CohBar, Inc.

Good afternoon. My name is John, and I will be your conference operator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to COBAR's first quarter 2022 financial results conference call. All lines have been placed on mute to eliminate background noise. If anyone should require operator assistance during the conference, please press star zero on your telephone keypad. And now I would like to turn the call over to Jeff Beuno, Chief Financial Officer at COBAR. Thank you, sir.

Thank you, John, and thank you, everyone, for joining COBAR's first quarter 2022 financial results conference call. Joining me on today's call is Dr. Joe Surrett, COBAR's chief executive officer, Dr. Nick Vlahakis, COBAR's acting chief medical officer, and Dr. Kent Grindstaff, senior vice president of research. Following our collective remarks, we will conclude with Q&A. COBAR's financial results press release was issued earlier today and may be downloaded from our website at www.cobar.com. Before we begin, I'd like to take a moment to remind listeners that except for statements of historical fact, remarks on today's conference call may include forward-looking statements within the meaning of the securities laws. Forward-looking statements are based on current expectations, projections, and interpretations that involve a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated by COBAR. These risks and uncertainties are described in our registration statements, reports, and other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission and applicable Canadian securities regulators, which are available on our website at cobar.com, sec.gov, and cdar.com, as well as in the Safe Harbor Statement included with today's press release. You are cautioned that such statements are not guarantees of future performance and that our actual results may differ materially from those set forth in the forward-looking statements. COBAR does not undertake any obligation to update publicly or revise any forward-looking statements or information, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise. Now I'd like to turn the call over to Joe Surrett, COBAR's Chief Executive Officer. Joe?

Thank you, Jeff, and thank you, everyone, for joining us this afternoon. In the first quarter of 2022, we made steady progress that we believe positions COBAR for an exciting several years ahead. On our last call, we communicated several important updates about the direction and focus for the company. And during this past quarter, we focused our efforts on execution in those areas. We aligned our pipeline strategy to prioritize the advancement of CB5138-3, our IPF program, towards the clinic. Notably, our I&D enabling studies for this program remain on track, and our reformulation efforts are well underway. We invested further in our novel MITO Plus platform to identify new product candidates. We continued to explore potential partnerships for our CB4211 program, and we hired significant talent to our team, which we believe will enhance our ability to achieve long-term success. On today's call, after my introductory remarks, We will share commentary from Kent and Nick, the most recent additions to our leadership team, who bring unique perspectives and extensive expertise in their functional areas. Kent will provide an overview of our science and our MITO Plus platform, and Nick will provide a recap of our IPF program. Jeff will then review our Q1 2022 financials and summarize our upcoming proxy vote and NASDAQ listing requirements. I'm very excited about where we stand at COBAR. and we remain on track to hit our important upcoming milestones. As we think about where we are headed, I would like to put the intriguing opportunity we have to mine the mitochondrial genome into perspective. While researchers have been looking at the nuclear genome as a source of novel therapeutics for quite some time, the mitochondria has been largely overlooked. We think this is due to a couple of factors. First, the utility of mitochondria has historically been viewed solely through the lens of ATP and energy production. But it turns out the function of mitochondria is much broader than that, and they play important roles in regulating a variety of different biological pathways, as well as impacting a wide range of diseases. Second, I think there is an inherent assumption that the peptides encoded in the mitochondrial genome would be acting locally within the mitochondria, and some of them certainly do that. But it turns out that many of these peptides are secreted and circulate systemically, mediating important effects on organs and tissues quite distant from where they are produced. And so with these two insights about the breadth of the impacts of mitochondria on the body and the fact that peptides encoded in the mitochondrial genome are acting systemically, that really led to the formation of COBAR. And that's the rationale underpinning our approach to drug discovery using our MitoPlus platform that Kent will talk about in a few minutes. Additionally, by targeting analogs or modifications of natural peptides, we expect to have fewer off-target effects, which may translate into better safety and tolerability profiles for our product candidates. And this is a true platform in the sense that the commonality here is the mitochondrial origin of these peptides. As you may recall, we have identified over 100 peptides. And when you look at the individual compounds in our library, they are structurally quite distinct. and operating through a variety of different mechanisms, which we believe de-risks our overall approach. Importantly, last year, we demonstrated clinical proof of principle for this mitochondrial biology from the first human study of a peptide derived from the mitochondrial genome. The positive top-line data from our CB4211 program was an important validation, not just of that program, but of our overall platform and approach. As you can imagine, We've spent a lot of effort identifying and sequencing these peptide families to carve out a broad patent portfolio, which we firmly believe is the leading portfolio in this space. We recently received notification regarding the issuance of two additional patents that further expand our IP position on CB4211. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has informed us that tomorrow it plans to issue the second U.S. patent for this program. This most recent patent is expected to be eligible for listing in the FDA Orange Book upon approval of CB4211 as therapeutic for obesity in the United States. At the same time, we have also progressed our international patent prosecution strategy with the issuance of a Japanese patent covering CB4211 and related compositions, as well as medicines comprised of CB4211 and related peptides for treating NASH. We believe this IP expansion will strengthen the overall CB4211 package as we seek to advance its development with a partner. With that, it is my pleasure to now turn the call over to Kent Greinstaff, our Senior Vice President of Research, who will review our platform approach and progress. Kent?