Coherus Oncology, Inc.

Good day and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Q4 2023 Coherence Biosciences, Inc. Earnings Conference Call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. After the speaker's presentation, there will be a question and answer session. To ask a question during the session, please press star 1-1 on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced. To withdraw your question, please press star 1-1 again. Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded. I would now like to hand the conference over to your speaker today, Jamie Taylor, Head of Investor Relations for Coheris.

Thank you, Operator. Good afternoon and welcome to Coheris Bioscience's fourth quarter and full year 2023 earnings conference call. Joining me today to discuss our results are Denny Lanphier, Chief Executive Officer of Coheris, Brian McMichael, Interim Chief Financial Officer, Paul Reeder, Chief Commercial Officer, Rosh Diaz, Chief Medical Officer, and Teresa Lavalley, Chief Development Officer. Before we get started, I would like to remind you that today's call includes forward-looking statements regarding Coherence's current expectations about future events. These statements include, but are not limited to, the following. Our ability to advance our pipeline, projections of future growth, revenue, expenses, headcount, and debt levels, and the timing of any return to profitability or cash flow positivity. All of these forward-looking statements involve substantial risks and uncertainties that are beyond our control and could cause actual results, performance, or achievements to differ from those implied by the forward-looking statements. These statements are not guarantees of future performance, and are subject to substantial risks and uncertainties, including risks and uncertainties inherent in the clinical drug development process that are discussed in our press release that we issued today, as well as the documents that we file with the SEC. Forward-looking statements provided on the call today are made as of this date, and we undertake no duty to update or revise any forward-looking statement. With that, I'll turn the call over to Denny.

Thanks, Jamie, and thank you all for joining us on the call today. I'm pleased to report to you today strong fourth quarter results, rounding out an important year of transition for Coheris as we sharpened our focus on innovative oncology, positioning the company for new levels of efficiency and growth in 2024 and beyond. Our strategy and our mission are clear, to extend the lives of cancer patients. Today, we are delivering on this strategy in every front, positioning Coheris for long-term sustainable growth as an oncology company. We believe this strategy creates long-term shareholder value as we develop and deliver next-generation oncology treatments for patients. We continue on the path that we set forward last year, which is to, first, drive sales growth and revenues across the oncology portfolio with new product launches of Udenica and Lactorsi. Secondly, simultaneously reduce our spend and in-use costs. realign our balance sheet by reducing our debt, and advance our high-potential pipeline focused on the tumor microenvironment and those complementary with our PD-1. We experienced double-digit sales growth in 2023, and I'll let Paul Reeder, our Chief Commercial Officer, discuss continued progress on Lebanon and share growth in just a moment. Let me start with the spending and headcount reductions in 2024. Now, last year we began a multifaceted process of driving new efficiencies through headcount reductions, product divestitures, and business process integration for greater efficiencies. Today, as part of this plan to position us for sustainable growth, we are announcing a 30% headcount reduction for 2024 and cost reductions as part of our transformation. We are projecting an SG&A plus R&D spend for 2024 of $250 million to $265 million, which is reduced from $301 million in 2023, which itself was reduced from about $400 million in 2022. This reduction was the result of a rigorous evaluation of every role within the company with the objective to reduce or eliminate FTE spend wherever possible. These actions demonstrate that we remain highly committed to returning to profitability as soon as possible, and cash flow positivity in 2024 remains our goal. Now, as previously stated, monetization of ex-U.S. rights is one of the cash management levers we seek to use to preserve our capital. Accordingly, we have agreed with Jun Shi to defer and reduce the $25 million approval milestone payment scheduled for this quarter, Q1 2024. This payment is now bifurcated into two parts, $12.5 million to be paid next quarter, Q2 2024, an additional payment of $12.5 million to be paid in Q1 2025, such second tranche to be potentially reduced by proceeds from the monetization of Canadian Torpal map rights. June sheet. With respect to realignment of our balance sheet and reduction of debt, we are pleased at the financial outcome for the divestiture of our ophthalmology franchise. Our efforts to strengthen our balance sheet and overall capital structure are progressing well, and we recently announced the renegotiated agreement with Farm Account Advisors to pay down $175 million in term loan debt, decreasing our term loan interest payment burden by roughly 70% moving into the remainder of 2024. The ophthalmology divestiture also allows us to streamline operations. Today, Coheris is a leaner, more efficient, and more nimble organization, capable of competing in the marketplace with even greater focus, agility, and intensity, tightly focused on being a sustainable and growing oncology company. With Lactorsi, we are gaining predictable and growing high margin revenues from our innovative product and are able to realize the synergies of having two adjacent oncology products. I want to congratulate our R&D and regulatory teams for their success in securing three product approvals in 2023 from the FDA. This is a major accomplishment for any company, especially one of our size. The FDA approvals of the Eudetica Autoinjector, the Eudetica OnBody Injector, and Lactorsi in nasopharyngeal cancer have positioned us for further commercial success in 2024, capitalizing on synergies. Each of these products aligns to our vision of oncology leadership, and each paves the way for the impressive slate of tumor microenvironment-focused immuno-oncology assets in our development pipeline. As Dr. Diaz will describe shortly, first-in-class and potential best-in-class drug candidates have the potential to deliver on our vision of extending patient survival and driving long-term shareholder value creation. Now, with that, I'll turn it over to my Chief Commercial Officer, Mr. Paul Reeder. Paul?