Viking Therapeutics, Inc.

Welcome to the Viking Therapeutics Third Quarter 2023 Financial Results Conference Call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. Following management's prepared remarks, we will hold a Q&A session. To ask a question at that time, please press the star key followed by 1 on your touchtone phone. If anyone has difficulty hearing the conference, please press star 0 for operator assistance. As a reminder, this conference call is being recorded today, October 25, 2023. I would like now to turn the conference over to Vikings Manager of Investor Relations, Stephanie Diaz. Please go ahead, Stephanie.

Hello, and thank you all for participating in today's call. Joining me today is Brian Lian, Vikings President and CEO, and Greg Zanti, Vikings CFO. Before we begin, I'd like to caution that comments made during this conference call today, October 25, 2023, will contain forward-looking statements under the safe harbor provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including statements about Vikings' expectations regarding its development activities, timelines, and milestones. Forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially and adversely, and reported results should not be considered as an indication of future performance. These forward-looking statements speak only as of today's date, and the company undertakes no obligation to revise or update any statement made today. I encourage you to review all of the company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission concerning these and other matters. I'll now turn the call over to Brian Land for his initial comments.

Thanks, Stephanie, and good afternoon to everyone dialed in by phone or listening on the webcast. Today, we'll review our financial results for the third quarter and first nine months of 2023 and provide an update on recent progress with our clinical programs and operations. During the third quarter, Viking continued to build on the momentum established during the first half of the year. As a reminder, during the first six months of 2023, the company announced positive clinical data from our Phase I trial evaluating BK2735, a dual GLP-1 and GIP receptor agonist, for the potential treatment of obesity, and from our Phase IIb VOYAGE study, evaluating VK2809 in patients with biopsy-confirmed nonalcoholic steatohepatitis and fibrosis. Also during the first six months, the company initiated the Phase I trial to evaluate a novel oral formulation of VK2735. Finally, the company closed a successful public offering of common stock, raising gross proceeds of approximately $288 million that we plan to use for the continued advancement of our pipeline programs through key clinical milestones. Building on these achievements and following the positive results from our phase one trial of VK2735. During the third quarter, the company advanced this program into phase two development with the initiation of the venture study to evaluate the safety and efficacy of VK2735 in patients with obesity. We recently announced that interest in this trial exceeded our expectations allowing us to upsize the study and complete enrollment more quickly than expected. I'll provide further details on our operations and development activities after we review our financial results for the third quarter and first nine months of 2023. For that, I'll turn the call over to Greg Zanti, Vikings Chief Financial Officer.