EP117: How One CEO Cleaned Up His Cap Table in Six Months

Thomas Jensen didn't leave university research to make more money. He left because he wanted to make a real difference for cancer patients. After 20+ years in oncology and biotech, he's doing exactly that as CEO and co-founder of Allarity Therapeutics.

The company he built centers on a radical idea: every patient's cancer is unique, so every treatment should be unique too. Using a proprietary platform that analyzes messenger RNA in tumor cells, Allarity can predict which patients will respond to specific cancer drugs rather than just drug classes.

The results speak for themselves. In advanced ovarian cancer patients who often have only 3-4 months to live when they enroll in trials, Allarity's dual-mechanism therapy is showing 25 months overall survival. That's nearly a year better than the best approved drugs on the market, with minimal toxicity. Patients take three capsules a day and go about their lives.

Jensen's journey wasn't smooth. When he took over as CEO in December 2023, he inherited a cap table loaded with preferred shares on unfavorable terms. Within six months, he'd cleaned it up completely. By May 2024, every Series A and Series B preferred shareholder had left, and the company was raising capital on favorable terms.

Now listed on NASDAQ under ticker ALLR, Allarity is expanding beyond ovarian cancer into small-cell lung cancer through a fully funded VA trial. The goal is to combine their low-toxicity drug with traditional chemotherapy to achieve high response rates without stacking toxic side effects.

Jensen's advice for other CEOs facing seemingly impossible challenges? Surround yourself with people who disagree with you. Stay open to different approaches. And remember: it's never too late to right the ship.

"Surround yourself with people that you like, but that also disagree with you. Because for me, it has been good to go to people that have a totally different approach on life and things as myself." - Thomas Jensen

Key moments in the episode (times are approximate):

• 02:07 - Overview of Allarity Therapeutics and its mission 
• 02:30 - How the drug response prediction platform works
• 04:31 - Results in advanced ovarian cancer: 25 months overall survival 
• 05:24 - Expansion into small cell lung cancer through VA partnership
• 06:46 - Why Allarity's dual-mechanism drug shows minimal toxicity
• 08:06 - The importance of combining biomarkers with therapies 
• 09:15 - Working with the VA on clinical trials 
• 10:03 - Thomas's early career and decision to leave university research 
• 13:32 - Transition from research to industry and business development 
• 16:18 - Taking over as CEO and inheriting a challenging financial structure 
• 18:52 - The decision-making process for fixing the cap table 
• 22:27 - Importance of advisors and common sense in complex decisions 
• 23:09 - Why CEOs often delay hard decisions that need to be made
• 24:10 - Building relationships with preferred shareholders during the transition
• 25:03 - Timeline: cleaning up the cap table in less than six months 
• 26:07 - What drives Thomas today: deploying precision medicine at scale 
• 28:11 - Advice for CEOs facing significant challenges 
• 29:18 - The value of surrounding yourself with people who disagree with you 
• 30:05 - Final thoughts on persistence and mission-driven leadership

About Thomas Jensen:

Thomas Jensen is the CEO and co-founder of Allarity Therapeutics (NASDAQ: ALLR), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company pioneering personalized cancer treatments. Under his leadership, the company is advancing stenoparib, a dual PARP/WNT inhibitor, through Phase 2 trials in advanced ovarian cancer. Allarity specializes in advancing precision medicines supported by its proprietary Drug Response Predictor (DRP®) companion diagnostic platform. With over 20 years of global biotech and oncology experience, Thomas has held leadership roles across R&D and corporate strategy, and he is passionate about accelerating access to precision therapies for patients with limited treatment options.

About Allarity:

Allarity Therapeutics is redefining personalized cancer care. The company's lead asset, stenoparib, is a next-generation dual PARP/WNT pathway inhibitor currently in Phase 2 development for advanced ovarian cancer. By leveraging its proprietary Drug Response Predictor (DRP®) companion diagnostic, Allarity aims to match patients with the therapies most likely to benefit them. With a recent Fast Track designation from the FDA and promising data showing a median overall survival of over 25 months, stenoparib is demonstrating potential where many therapies fall short. Allarity is headquartered in Florida, with research operations in Denmark, and remains committed to unlocking the promise of precision oncology. Learn more at www.allarity.com.