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ShareRoot plans Opyl transformation under leadership of Michelle Gallaher and Julian Chick

Last updated: 12:54 19 Nov 2019 AEDT, First published: 11:30 19 Nov 2019 AEDT

Snapshot

Investors will vote on a security consolidation and rebrand as Opyl at an upcoming meeting.

chart showing data value appreciation
  • Opyl is the new company name shareholders will vote on — it’s also the name of the company’s lead asset. 
  • Michelle Gallaher now leads the redomiciled Australian company, joined by Dr Julian Chick as chairman. 
  • Cost reductions and a narrowed focus have been a notable aspect at ShareRoot since digital transformation strategist Gallaher took the helm in March 2019 and Chick became chairman in May 2019. 

Through the advent of artificial intelligence … we have a window into the real world of patients and physicians as they engage and self-report outcomes, concerns, opinions, perceptions and build inclusive and diverse networks on social media, enabling better and more precise treatment and care for patients.

ShareRoot chief executive officer Michelle Gallaher and chairman Dr Julian Chick, October 9, 2019

What does ShareRoot do?

Shareroot Ltd (ASX:SRO) is data science-driven biotechnology company undergoing a transformation under the leadership of high-profile Melbourne biotechnology figure Michelle Gallaher.

The company has switched its home to Australia from the US this year and is based in Melbourne’s St Kilda area.

ShareRoot is planning a rebrand for its data-driven health information business and will present its proposal to shareholders next week as it hopes to adopt the name Opyl Limited and refine its positioning.

The company has already significantly reduced costs by relocating its centre of operations to Australia and restructuring its team.

By further repositioning its business, it hopes to improve brand recognition for its various service offerings and take its vision into the future.

ShareRoot chief executive officer Michelle Gallaher and chairman Dr Julian Chick used the company’s annual report last month to confirm a strategic direction for the company and highlight improvements to the company’s strategic approach and funding.

The pair wrote, “ShareRoot is now resourced to create and contribute unique value into the emerging real-world data-rich intelligent global health ecosystem that is shaping and rebuilding the way medicine is practised and drug discovery undertaken.

“The three key value-generating pillars underpinning the company are services, technologies and partnerships, defined by a clear understanding of the emerging dynamics and opportunities within the global health market and the capability to deliver within each pillar.”

Who leads ShareRoot?

Chief executive officer Michelle Gallaher is a long-time life sciences professional with more than 25 years’ industry experience.

The entrepreneur and industry advocate founded and led ShareRoot acquisition The Social Science (TSS) specialist social media marketing agency as its managing director.

She took the helm at ShareRoot in March 2019 to champion the company’s strategic development plan.

Gallaher previously led BioMelbourne network as its CEO and has a number of awards under her belt, including Telstra Victorian Business Woman of the Year and Victorian Entrepreneur of the Year.

The applied sciences professional, MBA and digital transformation strategist serves on a number of boards as a non-executive director, including The Actuator, Australia’s national medical technology accelerator, and Clinical Trials Australia.

Gallaher is an energetic advocate for women in science and co-founded the Women in STEMM Australia advocacy organisation which she continues to chair.

ShareRoot chairman since May 2019, Dr Julian Chick has more than 20 years’ experience in capital markets and life sciences and health sciences (LSHS).

Dr Chick, a physiologist, has spent the past 15 years in executive management at life sciences companies.

The former funds manager and venture capitalist grew funds under management by $185 million to over $300 million over a 5-year period, with an average annual return of more than 20%.

Chick has raised more than $300 million globally for LSHC companies while drawing on his in-depth understanding of the industry’s various sectors.

What does ShareRoot own?

ShareRoot’s key assets are its digital data and artificial intelligence services and technologies for the global healthcare sector.

The company previously had a wider focus as it took a consent and privacy platform, MediaConsent, to a wide industry base in global markets such as the US.

These days the now-Australian company is firmly focused on the healthcare industry.

US development of MediaConsent was suspended earlier this year and Australian-only development of the MediaConsent Clinical continues as a secondary activity.

ShareRoot hopes to set a new course with its new company name and technology brand, Opyl, the company’s key focus for revenue generation.

Opyl is a priority technology the company views as having the best revenue potential for the group, having established product milestones set for financial year 2020.

Gallaher and ShareRoot chairman Chick highlighted future opportunities for the business in the company’s 2019 annual report, saying in October 2019 “ShareRoot’s research indicates that patients are very willing to share health data if it will provide better care for them or help others going through the same distressing experience with illness, injury or living with disorders.

“As a result patient-to-patient social networks, health and wellness apps and physician-to-physician education and engagement platforms are burgeoning.

“Lakes of new structured and unstructured data are being created combined with traditional clinical records, offering a complex and accurate view into the real lived experience of patients and carers managing diseases, disorders and injuries.

“Unmet clinical needs are being revealed and highlighted in the data, which is invaluable to technology developers and healthcare providers.”

What are ShareRoot’s next steps?

ShareRoot, as Opyl, plans to step in to fill a niche by ethically collating, analysing and presenting patient data for actioning as part of an industry-wide disruption approach to the knowledge contained in patients’ self-reported and shared experiences.

Gallaher and Chick wrote, “Through the advent of artificial intelligence to aggregate, integrate and interpret these data sets, we have a window into the real world of patients and physicians as they engage and self-report outcomes, concerns, opinions, perceptions and build inclusive and diverse networks on social media, enabling better and more precise treatment and care for patients.

“Clinical datasets are objective and structured, but the world of patient and physician-generated content is personal, subjective, perceptive unstructured data and though it’s more challenging it’s richer and more real.

“Ethically tapping into this more nuanced data set, combined with machine learning and natural language processing to deliver deep audience insights and predictability is where ShareRoot can develop a unique value proposition and deliver exponential value for stakeholders.”

Inflection points

  • Shareholder vote for the Opyl company name rebrand at the upcoming meeting in Melbourne on November 27, 2019
  • The proposed new name introduction and an expected 100-for-1 share and option consolidation after the vote
  • Financial year and calendar year 2020 progress towards company repositioning and continued cost reductions for the restructured business
  • Continued revenues from The Social Science digital communications agency and clinical trial recruitment consultants
  • Revenues from emerging insight technology Opyl as clients and piloters draw on social media and AI-collected data for product development activities
  • The evolution and advancement of the company’s other technology pipeline offerings, and associated revenues from their uptake
  • Key transactions and wider merger & acquisition activity globally
  • Data science and health informatics industry step-changes and Big Pharma support for creating products inspired by real-life patient and physician-reported data

ShareRoot will hold its annual general meeting in Victoria on November 27, 2019, at Engine House, 105 Wellington Street, St Kilda at 10am AEDT.

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