director.
Dr. Kathleen Metters, Non-Executive Director, who's joining us from New York, and David McGarvey, our CFO and Company Secretary. Representatives of PricewaterhouseCoopers, David Roland, the company's auditor, is also in attendance. Welcome, David. We will take the notice of meeting and the proposed resolutions as read, but we will also display them as the meeting progresses. Questions can be submitted online at any time. Shareholders and proxies wishing to submit a written question, select the question mark button in the center of the bottom toolbar and type out your question in the text box provided, and submit it. Note that while you can submit questions from now on, I won't address the questions until the relevant times in the meeting, which will be after the CEO and CFO's presentations and after proposing each item of business.
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I now declare voting open on all items of business. The polling icon will soon appear. Please submit your votes at any time. I'll give you a warning before I move to close voting at the end of the meeting. I'll now give a short address, which has been published on the ASX this morning. At Pharmaxis, we're using our science and intellectual property in the quest for new treatments for a range of inflammatory and fibrotic diseases, including cancers, skin scarring, and Parkinson's disease. We are set apart as a biotech with multiple drugs in clinical trials in patients, as well as collaborations with centers of excellence. During the 2022 financial year, Pharmaxis set the stage for a series of company transforming clinical trial results, a number of which we'll read out in the next 12 months.
Our lead asset, which is PXS-5505, is targeting the rare blood cancer myelofibrosis. This cancer disrupts the body's normal production of blood cells, causing extensive scarring in the bone marrow. Patients have a life expectancy of only four to five years after diagnosis. Towards the end of 2022, we reported that our drug demonstrated good tolerability in greater than 90% inhibition of target enzymes in a phase I-C trial in myelofibrosis patients. This has allowed us to progress into a phase II-A arm of the study. Encouragingly, last month, we reported interim data from the first six patients to complete their six months treatment. The data showed that PXS-5505 continues to be well-tolerated in the clinic with no serious treatment-related adverse events reported.
While this is still early days in the phase II-A arm of the study, our Harvard Medical School Clinical Director, Dr. Gabby Hobbs, who reviewed the data, observed that, quote, "PXS-5505 appears to be stabilizing and in some cases improving hemoglobin and platelet counts, which have been associated with symptom improvements in those patients that were treated to 24 weeks. This is encouraging given the poor prognosis seen after another treatment is discontinued with the median overall survival of only 11-14 months typical of this study population. These results support further clinical investigations of PXS-5505 in myelofibrosis." The trial has now recruited 18 of its targeted 24 patients, and we look forward to reporting on the completed study in mid 2023.
We're excited about the broader potential of PXS-5505 in cancer. Liver cancer is among other oncology indications we're pursuing. While following a University of Rochester Medical Center publication on its work with PXS-5505 in liver cancer and its successful IND application to the US Food and Drug Administration, we agreed to fund the university to conduct a clinical trial on the liver cancer known as HCC, hepatocellular carcinoma. The trial is expected to shortly recruit its first patient. Another Syntara drug discovery, PXS-6302, is moving towards the clinic as we work to find a topical treatment for wounds and burns scars. This is groundbreaking work. During the year, the drug successfully completed initial phase I trials and progressed to a phase I-C study in patients with existing scars.
Interim data from the first eight patients to complete this trial was released in September and reported high levels of inhibition of the enzymes and changes in the biomarkers that are implicated in scarring. We're pleased that one of Australia's leading burns experts, Professor Fiona Wood, is leading the trial at the University of Western Australia. Already, Professor Wood has reported positive changes in appearance and pliability of scars in those patients on active drugs. This now needs to be confirmed by the results from the placebo-controlled phase of the trial. The trial has recruited 38 out of its 42 patients and is due to complete and report in the first quarter of 2023. There are two other achievements I want to highlight that relate to the assets of our development pipeline.
The first is the recent payment of $5 million to Pharmaxis following the exercise of an option we granted on the Orbital inhaler earlier in the financial year. Pharmaxis developed this device some years ago to support our cystic fibrosis through product Bronchitol. Aptar, a global leader in drug delivery systems, has now acquired this technology, and this transaction is a good example of the capability of the team to generate non-dilutive cash from the mannitol respiratory business. Secondly, in September, we announced an agreement with Parkinson's UK, where this leading UK charity will fund approximately GBP 5 million of the clinical trial of our drug PXS-4728 to treat patients at risk of Parkinson's and other neurodegenerative diseases.
This trial will see leading researchers from Oxford and Sydney universities working with our drug adjuvant inhibitor of SSAO and MAO-B in the brain in an innovative study of the sleep disorder iRBD to target Parkinson's disease. This year has also seen several changes in the board and senior management team. Sadly, as many of you will know, this is the first AGM in 14 years without Will Delaat. Will retired from the board in August due to ill health. He was to pass away the following month. Will made an immeasurable contribution to the evolution of Pharmaxis, including assisting with the international approval and marketing of our two respiratory products. He also helped to steer the company's drug discovery and clinical programs. Will treated others with great respect.
In turn, he was held in high regard and affection by many people that he touched in the industry over a long career. He has left a lasting legacy across the medicine sector and will be sadly missed by us all. We're well advanced in a process with Korn Ferry to identify a new non-executive director to join the board. On the first of July, Pharmaxis Founding Scientist and Medical Director, Dr. Brett Charlton, retired after more than 20 years of service with the company. Dr. Charlton made an extensive contribution to the business, our clinical program, and to advances in patient care. His experience and knowledge of transitional drugs, transitioning drugs into early phase development has helped create the broad clinical program that we have today. In July, we announced the appointment of Dr. Jana Baskar to the role of Chief Medical Officer. Dr.
Baskar is a highly experienced executive who has worked in both pharmaceutical and contract research companies and brings significant clinical development and strategic expertise. He has more than 20 years experience, including overseeing more than 70 clinical trials of oncology treatments during his six years as Medicine Director of Novartis Oncology in Australia. Dr. Baskar's extensive experience will be particularly valuable as the company progresses our lead asset, PXS-5505, in myelofibrosis and other cancer indications. As a result of the recent institutional placement, we're now well-placed to deliver on the goals for next year. On a pro forma basis, at 30 September, including the full amount of the placement that you are voting on today, we have approximately AUD 26 million cash available to fund the business.
We're pleased to welcome several new international and domestic institutional investors who participated in the placement. Some 46% of our share register is now held by institutions. Finally, I'd like to thank our CEO Gary Phillips, the talented Pharmaxis management team, and all our employees for their efforts to position the company for the year ahead. The team has worked together for a number of years to build a pipeline of clinical-stage assets in a range of indications where inflammation and fibrosis play a key role. This pipeline, the near-term value inflection points, and the way the team have supported the development of innovative commercial deals to bring in non-dilutive cash is unique to Pharmaxis. We appreciate the support that shareholders have provided through the capital raisings in a difficult market, and we're determined to provide a return on that investment.
I'd also like to thank my colleagues Kathleen Metters, Neil Graham, and Will Delaat for their support and enthusiasm and wisdom throughout the year. Gary Phillips will now give a short presentation, and then David McGarvey will talk about our financial results. I'll come to you, Gary.
Good morning. Thank you all for joining us this morning. David, can you go to the executive summary slide for me? I think Malcolm's already given a pretty good high-level overview of what's happened in Pharmaxis in the last 12 months since our last AGM. I just wanted to highlight the critical point that the company has now reached. It's achieved that through a lot of hard work, a lot of commitment to a number of programs over a number of years. In particular, the company is very proud of its achievements in drug discovery and a multi-year program that's led us to the point where we are global leaders in a particular kind of chemistry, which has delivered a pipeline of drugs with a very high hit rate.
There are very few companies that can boast a clinical stage pipeline with a number of drugs moving forward from pre-clinical into clinical with very few failures along the way. We're very proud of that achievement. The, you know, the real test now is to see whether those drugs work in the clinic. In the last few months, I think we've given very encouraging news about the preliminary data from those studies going on. Today I'm just gonna focus on two of the studies that are ongoing. One of them in myelofibrosis and the other one in skin scarring. Really then at the end, talk about the timeline that we have to get to the trial results, which all shareholders should be watching obviously very closely.
Now, as Malcolm said, you know, in the last couple of months, we've also improved our cash position with a capital raise of AUD 10 million. Very pleased to see, you know, the level of support we've got in new institutions coming onto the register. It's left us in a position where the AUD 26 million in cash that we have as a pro forma number at the end of September, does take us through to the beginning of 2024, and certainly to the point where the studies that I'm gonna talk about give definitive results. Now that raise, David, if you can go to the next slide. Yeah, we did that at AUD 0.06. We're only trading, we've been trading consistently above that point since then.
The money that we brought in at that point was done after the institutions did a considerable amount of diligence on the data that we shared with them and that we've now shared with the market. It's done on the back of confidence that what I'm about to show to you is something which is very material and is certainly a good indicator of good things to come for the company. Next slide, David. The two drugs that we're gonna talk briefly about are PXS-5505 and PXS-6302. Both of them come from that amine oxidase chemistry platform that I talked about. PXS-5505, this is a young drug. The patent only priority date here is 2018, so it's got many years ahead of it.
Despite its young age, it's already been pushed into clinical studies in myelofibrosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. We're looking at other potential indications as well. This is a drug which is taken orally and inhibits all of the lysyl oxidase enzyme. PXS-6302 is a topical drug that also blocks all of the lysyl oxidase enzymes. Again, a young drug. Priority date there, 2019 for the IP, so many years ahead of it. The importance of inhibiting lysyl oxidase enzymes is that they are the last stage in the fibrosis process. It doesn't matter really which tissue we're talking about, which organ we're talking about, all of the fibrotic processes end up with a final stage where the fibroblasts in the tissue become activated.
They can be stimulated by a number of different routes, including chemicals, chemical injury, metabolism, even genetics. When they become activated, they secrete collagen, which are strands which form up the matrix, which eventually forms scar tissue. An enzyme, a family of enzymes called lysolecithinases, these enzymes cause the cross-linking in that collagen, which forms the scar tissue, which you'll be very familiar with if you look at a scar on your skin. Now, as that scar tissue forms, the tissues stiffens and becomes less pliable. Again, whether that fibrosis is in your liver or on your skin, that has a feedback loop which goes back to those, activate more fibroblasts, which produce more collagen and more lysolecithinase. It's a circle which goes round and round and round.
This is normally a healthy process. We all need scarring to take place to heal wounds that we occasionally have, or damage to organs that we occasionally have. In this case, in these diseases, that gets out of control and we end up with too much fibrosis. This is where inhibiting the lysolecithinases stops the cross-linking of the collagen, stops the tissue becoming stiffer and stiffer. That feedback loop means that the body then secretes less collagen and less lysolecithinase. In the end, you actually see a decrease in the amount of fibrosis that happens within tissues. Next slide, David. The first program to talk about is just myelofibrosis. This is our lead program. It's the one where we've invested the most money.
It's a product of a discussion with the FDA, an IND approval, then a phase I-C and now a phase II study. Myelofibrosis is a rare kind of cancer of the bone marrow. The scarring of the bone marrow has a detrimental effect on the body's ability to produce blood cells, red cells, white cells and platelets. In those circumstances, the patients have a lot of different symptoms, including an enlarged spleen, bone pain, night sweats, fevers, a lot of cytopenia. Their blood counts decrease. It's a disease that's rare, but when you're diagnosed, you only have about five years of life after diagnosis. The primary treatments at the moment are drugs called JAK inhibitors.
JAK inhibitors are really good at suppressing some of the symptoms and in particular the spleen size, but they don't change the fibrosis in the bone marrow. They don't therefore lead to changes in life expectancy. They're not a disease-modifying drug, but they are the only treatments available at the moment for patients with myelofibrosis. They're poorly tolerated, so many of the patients that receive JAK inhibitors also get cytopenia. That reduction in blood counts that we're trying to cure in these patients ends up being one of the issues that you have when you take a JAK inhibitor. For that reason, a lot of patients stop taking them after a period of time. Once you come off a JAK inhibitor, you probably only have about a year of life left.
That the consequences of this treatment are eventually failing are quite severe. There's a huge unmet need here medically for patients to have treatment options that will allow them to for their disease to be modified and changed, and change the course of their life. Despite the fact these drugs are only symptomatic, the current market is well over $1 billion a year. This is as well as being a huge unmet medical need, is a huge commercial opportunity. Next slide, David. We've already completed extensive preclinical studies, which is what got us excited in the first place.
The chart on the left-hand side just shows what happens when you give a mouse that has a genetic mutation that mimics myelofibrosis, and you give them our drug, and you see a significant decrease in fibrosis in those animal models when you give it. From an animal model basis, you know, our drug is disease-modifying. The challenge now is to show whether that carries over when we use it in patients. The chart on the right-hand side just shows the first stage of our dose escalation study that was approved by the FDA. This, we gave three different doses. We saw a nice dose response curve here, in terms of inhibiting the enzyme.
At the highest dose, we saw greater than 90% inhibition of the lysolecithinases enzymes at both day seven and at day 28 as well. A sustained treatment. We clearly hit the target we're going after. The first tick in the box is, you know, does the drug inhibit the enzymes that we're targeting in man? The answer is yes. Does it do it in myelofibrosis patients? Yes. We had the first signs in this study also that the drug was very well-tolerated. Over those 28 days, those patients were treated at all three doses, but I guess we're particularly interested in the highest dose. We saw, you know, a really good safety profile. Very well-tolerated drug. Next slide, David. We've now gone into the phase II study.
This is an open label study targeting to recruit 24 patients. All the patients that come here have to have failed a JAK inhibitor or been ineligible for a JAK inhibitor. These are patients with, you know, on average about one year of life left, and they're going into a six-month study. This is a challenging study to try and demonstrate that this drug can help these patients. It's a difficult group of patients. They have to have a bone marrow fibrosis of grade 2 or higher. Bone marrow fibrosis is graded 0, 1, 2 or 3. In order to recruit those 24 patients, we've actually got 20 sites open across four different countries, Australia, South Korea, Taiwan and U.S.
This is a, you know, a full court press by the company to get this study recruited and see results from this because this is aiming to demonstrate both the safety of our drug and whether it works or not. Next slide, David. Because this is open label, we can look at the data as we go along, which is an advantage in this case. We do have six patients who have completed six months of therapy. I should also add at this point that we've now recruited 18 of those 24 patients. We are closing in rapidly on a fully recruited study. That's thanks to the efforts of our medical team, really pushing the effort in the last few months to try and find these patients.
These patients are not easy to find. They're quite rare. Now, those six patients that have finished, let's look at those. First of all, the thing to note is this drug is, has maintained its admirable tolerability record. We've seen no serious treatment-related adverse events reported in those six patients. Some of those patients have stayed on drug, and one of them I think is at more than a year's worth of treatment now. We are very confident that we have a well-tolerated drug. That is significant in the landscape of myelofibrosis drugs that are on the market and the ones that are being developed as well. One of the features of drugs in development is they also, many of them cause cytopenia, which I mentioned with JAK inhibitors, where they damaging of the blood cell counts.
Our drug appears at the moment to be doing really well on those counts. That's very pleasing and really opens up and was something the key opinion leaders we showed the data to immediately remarked on. It's the first thing they look for. Secondly, looking at efficacy, we found across the board, you know, some encouraging signs. I emphasize this is only the six patients. We need to wait to see more patient data. Out of those six patients, two of them showed improvements in symptoms. Remember, these are patients that are, you know, very sick, 12 months to live, so maintaining these patients is a good outcome. Two of the six are improving their treatment, symptom scores.
Five of the six had either stable or improved bone marrow fibrosis score of at least one grade. Five of the six had either stable or improved platelet and hemoglobin counts. We didn't see any reductions in spleen volume, which we'd expect to see when if the treatment was pursued for longer. Overall, you know, the quote that Malcolm gave earlier from Gabby Hobbs from Harvard Medical School and Mass General, you know, a very pleasing balance of great tolerability and some really encouraging signs of efficacy from these first six patients. We're enthusiastically waiting now for the rest of the patients to be completed and to be reporting on that by the middle of next year. Next slide, David.
The other one I wanted to delve just a little bit more time on was the scarring, and the collaboration we have with the University of Western Australia and Professor Fiona Wood. Scarring is a problem in, you know, hundreds of millions of patients worldwide. The total scar treatment market is well over AUD 19 billion, and the one that we are particularly targeting, keloid and hypertrophic scarring, is over AUD 3 billion. There's no doubt that this is an attractive commercial opportunity. The treatment of scarring at the moment. Standard of care is not that great. There's not much that can be done. Corticosteroids are used either topically or injected into scars. Surgical revisions, very often these patients have to go back and have their scars excised and closed again. Laser therapy is a very common treatment that's used.
All these things help a little bit, but there are no pharmacological treatments available that really deal with the scarring process on the skin, and very little in the clinic being developed as well. The enthusiasm that Professor Fiona Wood expresses for our program is because there's a fundamental belief that inhibiting the LOX enzymes in the skin will lead to a modification of the scarring process. And secondly that, you know, this is a very novel approach, and if you can give a drug to patients which will modify their scarring, then you really have helped a very large number of people. Professor Wood always emphasizes that the, you know, the impact of scarring is both psychological, and functional as well.
There's a cosmetic element to this which affects a lot of parameters, including mental health. But also function, that some of these scars often inhibit patients' movement and cause lifelong problems for them. Next slide, David. We're engaged in a study, a series of studies actually, but the first of them, which is underway at the moment with UWA, is a three-month study looking at this cream being used on its own to assess the dosage and the tolerability and efficacy of our drug when used in patients who have an established scar. These are patients who have had a scar for at least one year, that the scar is greater than 10 centimeters squared in area, and it excludes other certain types of scars like keloids at the moment.
That group are, we divided them into two. The first eight patients received a daily dose of the cream, and our objective there was to look at the level of drug we got into the skin. When we're dealing with a, with a tablet being swallowed, obviously, you can measure blood levels and see how much is absorbed. You can do the same thing with a cream, but we need to look at not only how much drug gets through to the through the central blood system, but also how much cream and the and the the drug is getting into the skin layers and whether it's penetrating to the right level where the scar is forming. We're then looking at the level of inhibition of those enzymes in the skin.
After doing those first eight patients, the next patients, another 42. Those first eight were open label, so they were all on active. The next 42 were randomized either to active or placebo. Again, looking to confirm the PK/ PD, the level of drug in the skin, the amount of enzyme inhibition, but then also looking at efficacy compared to placebo as well in these patients with a number of different physical and visual skin scar assessments. Next slide, David. I'm really pleased to report that as of this morning, we have 38 out of the 42 patients in that second cohort recruited. First cohort was fully recruited, and we reported on a month or two ago. This is a study which we believe will be fully recruited before the end of the year.
We're looking at results around the end of quarter one next year. The first cohort taught us a lot. First of all, we saw that the skin penetration and inhibition of LOX was right up there. We got no doubts that this drug, again, is getting into the skin and is inhibiting the enzymes very thoroughly. We saw a reduction in the biomarkers that we associate with the scarring process. In the skin biopsies that were taken at the end of three-month treatment, we saw reductions in the amount of collagen that was in the skin of these patients in the scar compared with the start of the therapy. We also saw reductions in the LOX enzyme as well.
Going back to my earlier example, this is a clear demonstration that we are modifying the scar formation process and it gives me great hope that this is a disease-modifying treatment that we're talking about. We did see some tolerability issues in those first eight patients, and we had four patients withdraw because of reddening at the site where the topical cream was being applied. As a result of that, the 42 patients that are going into the placebo controlled arm, we've reduced the dosage from daily to 3 x weekly. We're confident that that will still lead to a very high level of inhibition of the enzyme, so we don't believe that we're compromising the study.
We are also monitoring obviously the tolerability, and we haven't seen numbers of dropouts that would suggest that we have an issue now. We believe that from a tolerability perspective, we're seeing overall at the moment quite good responses from this study. We need to wait and see what happens at the end of the three-month period when we're looking at this, the active drug versus a placebo. Already, you know, we've got very positive feedback from Professor Wood and her colleagues, from the first eight patients in terms of what they're seeing in the way of scar modification. Next slide, please. Okay, that just leads us to a summary of what you should be looking for in the next periods.
Again, a reminder, you know, the cash, AUD 26 million at end of September, takes us through to the beginning of 2024. The myelofibrosis study, you know, we've invested heavily and significantly and really focused effort on that. We're expected to see that fully recruited by the end of the year, and getting data from that by the middle of next year. Hepatocellular carcinoma, which we haven't talked about today, you know, is another opportunity for the drug where it's being used on top of standard of care in newly diagnosed patients with liver cancer. First patient there is due to be recruited this quarter. PXS-6302, the topical one, just talked about the established scar study that's recruiting now. We expect to be fully recruited shortly.
Results in the H1 of next year. Post that, we're looking at a number of other studies that will explore different potential aspects of that drug and different types of scarring. Maybe in scar prevention as opposed to treating established scars in some particular indications. Finally, but not least, PXS-4728, an anti-inflammatory drug from our pipeline, that we were successful at getting $5 million in funding from Parkinson's UK. To put into a study of a serious sleep disorder that leads to patients developing Parkinson's on the back end of it. Very excited about that study and the fact that it's fully funded. That's due to start recruiting in the H1 of next year.
Again, thinking about Pharmaxis, the investment that, you know, our shareholders have made and we've made, we have reached a critical point. We do have studies now reporting on efficacy and tolerability endpoints in the next 12 months. It's a very exciting period to be with Pharmaxis at the moment. Next slide, David. That's backed up by the news flow, you know, where we're expecting still to see significant news flow before the end of the year. We will be at ASH, which is the American Society of Hematology, in December. This is the premier hematology conference worldwide. We're presenting the first of our results from the myelofibrosis study.
There are posters there on the, on PXS-5505 on myelofibrosis and on another blood disorder where we've got a preclinical collaboration with a university in Germany as well, which is very exciting. Really good to see the company out there in public, putting its results up, talking to other clinicians about the work that we're doing. We're increasingly becoming a go-to point for people when they wanna talk about fibrosis and inhibition of lysyl oxidase, that Pharmaxis is the destination for. Going into next year, we'll start to see those studies reporting, as I talked about. Again, a really exciting period for the company. With that, I'll hand over to David for the financial update.
Thank you Gary. Good morning ladies and gentlemen. What I would like to present to you now is some high-level commentary on the financials. The shareholders will be aware that we provide reasonably detailed financial information on a quarterly basis, only if we want to get for compliance or the requirements for reporting. The center column there, 12 months June 2022 is the year we're talking about. I've provided you with two years of history before that. I've given you the last three months as well because there's been a bit happening there that's worth commenting. If you want to understand the financials at Pharmaxis, you need to think about it in terms of our business segments. The new drug development, the Mannitol respiratory business and the corporate costs.
Starting with the new drug development, if you look at the major spend there for the 2022 year is AUD 5.4 million. That is the focus of our business. That oral LOX program is the myelofibrosis program, most of it was currently released at the trial that Gary's been talking about. The other trial, the other work we're doing, including the scarring work, it's actually included in that AUD 5.6 million. As you can see, the stocks right there, the spend emphasis on myelofibrosis is continuing into the current quarter. When we look at the Mannitol respiratory business, you'll see there's been a revenue growth there in the current year.
That growth is somewhat masked by the fact that we sold both our Russian and our Australian distribution rights to third parties at just at the beginning of the 2022 financial year. In doing so, we generated AUD 4 million worth of cash, but we also gave up some sales revenue. 8% is just light. The actual growth in terms of the market sales is largely to bring that revenue forward, so to speak, by AUD 2 million sort of into those transactions. The other revenue in the current year of AUD 2.34 million, AUD 2 million of that was actually the sale of the distribution rights that I mentioned.
In the prior year, AUD 15.9 million, most of that relates to milestones paid to us by Chiesi, on the approval, and launch of Bronchitol in the United States. When you look at, if you add together, you get basically AUD 16 million for 2021 and AUD 2.3 million from 2022. The AUD 7 million in the current quarter, 7,192, that relates to the Orbital option exercise that Malcolm referred to. That's a total of about AUD 25 million in non-dilutive funding that the company generated over these three years. We would also note that the Mannitol business is trending towards profitability again, which is the objective.
The corporate line item, if you pull out the foreign exchange gains and losses, that trends somewhere between about AUD 3.8 million and AUD 4.1 million-AUD 4.2 million around. Looking at the cash, I think the important thing I wanted to draw your attention to here is the pro forma cash and how that's made up. Pro forma means you take the cash and add to it the other items that are, you know, as good as cash or cash equivalent received. We finished September, so I'll use the current number rather than the June number. With AUD 11 million, we added AUD 4.9 million of what we expect to receive from our R&D tax credit, from a tax return that's about to be filed.
That relates to our expenditure in the 2022 financial year. The placement that costs, subject obviously to the shareholder approval. The second tranche will give us a total of $25 million. As Gary indicated, that's the investment cash, through to probably 2024. Two other items to mention on this to explain. If you look at our balance sheet, you will find two liabilities there and payments related to those liabilities are sitting below with a footnote to the right. One liability represents a lease we have on some of our IP, and the other relates to future payments related to net sales that will be made to a financier that assisted in product Bronchitol a number of years ago now.
That amount is payable, only to the extent that we sell product. The price of sale is yours and it's a fixed term. It's not a liability or debt or in traditional sense, there is no recourse. There's no repayment by way of sales. They're the high level things you need to understand maybe for financials, and I'll hand back now to Malcolm.
Thanks David and thanks Gary for those presentations. We're happy to take questions now, general questions in relation to those presentations. We will also have questions in relation to each specific item of business on the agenda. If you have issue specific questions, maybe leave them till then. If you have any general questions about the presentation, please feel free to ask them now. Do we have any questions online, David?
We have no questions.
Again, we'll just keep that monitor going on these questions, and we'll take them as they come up. If there are no questions on that general series of presentations, we will move to the formal items of business on the agenda. The first order of business is to receive and consider the Financial Report, Directors Report, and the Auditors Report of the company for the year ended 30 June 2022. These reports are contained in the statutory annual report of the company, which I table before the meeting. Are there any questions in relation to the financial report, directors report and the auditors report? The auditor is also available to answer questions.
No questions.
No questions. If you're late with your question button, no problems. We'll pick you up during the meeting. As this matter does not require a vote, I declare that the financial report, directors report, directors declarations, and the auditors report for the financial year ended 30 June 2022 have been received and adopted by the meeting. Just a reminder too that you can vote. Voting is open on all the following resolutions. Feel free to lodge your vote at any time. I will give you plenty of notice at the end of the meeting when we're about to close the poll. Resolution one is an ordinary resolution that relates to the adoption of the remuneration report.
The remuneration report describes the approach taken by the board in relation to salary reviews, short-term incentives, and how they relate to corporate performance and the granting of equity. The vote is an advisory vote. Voting exclusions apply. The proxy votes received prior to the meeting are displayed on the screen. AUD 287 million in favor, AUD 6.2 million against, AUD 3.7 million abstaining, and AUD 6.7 million excluded from the vote. There are AUD 1.015 million votes able to be cast by the chair. The board, where the chair of the board intends to vote in favor of the resolution, and they call vote in favor of all resolutions for proxies that are received in that regard. Are there any questions in relation to resolution one?
No questions.
No questions David. Thank you. As noted earlier, voting for this resolution and all other resolutions will be conducted as a poll, which remains open until the end of the formal items of business. Resolution two is an ordinary resolution that relates to the re-election of Dr. Kathleen Metters as a Non-Executive Director of the company. Before proceeding with the resolution, I'd like to invite Dr. Metters to say a few words about her background and contribution to the board, which has been outstanding.
Well, thank you Mal, and greetings to everybody from New York City, where it's very cold and blustery. Really, it's a great privilege to stand for re-election as a Non-Executive Director to the Pharmaxis board. I know that my biography has been circulated as part of the materials for this meeting, I did want to start by sharing briefly some key professional experiences that I bring to the board as a non-executive director. I'm formally trained as a scientist. I graduated with bachelor and postgraduate degrees, both in the United Kingdom, both in biochemistry from Manchester and then London. Following academia, I joined a large pharma, Merck, first in Canada and then into the U.S. There I spent almost three decades leading progressively larger research teams until my final position for the company, where I was head of worldwide basic research.
As part of that position, I was able to manage teams and projects across all therapeutic areas, across all of the therapeutic modalities that we use for modern drugs at multiple research sites globally. I learned not only a tremendous amount about the science of the business, but also the strategic view of the business, management and leadership of teams. Throughout this time, I had the opportunity to be involved with many important therapies, actually with high medical impact. The one that is closest and remains closest to my heart, the most rewarding to me personally, was Singulair, which is Merck's drug, an oral drug for asthma and allergy. This is a project where I was involved from initial testing. I think I was actually the first person to test it in a test tube in the lab.
Many years later, I went on a journey through the clinical development, commercialization, launch, post-launch, clinical trials. This project really was the fabric that wove my career together and gave me invaluable experience in all aspects of the business. Again, I feel I bring this to the board. I left Merck, went back to a very small company, not dissimilar in size to Pharmaxis, where I was appointed President and Chief Executive Officer. This was Lycera, based again in the U.S. Here the accomplishment was to successfully build a pipeline that was able to attract $100 million plus in financing. I'm now continuing to contribute to Biopharma, primarily through selected board positions such as this at Pharmaxis.
I wanted to just go back to June 2017 and tell you why I was excited to be invited to join the board at that time, because this is a decision that I will never regret. I was excited to join then, and I continue to be excited today. Why? As you've seen, there's an emerging pipeline with multiple innovative research programs with the potential to be life-changing for patients. That's why we're all in this business, to have impact on patients. This wouldn't have been possible without a world-class research team that has strong technical know-how and deep relationships, again, you've heard about this today. Deep relationships with the scientific community, particularly nationally. A motivated leadership and staff, probably most important of all, a commitment to rigor and scientific excellence. What do I bring to the board?
Well, again, my entire career has been dedicated to discovery and clinical sciences. As a board member, I bring depth and breadth in research experience to the team. To profit maximally from my technical expertise, I also serve as a member of the Pharmaxis Scientific Advisory Board. This is an important forum where the company interacts with key opinion leaders to ensure that external expertise of the highest order is also brought in to inform the pipeline. Beyond that, not just science, as I said, I've had experience in management, leadership, strategic thinking. Pharmaxis is a small company, and it's important for all board members to be maximally active and involved in many aspects and in committee membership.
Over the last five years, I've served both on the Remuneration and Nomination Committee, where I was previously the chair, and more recently, the Audit and Risk Committee, which I currently chair. Finally, I wanted to assure you that I have the bandwidth to contribute fully to the company in this role. I continue to be selective regarding appointments. I am on the board of directors of two other companies, Hemispherx Biopharma in the U.S., ASLAN Pharmaceuticals in Asia, and I also chair the scientific advisory board for Bridge Medicines, which is an academic initiative based in New York City, but I have no conflict of interest in any of these roles.
As you've heard, Pharmaxis is at really an incredibly exciting stage, and we're eagerly awaiting the further results from these clinical trials, and I'm truly looking forward to continuing to advise and shape the evolution of the company. With that, I'm respectfully submitting my candidature chairing this role. Thank you.
Thanks Kathleen. Additional details about Kathleen are of course included in the notice of the meeting as well. The proxy votes received prior to the meeting are set out online. 300 million in favor, 4.4 million against, 151,000 abstaining, zero proxy votes excluded, and 304,000 able to be voted by the chair. I intend to vote in favor of the resolution. Are there any questions?
None on the screen.
None on the screen. Can't see any hands up. If so, we will move to resolution three. Of course, you can vote at any time on all of the resolutions or just each resolution as we go through them. As you would be aware, Pharmaxis raised AUD 10 million in October of this year, with AUD 4.9 million being raised in the first tranche, which closed in October. The second tranche of AUD 5.1 million will close shortly after this meeting if we receive the necessary shareholder approval. Details of the placement are included in the notice of meeting. Resolution three is an ordinary resolution that relates to the ratification of issue of shares under tranche one placement. If shareholders approve the resolution, the company's 15% capacity will be refreshed. Voting exclusions apply in respect to Resolution three.
The proxy votes received prior to the meeting are set out online. That's 186 million in favor, 6.4 million against, 80.1 million votes abstaining, zero proxy votes excluded, 304,000 discretionary, which I intend to vote in favor of the resolution. Are there any questions in relation to this resolution three regarding the placement?
None on the screen.
No questions on the screen. Thanks David. Again, feel free to ask questions throughout the meeting. If no further questions, we'll move on to resolution four. Resolution four is an ordinary resolution that relates to the approval of the issue of shares under tranche two of the placement. If shareholders approve the resolution, the company will be able to issue the tranche two placement shares. Voting exclusions apply in respect to resolution four. The proxy votes received prior to the meeting are set out online. They are AUD 154 million in favor, AUD 6.4 million against, AUD 112 million votes abstaining from the resolution. That's largely from the institutions and shareholders that participated. Zero proxy votes excluded from the meeting. AUD 304,000 discretionary, which I intend to vote in favor of the resolution. Any questions, David?
No questions.
No questions online. Thank you. Resolution five is an ordinary resolution that relates to the grant of performance rights to Gary Phillips, our CEO. If shareholders approve the resolution, the performance rights will be granted after this meeting pursuant to the existing employee incentive plan of the company. The terms of the performance rights are set out in the notice of meeting. The performance rights have a life of 10 years and will vest in two equal tranches, at each of 30 June 2024 and 2025, subject to Gary being an eligible person on those dates. The performance rights are being granted with the aim of rewarding, incentivizing, and retaining Mr. Phillips in the long term. Voting exclusions apply in respect to resolution five. The proxy votes received in relation to the resolution before the meeting is set out online.
287 million in favor, 10 million against, 5.9 million abstaining, one million votes excluded, and 304 thousand discretionary, which I'll be voting in favor of the resolution. Are there any questions, David?
No questions.
No questions on resolution five. This is appropriate. As noted in the 2022 remuneration report, performance rights granted to all the plan participants, including Mr. Phillips, between 2018. That is just commentary. I won't bore you with that level of detail. The next item is resolution six-A to six-C. They're three ordinary resolutions that relate to the approval of the ability to grant zero-priced, zero grant price and zero exercise price options, known as ZEPOs, to non-executive directors. Shareholders' approval would give non-executive directors the flexibility to elect to continue to receive their base remuneration only in cash, or to receive their base remuneration in a combination of cash and ZEPOs or wholly in ZEPOs.
Accordingly, the ZEPOs will only be granted if the directors elect to receive them as part of their base remuneration. The ZEPOs will have a term of five years and will vest in equal quarterly installments commencing at the end of the quarter in which the ZEPOs are granted, such that any ZEPOs granted any financial year would vest in the same financial year in which they are granted, subject to the non-executive director continuing to be an eligible person at the time of vesting. Voting exclusions apply with respect to each resolution six- A to six- C. Rather than asking for questions at the end of each resolution six- A to six- C, I'll propose to group the questions relating to these resolutions at this time. Does anyone have any questions in relation to resolution six- A to six- C?
None on the screen.
Moving now to resolution six- A. This resolution relates to the ability to grant ZEPOs to me. The proxy votes received in relation prior to the meeting are set out online, on the screen. 287 million in favor, 10.8 million against, 6.0 million votes abstaining, 1.039 million primary votes, proxy votes excluded from voting, and 536 thousand proxy votes able to be voted discretionary by me, which I will vote in favor of the resolution. Resolution six- B relates to the ability to grant ZEPOs to Dr. Neil Graham. The proxy votes received prior to the meeting are set out online.
287 million in favor, 10.9 million against, 6.0 million votes abstaining the resolution, 1.0 million primary votes, proxy votes excluded from voting, and 341,000 discretionary, which I'll vote in favor of the resolution. Resolution six- C relates to the ability to grant ZEPOs to Dr. Kathleen Metters. The proxy votes received prior to the meeting are set out online, and they are 287 million votes in favor, 11.0 million votes against, 5.9 proxy votes abstaining from the resolution, one million proxy votes excluded from voting, and 327,000 proxies able to be voted by the chair or board in favor of the resolution. If there are no further questions on resolutions six- A to six- C, we'll move to resolution seven- A.
Resolution seven- A and seven- B are ordinary resolutions that relate to the grant of each non-executive director of three million options over ordinary shares known as NED options. The NED options would have a term of five years and would vest in equal quarterly installments over three years, subject to the non-executive director continuing to be an eligible person at the vesting time. The NED options would be granted for zero grant price and would have an exercise price per net option that is 51% premium to the five-day trading VWAP prior to the date of acceptance. Voting exclusions apply in respect to resolution seven- A, seven- B and seven- C. Rather than asking for questions at the end of each resolution, I propose to group the questions relating to these resolutions. Does anyone have any questions in relation to resolution seven-A, seven-B or seven-C?
No questions.
Moving now to resolution seven-A. This resolution relates to the ability to grant NED options to me. The proxy votes received prior to the meeting are set out online. 286 million votes in favor of the resolution, 11.1 million votes against the resolution, 7.2 million votes abstaining, zero proxy votes excluded from voting, and 307,000 discretionary proxies able to be voted, which I will vote in favor of the resolution. Resolution seven-B relates to the ability to grant NED options to Dr. Neil Graham. Proxy votes received prior to the meeting are set out online.
286 million votes in favor of the resolution, 11.1 million proxy votes against the resolution, 7.2 million proxy votes abstaining, zero proxy votes excluded from voting, 327,000 proxy votes able to be voted by the chair or board, which the chair intends to vote in favor of the resolution. Resolution seven-C relates to the ability to grant NED options to Dr. Kathleen Metters. The proxy votes received prior to the meeting are set out online. 286 million votes in favor of the resolution, 11 million proxy votes against the resolution, 7.1 million votes abstaining, zero proxy votes excluded, 307,000 proxy votes able to be voted by the chair, which the chair intends to vote in favor of the resolution.
That concludes our discussion on the items of the business. If there are any further questions, please put your hand up now or press your vote, your question button. I will shortly close the voting system. Please ensure that you've cast your votes on all resolutions, and I'll pause briefly to allow you time to finalize those votes. Some quiet music in the background. I'll close the voting shortly. Are there any further questions, David, at this stage?
No further questions.
There's no further questions. I will close the voting system in 10 seconds. I now declare the voting is closed for the poll. The results of these votes will be released to the stock exchange later today. As there are no further business to be considered at this meeting, I declare the meeting closed. Thanks for attending, and we look forward to doing a live or hybrid meeting next year.