Morning, everyone, and thank you for joining our update on the first full quarter of operations of Vitrafy Life Sciences since our IPO. It has been a very, very busy period for the company, as you will have no doubt read. Brent is currently in the U.S., so Simon and I will be providing the update today, as Tim just mentioned, and we will leave plenty of time for Q&A. As I've already mentioned, it has been a very busy quarter. We announced in April that the Phase 1 blood platelet study with the United States Army Institute of Surgical Research was successfully completed. We were awarded a AUD 4.8 million Industry Growth Program grant from the Australian government to support the development of VCU2 and to facilitate our commercialization plans. We continued to progress in the prioritized animal health areas of aquaculture and bovine semen cryopreservation.
We continued development of VCU2 and the upgrade of the LifeChain software, both of which are on track. We have further strengthened our business development capabilities in the U.S. with the key appointment of our new VP of Business Development, and we are currently working through our pipeline of opportunities there. And importantly, we are in a strong financial position with closing cash and term deposits of AUD 34 million to fund the company's continued development and commercialization activities. In February, Vitrafy assisted with the summer fertilization program for Huon Aquaculture under our current commercial contract. The summer insemination program included fertilization from fresh salmon milt from Vitrafy's cryopreserved salmon milt and from cryopreserved milt from a competitor. The results for Vitrafy's cryopreserved salmon milt were impressive, as you can see on the slide, and we were on par with fertilization from fresh salmon milt, which was really pleasing.
As a result, in May, Vitrafy will work with Huon to cryopreserve a minimum of 750 packs of salmon milt, up from 500 packs last May. Since 2022, the quantity of salmon milt packs cryopreserved by Vitrafy has had a compound annual growth rate of 55.3% per annum, albeit of a small base, but you've got to celebrate those sort of wins. This consistent growth is reflective of the growing interest in artificial insemination within the salmon breeding industry and how it can positively impact hatchery and harvest management. As a result, we're now in discussions to undertake a paid pilot with another domestic salmon provider in the coming quarter. We are continuing to work with Select Sires on the on-site Phase II trial following the positive results from our Phase I trial.
The new administration in the U.S. has caused us some delays in the timing of that trial as transport and customs were disrupted by the federal government's efficiency program, but we expect to be able to progress with that trial in Q4. As mentioned earlier, the U.S. Army Institute of Surgical Research has successfully completed Phase 1 of the blood platelet study using Vitrafy's cryopreservation technology with outstanding results. This phase one study was the first independent scientific testing of commercial unit sizes of cryopreserved blood platelet samples. That is a key distinction with the study undertaken by Australian Red Cross Lifeblood, which was of smaller sample sizes. Validation testing included Vitrafy's cryopreservation technology as well as our proprietary processes and protocols for blood platelets with and without cryoprotectants. This is a very important outcome of this study.
This study demonstrated that Vitrafy's technology can successfully cryopreserve commercial units of blood platelets without using cryoprotectants, which is very new for the industry. All blood platelet samples evaluated displayed post-thaw recoveries of 88%. Those rates are well above the desired threshold. There was also full functionality of the cells, which again is a great result. Having exceeded all validation milestones, we are now proceeding to the next phase of the project, which we anticipate to be completed within 2025, and that will include the commencement of commercial discussions. The United States Army Institute of Surgical Research and Vitrafy are also discussing joint marketing and education opportunities surrounding the innovative nature of Vitrafy's cryopreservation technology.
It is expected this will include media coverage via military channels, conference presentations, and joint efforts to educate the market surrounding the value of Vitrafy's technology in delivering a higher standard of trauma care in both military and civilian settings. Needless to say, these results have further aided the pipeline of business development opportunities that Vitrafy has been working on in the U.S. in the blood products market. We are also continuing to build out our pipeline of opportunities for use of Vitrafy's cryopreservation technology in the cell and gene therapy settings. We have active conversations in Australia and in the U.S. with significant industry participants, and we are continuing to invest in building out a robust data set to further validate the value proposition for potential users. On the product development side, both VCU2 and the LifeChain programs of work are progressing well into plan.
What was particularly pleasing in this quarter was for Vitrafy to be awarded a AUD 4.8 million Industry Growth Program grant, which followed a six-month assessment process. The Industry Growth Program is an Australian government initiative that is intended to provide grant funding to support the development of Australian technology both at an early stage and at commercialization stage. Vitrafy's grant was part of their commercialization and growth program, which assesses Australian companies with technology that has the potential for global commercialization. To be awarded this grant is a strong endorsement of the quality and potential of Vitrafy's cryopreservation technology and its application globally. The grant funding will support the development of VCU2 for commercialization. We are also pleased to have made a key appointment in the U.S. of our VP of Business Development, Dr. Brad Neal Taylor.
Brad holds a PhD in genetics and molecular biology and has extensive experience in the cellular therapy sector and within the broader scientific community in the U.S. He has previously held various leadership roles in technical support, product management, and marketing in both large-scale companies and innovative startups. We are very pleased to be able to have attracted the talent of the caliber of Brad's to our team. I'll now hand over to Simon to talk about the finances.
Thank you, Kate. So in terms of financials, you can see there on the slide, we've got a strong balance sheet. We have plenty of cash. We banked the first half, actually, of the industry growth grant in March, just before the end of the quarter. That was paid in advance and is effectively earned as we incur the costs of the product project, principally VCU2. So you'll see that earned over the, well, it'll be earned over the next six months. We will probably bank the balance of that grant over FY 2026 in terms of cash, but from a revenue perspective, it'll be earned as we incur the costs of that project. Our expenditure is, as you can see there on the slide, been running at 1.1 roughly a month. Obviously, our net change was a lot lower because of the grant income and interest.
We expect our cash costs will increase substantially into the next half as we ramp up product development and alongside that, ramp up our team and activities in terms of business development, particularly in marketing in North America, which Brad is getting underway. So you'll see our cash burn in the second half roughly double and then settle back down into 2026 as we come through the peak of product development, settling back down more like the levels we're experiencing now. So we believe we've got a really strong cash position. We've got a long runway. We believe it's at least a couple of years and based on the current programs. And of course, we will look to extend that further by generating good income into 2026.
Finally, on the outlook there, you can see we're continuing to focus the blend, obviously, of getting through the product programs in terms of LifeChain and VCU2, looking at, and at the same time, ramping up our customer-facing or market-facing activities. So we are expecting to bring on significant headcount in that commercialization work over the next quarter.
Thanks, Simon. So in conclusion, we are really proud of what the Vitrafy team has achieved over the last quarter. We are building a strong pipeline of commercial opportunities. We are developing our products with a strong program management discipline. We are building out our team conscious of appointing the right talent at the right time in the right locations. And importantly, we are managing the capital that we raised last November responsibly. So thank you, and we'll now open to questions.
Thank you, Kate. For those audience members in the call, if you do have any questions, please submit them via the chat function in the Zoom portal. There are a couple of questions that we have already. Firstly, from Martin Jacobs from Bell Potter, could you please provide some more detail around what your pipeline looks both generally and specifically from the relationship with the US Army?
I think in the blood market, innovation starts. It's more of a traditional market as compared to cell and gene therapy. Innovation often starts in the military sector and then moves into the more civilian blood market. And the way the blood market operates in the U.S., there's sort of two main players, the Red Cross and Blood Centers of America, which is a sort of organization of a lot of independent biobanks. So we are now in conversations both from the bottom up, from a number of biobanks, as well as the BCA as potential partners.
Yeah, perfect. Thank you, Kate. And there's a follow-up question from Martin relating to the research and development activities that were conducted as part of the U.S. military testing, specifically the use of no cryoprotectant in the cryopreservation of the blood platelets. The 88% recovery rate seems impressive for that non-cryoprotectant cryopreservation protocol. How do you see that process continuing, and do you believe you'll be able to maintain such high recovery rates without cryoprotectants?
That's just further work that we're going to be doing, and this was a really good first step, and we're feeling very positive about what we can do with that quite new outcome for the market.
Excellent. And I think one of the key things there, Kate, to emphasize is the optimization process that we will continue as part of Phase Two with the U.S. military, and that's part of our collaboration to commercialization strategy as well. A question from Edgar Doble. What, if any, will the problems in the Tassie salmon production impact Vitrafy's relationships with the industry?
With every problem, there's an opportunity, and I think Vitrafy's technology makes the industry more sustainable and can be a data point as to how the industry is taking steps to be more sustainable. Vitrafy, a cryopreservation way of fertilizing can have some benefits and can make it more sustainable. So we're looking at how we craft what we offer to that market as an opportunity to help with the challenges that they've been experiencing. And to date, they haven't impacted us.
Perfect. Thank you, Kate.
Did you want to add anything, Tim, given that?
I think that adequately sums up the opportunity for Vitrafy to work with the groups in Tasmania specifically on how we can continually improve their processes and the way they conduct business for a more efficient and environmentally conscious activity set. So one of the things that we will be coming up as part of Q4 is obviously continuing to engage with not only our existing partner in Huon, but also prospective partners that we have alluded to on how we can help improve them through not only our cryopreservation technology, but also LifeChain to optimize the workflows that they undertake. One for you, Simon, from Ian Urquhart. Given the tariff changes in the U.S., what are you doing with respect to equipment manufacturing offshore or onshore in the U.S. or other risk mitigants that you're putting in place to manage that for the business?
Thanks, Tim. Thanks, Ian, for the question. Yes, part of the original plan was always to look to manufacture as close to customer as possible. The partner Planet Innovation that we are using on design has manufacturing capacity and capability in the US, which is one of the reasons we chose them. So yes, we are currently looking at the bill of materials as that product develops to understand how much the tariffs would be. As you would appreciate, there are components that make up that, some of which may come from offshore, but we're going to be looking to source as much in the U.S. and manufacture and assemble locally to avoid that.
Another question for you from Sam Wells. Can you please talk to the benefits of the Vitrafy technology not having to use cryoprotectants or toxic cryoprotectants aside from the simplified processes and lower costs? How much interest has arisen from these findings in terms of business development?
I think it's very early days for the no cryoprotectant, but I think the biggest advantage is if you use a cryoprotectant in the field, for example, cryoprotectants are quite toxic, many of them, and have to be washed out before the sample can be transfused. That step can be eliminated if you don't need to use cryoprotectants. So it will generate interest, and we're navigating how that distinction can be optimized for the company.
Perfect. Thank you, Kate. In addition to that, another follow-up from Tom. Has the macro backdrop slowed potential CGT partnerships? What can we expect in that vertical over the next 12 months?
Obviously, the change in administration. There's been discussions about funding of science and all that type of thing, but I think CGT is still a very promising sector that everyone is very excited about. I think just next week is the International Society for Cell & Gene Therapy conference in New Orleans, which Brent is attending, as is Brad, our new VP of Business Development. So there is still a very vibrant industry there looking for innovation. And the difference between the blood sector, traditional blood sector, and the cell and gene therapy sector is that it is emerging. So they are quite innovative and looking for ways to reduce the cost. So we're still very excited and still in discussions with a number of players. The other thing is sort of the blood banks are starting to collect cells for cell and gene therapy.
So the two industries are starting to work together, and we see that as another opportunity for us.
Just a final call for any last questions from the audience members. Otherwise, we will wrap up this Q3 investor briefing from Vitrafy. Very good. Kate, over to you for any final remarks and closing.
No, thank you. As I said, we're very proud of what the team have achieved over the past quarter, and we will continue to work really, really hard to deliver the outcomes going forward. So thank you for attending.