the conversation specifically mentioned "trying to hire back most of the team that was...."

So it sounds like more than one. I don't doubt my friend as I've known him 15 years, he was floored by the conversation he walked into, is also a MNKD shareholder and is a President of a local business.

Although hope is not a strategy ... I read this as a positive sign. You would not hire unless something good was happening be it partnership, distribution to foreign, or busy trial