Lumos Pharma, Inc.

Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to Loomis Pharma's second quarter results conference call. Currently, all participants are in the listen-only mode. Later, we will conduct a question-and-answer session, and instructions will follow at that time. As a reminder, this conference call is being recorded. I will now turn the call over to Lisa Miller, Senior Director of Investor Relations. Ma'am, please go ahead.

Thank you. Before we proceed with the call, I would like to remind everyone that certain statements made during this call are forward-looking statements under U.S. federal securities laws. These statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from historical experience or present expectations. Additional information concerning factors that could cause actual results to differ is contained in our periodic reports filed with the SEC. The forward-looking statements made during this call speak only as of the date hereof, and the company undertakes no obligation to update or revise these forward-looking statements. Information presented on this call is contained in the press release we issued this morning, which may be accessed from the investor's page of the company's website. Joining me on today's call are Rick Hawkins, CEO and Chairman, John McHugh, President and Chief Scientific Officer, Dr. David B. Karp, Loomis' new Chief Medical Officer, and Lori Lawley, Chief Financial Officer and Corporate Controller. Following management's prepared remarks, we will open the call to your questions. I will now turn the call over to Rick.

Thank you, Lisa, and good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us on today's call. This morning, we issued a press release detailing our results for the second quarter 2021. Since we held a call on July 21st to provide updated guidance on our clinical programs, I will keep my remarks brief before turning over the call to my colleagues for additional updates on our clinical trials and our financial results. Then we'll open the call for your questions. I'll begin with the recent steps we've taken to enhance our advisory board and strengthen our management team. Last week, we were pleased to announce the appointment of Dr. Mark Bock to our Clinical and Scientific Advisory Board, or CSAB. Dr. Bach joins our distinguished panel comprised of noted pediatric endocrinologists, Drs. Peter Clayton, Reiko Hirakawa, George Werther, and CSAB Chairman, Dr. Ron Rosenfeld. Dr. Bach is currently Chief Medical Officer for SHOTI and previously was Senior Vice President, Endocrine Medical Sciences at Ascendus Pharma. He is a pediatric endocrinologist with 30 years of clinical research and pharmaceutical development experience. including extensive global experience building and leading clinical teams that have successfully launched innovative pharmaceutical products into worldwide markets. Prior to the CEMDIS, Dr. Bach spent nine years at Janssen, a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson, concluding his time there as head of Asia-Pacific Medical Sciences and head of China R&D. And prior to Janssen, Dr. Bach held positions of increasing responsibility in clinical research at Merck & Company, ending his tenure there as Vice President of Clinical Research Operations Worldwide. Now, early in his career, Dr. Bach conducted extensive clinical and preclinical research on gross hormone, IGF-1, and LUM-201, formerly known as MK-677, with data from his work published in scientific and medical journals. He brings to our advisory board a wealth of knowledge and experience with growth hormone-related disorders and a significant understanding of the unique advantages of LUM201 could offer to the growth hormone-deficient population. We are obviously thrilled to have him join our esteemed advisory board and look forward to his contributions to Lumos Pharma's clinical and commercial strategy. And earlier this week, we also announced the promotion of my respected colleague and friend, John McHugh, to the position of President of Lumos Pharma. John has served as our Chief Operating Officer since April of 2020 and our Chief Scientific Officer since he joined Lumos Pharma in 2016. John has nearly 30 years of experience of developing novel therapeutics, primarily for rare diseases, and has successfully advanced multiple therapies through preclinical and clinical development. And prior to joining Lumos Pharma, he served as vice president of research at Atar Pharma. We led a research team discovering and advancing protein-based therapeutics for rare diseases. He's also served as acting scientific director for the National Center for Advancing Translational Science, or NCATS, intramural group, a part of the National Institute of Health. At NCATS, his lab's work on rare and neglected tropical diseases and public-private partnerships led to the collaborative advancement of several therapeutic candidates currently being commercialized by pharmaceutical companies. John's promotion to president of Loomless Pharma is in recognition of his vital contributions in advancing Loom 201 for the treatment of PGHD as part of the succession planning conducted by the company and our board of directors. John's extensive clinical and management experience at the NIH and in the pharmaceutical industry, including his contributions during his tenure at Loomless Pharma, position him well to serve in this new role. And on Tuesday, we announced the expansion of our management team with the addition of Dr. David Karp as our new chief medical officer. David is an endocrinologist, an academic, an accomplished biopharmaceutical executive, and is currently an adjunct clinical professor in the Division of Endocrinology at Stanford University School of Medicine. David has 35 years of experience in the field of endocrinology, And as a biopharma executive, he has 30 years of experience in all facets of biopharmaceutical clinical development, from preclinical through phase four, regulatory interactions with both the FDA and international agencies, and marketing and launch activities. Most recently, he was vice president, clinical development and clinical operations for Ascendus Pharma, where he was responsible for several compounds and clinical development including Transcon GH, long-acting growth hormone for once-weekly treatment of growth hormone deficiency. He previously served as chief medical officer for several biotechnology companies, and he has also held leadership positions in clinical research and endocrinology at both Roche and previously at Merck, where he gained familiarity with our therapeutic candidate, LUM201. And we look forward to David's guidance and assistance in advancing Loom 201 toward commercial approval. So welcome, David.