Asensus Surgical, Inc.

Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the Ascensus Surgical Inc. Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2023 Financial and Operating Results Conference Call. At this time, all lines are in listen-only mode. Following the presentation, we will conduct a question and answer session. If at any time during this call you require immediate assistance, please press star zero for the operator. This call is being recorded on Thursday, March 21st. I would now like to turn the conference over to Mark Klausner from Westwick Partners. Please go ahead.

Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you for joining us for the Ascensus Surgical Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2023 Business and Financial Update Conference Call. On the call with me today are Anthony Fernando, President and Chief Executive Officer, and Shamiz Rampertab, Chief Financial Officer. Before we begin, I would like to caution listeners that certain information discussed by management during this conference call, including any guidance provided, are forward-looking statements covered under the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Actual results could differ materially from those stated or implied by our forward-looking statements due to risks and uncertainties associated with the company's business, including any geopolitical factors beyond our control. The company undertakes no obligation to update the information provided on this call. For a discussion of risks and uncertainties associated with the Ascensus Surgical business, I encourage you to review the company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including the 2023 Form 10-K expected to be filed today and any other filings we make with the SEC. During this call, we will also present certain non-GAAP financial information related to adjusted net loss attributable to common stockholders and the adjusted net loss per common share attributable to common stockholders. Management believes that these non-GAAP financial measures, taken in conjunction with U.S. GAAP financial measures, provide useful information for both management and investors by excluding certain non-cash and other expenses that are not indicative of the company's core operating results. Management uses non-GAAP financial measures to compare our performance relative to forecast and strategic plans to benchmark outperformance externally against competitors and for certain compensation decisions. Reconciliations from U.S. GAAP to non-GAAP results are presented in the tables accompanying our earnings release, which can be found in the investor relations section of our website. With that, it's my pleasure to turn the call over to a Census Surgical President and Chief Executive Officer, Anthony Fernando.

Thanks, Mark. And thank you all for being with us today. To start, I'll give a summary of our recent performance and notable accomplishments in 2023. Then Shamice will dive into our financial results. Following that, I'll discuss our focus areas for 2024. And finally, we'll open the floor for any questions you may have. I'm pleased with the progress we've made throughout 2023 and the solid foundation we've built for the future. We continue to drive greater adoption and utilization of both Senhance and the ISU while at the same time making significant progress towards the development of our next generation Lunar Surgical System. Growing procedure volumes remains a critical factor as we seek to refine and enhance our digital surgery capability. Globally, over 3,550 procedures were performed using the Sennheis system in 2023, delivering 13% increase from 2022. During the fourth quarter, we saw over 835 Sennheis procedures performed across a variety of specialties globally. As we continue to gather surgical data, our machine learning engine improves enabling us to provide valuable clinical insights to surgeons through the ISU. A testament to this, last month, we announced the completion of more than 1,000 successful cases each at three hospitals, Evangelatius Krankenhaus Wesel in Germany, Klaipeda University Hospital in Lithuania, and Presidential Clinic Astana in the CIS region. Another encouraging trend we've observed is at Ida Oberstein Hospital, where in just four months since the program's initiation in November 2023, they have completed over 110 cases. These achievements underscore the growing acceptance and confidence in Senhance and how our customers are realizing the value Senhance brings to the OR. Due to the increased procedure volumes, our trust registry now includes data from over 3,200 patients with a growing number of cases, which has been aided by the continued expansion of sites participating in the registry. Additionally, during the year, nine peer-reviewed clinical publications were published, including a paper exploring surgeon stress levels using SELHEAD. Led by trust investigators, this study compared stress levels between surgeons using Senhance and traditional laparoscopic surgery. After analyzing 350 procedures, the research found that Senhance users experienced lower overall stress levels compared to laparoscopic surgeons due to reduced physical demands and distractions during procedures. Moving to new program initiations, we initiated five new SENHANCE programs in the fourth quarter, including one in Germany, one in Romania, two in the CIS region, and one in Japan at Nagoya University Hospital, bringing the total for the year to eight. One of these program initiations was a pediatric hospital in Romania, representing the sixth hospital to be leveraging the SENHANCE for pediatric procedures. With specialized 3 millimeter and 5 millimeter instruments, the SENHANCE surgical system is uniquely designed for the delicate nature of pediatric procedures. As more pediatric surgeons recognize a sensor's unique system design, which not only preserves minimally invasive surgery, but also advances laparoscopy and robotics with digital surgery solutions. We expect interest in Senhance and the ISU for pediatric applications to continue to grow. We are committed to meeting this rising demand in the pediatric market. To wrap up, I'm pleased with the progress we've achieved in the fourth quarter and continue to build on the groundwork for sustained success. I'll now pass the floor to Sameesh for a financial update.