United Therapeutics Corporation

Good morning and welcome to the United Therapeutics Corporation first quarter 2024 earnings webcast. My name is Danielle and I will be your conference operator today. All participants on the call portion of this webcast will be in listen only mode until the question and answer portion of the earnings call. If you would like to ask a question during that time, simply press star then the number one on your telephone keypad. If you would like to withdraw your question, simply press star, then the number two on your telephone keypad. Please note this call is being recorded. If you require operator assistance, please press star, then zero. I will now turn the webcast over to Dewey Steadman, Head of Investor Relations at United Therapeutics.

Thank you, Danielle, and good morning. It's my pleasure to welcome you to the United Therapeutics Corporation First Quarter 2024 Earnings Webcast. Remarks today will include forward-looking statements representing our expectations or beliefs regarding future events. These statements will involve risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially. Our latest FCC filings, including Forms 10-K and 10-Q, contain additional information on these risks and uncertainties, and we assume no obligation to update forward-looking statements. Today's remarks may discuss the progress and results of clinical trials or other developments with respect to our products. And these remarks are intended solely to educate investors and are not intended to serve as the basics for medical decision making or to suggest that any products are safe and effective for any unapproved or investigational uses. And full prescribing information for the products are available on our websites. Accompanying me on today's call are Dr. Martine Rothblatt, our Chairperson and Chief Executive Officer, Michael Binkowitz, our President and Chief Operating Officer, James Edgman, our Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer, Dr. Lee Peterson, our Executive Vice President of Product Development and Xenotransplantation, and Pat Poisson, our Executive Vice President of Technical Operations. Note that Pat Poisson and I will present in a fireside chat session and one-on-one meetings at the Goldman Sachs Global Healthcare Conference on June 12th in Miami. Also, our scientific, medical, and commercial teams will present at the American Thoracic Society International Conference May 17th through the 22nd in San Diego, the 7th World Symposium on Pulmonary Hypertension, June 29th to July 1st in Barcelona, and the Pulmonary Hypertension Association's 2024 International PH Conference and Scientific Sessions, August 15th to 18th in Indianapolis. Now, I will turn the webcast over to James Edgemond, our CFO and treasurer, for some brief comments on our recent accelerated share repurchase plan. followed by Martine and Michael for an overview of our first quarter 2024 financial results and the business activities of United Therapeutics. James?

Thank you, Dewey, and good morning, everyone. In our meetings with shareholders over the last several years, we've noticed a common theme. Shareholders are excited about our potential, both the continued growth in our foundational core business and our innovative organ manufacturing opportunities. And they are also impressed by our P&L philosophy that results in outstanding cash flow generation to support our waves of growth. But we recognize that there has been a disconnect between our desire to preserve capital to support our ambitious long-term organ manufacturing goals and some shareholder perspectives around capital allocation. We continue to follow our three capital allocation priorities, which in order are first to invest in our commercial and R&D opportunities through P&L spend, as well as capital outlays like our new North Carolina manufacturing facility. Our second priority to pursue intelligent business and corporate development opportunities that enhance our rare disease focus and complement our organ manufacturing initiatives. like bolt-on M&A and in-license opportunities. And our third priority, to return capital to shareholders like share repurchases. And we consider all three priorities when deploying our financial capital. Over the last year, we've learned a great deal about the size, the staging, and the timing for capital expenditures associated with the construction and commissioning of our designated pathogen-free facilities or DPFs, to support our xeno-transplantation efforts. With the commissioning of our Christiansburg, Virginia clinical-scale DPF last quarter, we now better understand the phasing of capital spending associated with a commercial-scale DPF construction project for the commercial launch of our xeno-organs. With this improved awareness of our future cash outlays and taking into consideration our near-term cash flow generation potential, we saw an opportunity to return capital to you, our shareholders, to deploy it as you see fit and announced on March 25th a $1 billion accelerated share repurchase program, or ASR. Through the ASR, we expect Citibank to repurchase $1 billion in UTHR shares through the end of the third quarter of this year. Under the ASR, on March 27th, Citibank delivered to us approximately 3.3 million UTHR shares, representing approximately 80% of the total shares that will be repurchased under the ASR. and we have placed these shares into Treasury stock as reflected on our balance sheet. The final number of shares that we will ultimately repurchase pursuant to our ASR agreement with Citibank will be based upon the average of the daily volume weighted average price per share of our common stock during the ASR agreement. Following the ASR, we believe that we will have ample financial capital to deploy for the commercial-scale DPF facilities in the coming years that I previously mentioned. We also continue to believe in our core business and our cash flow generation potential, driven by our foundational products led by Tyveso DPI and Nebulize Tyveso, and potentially accelerated by our innovative studies of Tyveso and pulmonary fibrosis and Relenopag and pulmonary hypertension. We're excited about our current business and our growth potential, and we appreciate the feedback and support of our shareholders. I'll now turn the call over to Dr. Martine Rothblatt, our chairperson and chief executive officer, for insight into our development portfolio. Martine?