Smooth,
Here is what Rabin said in March Conference Call.
I just returned from Europe where we had some great meetings. As far as the RPE program goes, it would be highly premature to seek partners early in the phase 1 study as we are hopeful that even though we are dealing with late stage patients, we will soon have data on retinal engraftment of our cells, and thier impact on photorecptor function. If we see no safety issues, and are able to detect some engraftment of our cells to the photoreceptor / Bruch's membrane, we will obviously be dealing from a much stronger valuation and negotiating position. It is quite possible that within about 12 weeks of commencement of the trials, we may have a pretty interesting set of data to evaluate and discuss, covering an early look at a total of 6 patients between the two trials.
