Question-and-Answer Session
Operator
[Operator Instructions]. And your first question comes from the line of Eric Schmidt with Cowen and Company. Please proceed.
Eric Schmidt
Good afternoon. George, I am not sure I got exactly all of the language you used when you discussed decreasing your cost base to a level that sort of – not sure what you said here, roughly equal or sort of equal to net cash intake? What specifically are you guiding toward in terms of the future cash run rate versus the monies you can get from partnerships?
George Scangos
Yeah, I think Eric what by cash or what I am trying to say is we are going to -- we intend to bring in substantial cash through partnering activities and we're in a lot of discussions. We're quite confident that we can sign some attractive partnerships and bring in substantial amounts of cash. We obviously want to be independent of the capital markets for a substantial period of time. So each partnership that we sign does one of two things; either it brings in cash, and it will either off-load cost if a partner decides to take on the development, in which case we will eliminate obviously the external clinical costs and we can reduce headcount to reduce our internal costs. Or the partner can elect to pay us to continue the development in which case actually our costs wouldn't be decreased but our net cash usage or burn sometimes would be decreased. So we have to bring that burn, that cash usage, inline with the cash that we're able to bring in so that we're independent of the capital markets certainly through ?09 and well grow beyond that period of time. Right now, in any case, let me be clear, regardless of how the partnering sorts out, we will reduce our cost basis from where it has been this year. We have to do that. The cost basis we have isn't sustainable in the current environment.
Eric Schmidt
I think I follow you. All right.
George Scangos
I'm sorry, Eric. There are two components. One is reducing absolute cash use, period. How much we spend. And more importantly than that is reducing the net cash usage to burn.
Eric Schmidt
Okay. So I guess the bottom line is you think that you can maintain roughly the same levels of cash that you have now, be financially independent of the markets, as you say, for the next year or two, based on the partnerships that you're kind of able to envision over that period of time?
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