Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

Good afternoon. My name is Valerie, and I will be your conference operator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to the Appellus Pharmaceuticals' fourth quarter and full year 2020 fiscal results conference call. Today's call is being recorded, and a replay will be available at appellus.com. I would now like to turn the call over to Tracy Venise, Vice President of Communications at Appellus.

Thank you, Valerie. Good afternoon, and thank you for joining us today to discuss Appellus' fourth quarter and full year 2020 financial results. With me on the call are co-founder and chief executive officer, Dr. Cedric Francois, chief medical officer, Dr. Federico Grossi, chief commercial officer, Adam Townsend, and chief financial officer, Timothy Sullivan. Before we begin, I would like to point out that we will be making forward-looking statements that are based on our current expectations and beliefs. These statements are subject to certain risks and uncertainties, and our actual results may differ materially. I encourage you to consult the risk factors discussed in our SEC filings for additional detail. Now, I'm pleased to turn the call over to Cedric.

Thank you, Tracy, and good afternoon to everyone joining us today for our first quarterly conference call. 2020 was a defining year for atletes, marked by the positive Phase III Pegasus data in paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria, or PNH. The Pegasus results highlighted the potential of Pexetacoplan to elevate the standard of care in PNH and the broad platform potential of targeting C3 for complement-driven diseases. In 2021, we look forward to a transformational year for ATHLEES as we further build on our global leadership in complement across a broad range of diseases with high unmet need. As you can see on this slide, our corporate strategy is based on three strategic objectives, and we expect to make significant progress against each of these this year. Our first objective is to establish systemic Pexetacoplan, a targeted C3 therapy, as a disruptive treatment across rare, complement-driven diseases. We have a PDUFA date of May 14th for the potential U.S. approval of Pexetacoplan in PNH, and our Chief Commercial Officer, Adam Townsend, will discuss our work to prepare for a successful commercial launch. We also expect to advance four additional registrational programs of Pexita Copeland with our partner, Swedish Orphan Biovitrum, or SOVI, as we work to maximize the broad potential of targeting C3. The second objective for our company is to be number one in treating retinal diseases. In what will be a seminal event for Apedis, we expect top-line results from our phase three clinical studies of Plexeta Copeland in geographic atrophy, or GA, in the third quarter of this year. GA is a relentless and disabling disease that affects approximately five million people around the world, and we have a unique and exciting opportunity to advance what could become the first drug for people living with GA. Our third objective is to develop new technologies to control complement. Our research team has been very active on a number of fronts, and we look forward to advancing three new product candidates into clinical development by the end of next year. As you can see, we have an ambitious strategy and several key milestones in 2021 to advance our global leadership in the treatment of complement-driven diseases. Now, let's dive deeper into our first objectives. establishing systemic pexetacoplan as a disruptive therapy for rare diseases. I will now turn the call over to our Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Federico Grossi, to review our recent data on pexetacoplan in PNH. Federico?