Novavax, Inc.

Good morning, and welcome to Novavax Fourth Quarter 2023 Financial Results and Operational Highlights Conference Call. All participants will be in the listen-only mode. Should you need assistance, please signal a conference specialist by pressing the star key followed by zero. After today's presentation, there will be an opportunity to ask questions. To ask a question, you may press star, then one on your touchtone phone. To withdraw your question, please press star then 2. Please note this event is being recorded. I would like to turn the conference over to Erica Schultz, Senior Director, Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Good morning, and thank you all for joining us today to discuss our fourth quarter and full year 2023 operational highlights and financial results. A press release announcing our results is currently available on our website at Novavax.com, and an audio archive of this conference call will be available on our website later today. Please turn to slide two. Before we begin with prepared remarks, I need to remind you that this presentation includes forward-looking statements including information relating to the future of Novavax, its key strategic priorities, operating plans, objectives, and prospects. full year 2024 financial guidance, the amount and impact of Novavax's cost reduction plans, its future financial or business performance conditions or strategies, its partnerships, anticipated timing and outcome of future regulatory filings and actions, and the ongoing development, marketing opportunities, manufacturing capacity, and future availability of our vaccine candidates, and key upcoming milestones. Each forward-looking statement contained in this presentation is subject to risks and uncertainties that can cause actual results to differ materially from those projected in such statements. Additional information regarding these factors appears under the heading Cautionary Notes Regarding Forward-Looking Statements in the slide deck we issued this morning and under the heading Risk Factors. in our most recent form 10-K and subsequent form 10-Qs filed with the Security and Exchange Commission available at www.sec.gov and on our website at www.novavax.com. The forward-looking statements in this presentation speak only as of the original date of this presentation, and we undertake no obligation to update or revise any of these statements. Please turn to slide three. Joining me today is John Jacobs, our president and CEO, who will provide a review of our progress this past year, focusing on our three key priorities looking towards the future. Additionally, John Trezino, our president and chief operating officer, will provide an update on our commercial activities. And Dr. Philip Dabowski, president of research and development, will discuss our clinical development and pipeline. Finally, Jim Kelly, chief financial officer and treasurer, will provide an overview of our financial results. I would now like to hand over the call to John Jacobs. Please turn to slide four.

Thank you, Erica, and thank you, everyone, for joining us. I'm pleased to be with you today, along with the members of our executive team, to reflect on our fourth quarter and full year 2023 financial results and operating highlights, and to discuss our priorities for 2024. In 2023, we made significant progress in our priorities, strengthening our foundation and helping to position us for success in 24 and beyond. Throughout the year, we kept you updated on the progress we were making against our three priorities, which were, number one, deliver an updated product for the fall vaccination season. Number two, reduce our rate of spend, manage our cash flow, and evolve our scale and structure. And finally, number three, leverage our technology platform, our capabilities, and our assets to drive additional value beyond Nuvaxibit alone. So let's take a look back at 2023 and what we were able to accomplish in these three key areas of focus for Novavax. Under priority one, deliver our updated vaccine for the fall season. All of us at Novavax are very proud that this fall we delivered on this priority. And in the face of a COVID market that was smaller than we and many others had projected, We were able to achieve $1 billion of revenue for the full year 23, including fourth quarter total revenue of $291 million. Despite this success, we also had some misses and were disappointed in our U.S. market performance last season. Last season was a transitional season and the first fully commercial one for us in the U.S. market. And we intend to make improvements in key areas for 2024. Later on in our presentation, John Trezino will discuss this topic in more detail. Priority number two, reduce our rate of spend, manage our cash flow, and evolve our scale and structure. 2023 was a pivotal year for the COVID market and for Novavax, as it was the first year post-pandemic and represented the first chapter in our new journey as a company post-pandemic. A key priority for Novavax in 2023 was to scale the organization appropriately and reduce our spend to better align with the evolving market opportunity. To that end, we took decisive action to reduce our expenses and our scale. We entered 2023 with approximately $2.5 billion in current liabilities, and over the course of the year, reduced that figure by over $800 million. And with the resolution of the GAVI arbitration, this number should be reduced further by another $500 million. In addition, we reduced our total operating expenses by over $1.1 billion in 2023, almost $150 million ahead of our stated target. And finally, under priority three, leveraging our technology platform, our capabilities, and our assets to drive additional value beyond Nuvaxivit alone. During 2023, we were able to outline a faster path forward for our flu COVID combination vaccine program with a potential launch as soon as 2026. We are still on track to initiate a phase three study this fall and last week, the FDA confirmed the data requirements to achieve accelerated approval. Dr. Philip Dubosky will provide details later on the call on this matter. So looking ahead to 2024, and beyond, I'd like to say with 2023 now behind us, we intend to build upon our successes, learn from our disappointments, and drive towards a successful 2024. In this second chapter of our new journey post-pandemic, over the next two seasons, our focus will be on share growth in the COVID market, further streamlining our business model and preparing the market for a successful launch of our combination vaccine, which we anticipate in 2026. When achieved, the launch of our combination vaccine will mark our third and potentially most exciting chapter yet post-pandemic, allowing us to expand beyond a one-product company. When combined with the potential for both organic and inorganic product expansion, this further supports our vision of becoming a leading global vaccine innovator. Philip will give an update on our combination program shortly through the course of this presentation. Before handing it over to the rest of the management team, I want to outline our three main priorities for 2024. So please turn to slide five. Our first priority is to deliver an updated product for the 24-25 fall vaccination season with a more competitive presentation, broader retail availability, and early availability in the market with the goal of capturing increased share. Our second priority is to independently launch the phase three trial of our COVID flu combination vaccine product and showcase more of what our scientific platform is capable of through the generation and sharing of new clinical data. Finally, our third priority is to continue the evolution of Novavax with our eyes firmly on the future opportunity, further reducing our operating expenses and enhancing our processes and while maintaining our capabilities so we can deliver on our intended business objectives. We are excited about the prospects ahead of us as we enter the second chapter of our post-pandemic journey. Our base plans, should we succeed in executing them in 24 and 25, promise to place Novavax in a stronger, leaner position, ready to launch our new combination vaccine and accelerate the company towards profitability and significant growth potential. Now I would like to hand it over to additional members of the team to discuss our results from the quarter in more detail, beginning with John Trezino for our commercial updates. John?