Amgen Inc.

My name is RJ and I will be your conference facilitator today for Amgen's first quarter 2022 financial results conference call. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise. There will be a question and answer session at the conclusion of the last speaker's prepared remarks. In order to ensure that everyone has a chance to participate, we would like to request that you limit yourself to asking one question during the Q&A session. To ask a question, please press star, then the number one on your telephone keypad. To withdraw your question, please press the pound key. I would now like to introduce Arvind Sood, Vice President of Investor Relations. Mr. Sood, you may now begin.

Okay, RJ. Thank you. Good afternoon, everybody, and welcome to our Q1 call. I think our performance in Q1 exemplifies our continued focus on execution while staying on track to deliver against our long-term objectives. So let's get started. Slides have been posted. Quick reminder that we'll use non-GAAP financial measures in our presentation, and some of the statements will be forward-looking statements. Our SEC filings identify factors that could cause our actual results to vary or differ materially. So with that, I would like to turn the call over to our Chairman and CEO, Bob Bradway. Bob?

Okay. Thank you, Arvind, and hello, everyone, and thank you for joining our call. When we last spoke in February, we told you that we'd be focused on execution and that we have a number of opportunities in place that should enable us to deliver long-term attractive growth. In the first quarter of the year, we executed well on these many opportunities, delivering 6% revenue growth and 15% earnings per share growth. We achieved this performance despite the effects of COVID during the first two months of the year, currency headwinds, and of course, net selling price declines. The innovative brands that we highlighted in February continued to generate strong volume growth in the first quarter, including Repatha, which was up 49%, Prolia, up 10%, Vanity, up 59%, and Otezla, up 7%, as well as several of our oncology products, which also generated attractive volume growth in the quarter. Our two newest innovative medicines, Lumicras and Tespire, are off to a strong start. offering compelling new treatment options for patients suffering from non-small cell lung cancer and severe asthma, respectively. We're also pursuing significant new indications for both of these products. Let me just say, with respect to the five high-quality biosimilars we have on the market, that they're performing well and in line with our expectations. As we've noted previously, growth for the portfolio of biosimilar products over time will come through the steady introduction of new products. including the U.S. launch of Amgivita, our biosimilar to Humira, in January of next year. Amgivita is the first of six new biosimilars that we expect to launch by the end of the decade. International growth is an important component of our long-term strategy, and we saw strong volume growth outside the U.S. of 15 percent in the first quarter and nearly 30 percent volume growth in the Asia-Pacific region. Turning to our pipeline, We're advancing, as you're aware, a number of mid- to late-stage, potentially first-in-class opportunities in inflammation, oncology, and general medicine, while continuing to invest in our innovative marketed brands and biosimilars. Since our business review, we've had important data readouts for Lumicrast, Repatha, and AVP654, which is our Phase III biosimilar candidate to Stelara. We have several more data milestones to come through the remainder of the year. Looking to the longer term, we continue to thoughtfully invest in an integrated set of discovery research capabilities, including human data and generative biology, as we look to significantly expand the number of targets we can pursue, reduce cycle times, and increase the probability of our success. As to our commitment to innovation, we're committed to pursuing the best innovation available, whether it comes through our own efforts or is sourced externally, and our strong balance sheet and cash flows will enable us to continue to invest in innovation, again, both organically and through business development. Our work to serve patients comes at a time when society is confronting many challenges. We're doing our part to address these, as we have throughout our history, with a focus in four areas. Removing barriers that limit equitable access to health care, working toward a more just society, minimizing our environmental impact, and ensuring that our actions and culture reflect Amgen values. If you're interested in learning more, our latest environmental, social, and governance report was published earlier today and is available on our website. Before I turn to Peter, let me just thank my Amgen colleagues around the world for their commitment to serving patients and to outstanding execution. Now, Peter, over to you.