AbbVie Inc.

Good morning and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the FV First Quarter 2024 Earnings Conference Call. All participants will be able to listen only until the question and answer portion of this call. You may ask a question by pressing star 1 on your phone. Today's call is also being recorded. If you have any objections, you may disconnect at this time. I would now like to introduce Ms. Liz Shea, Senior Vice President of Investor Relations. Ma'am, you may begin.

Good morning and thanks for joining us. Also on the call with me today are Rick Gonzalez, Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer, Rob Michael, President and Chief Operating Officer, Jeff Stewart, Executive Vice President, Chief Commercial Officer, Scott Rentz, Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer, Carrie Strom, Senior Vice President, AbbVie and President, Global Allergan Aesthetics, and Rupal Thakkar, Senior Vice President, Chief Medical Officer, Global Therapeutics. Joining us for the Q&A portion of the call is Tom Hudson, Senior Vice President, Chief Scientific Officer, Global Research. Before we get started, I'll note that some statements we make today may be considered forward-looking statements based on our current expectations. Abby cautions that these forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially from those indicated in our forward-looking statements. Additional information about these risks and uncertainties is included in our SEC filings. AbbVie undertakes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements except as required by law. On today's conference call, non-GAAP financial measures will be used to help investors understand AbbVie's business performance. These non-GAAP financial measures are reconciled with comparable GAAP financial measures in our earnings release and our regulatory filings from today, which can be found on our website. Following our prepared remarks, we'll take your questions. So with that, I'll turn the call over to Rick.

Thank you, Liz. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us today. I'm extremely pleased with our start to 2024, with first quarter results exceeding our expectations. Before we discuss our performance in more detail, I'd like to share my perspective on the planned CEO transition that was announced earlier this year. After serving more than 11 years as AbbVie's first CEO, I have decided to retire from the role effective July 1st of this year and will continue to serve AbbVie as Executive Chairman of the Board. As you heard me say before, it is important that we choose the right time to make this critical leadership transition. The Board and I have been long planning for my eventual succession, and now is the opportune time to move forward with the transition, as our business is performing very well and is in a strong position for the long term. We are successfully navigating the Humira U.S. loss of exclusivity. We have built an outstanding company culture, an important priority and competitive advantage. And our productive R&D engine, which has yielded numerous innovative new medicines for patients, will continue to fuel our robust pipeline for years to come. After a multi-year process, our board has unanimously selected Rob Michael, our current President and Chief Operating Officer, as AbbVie's next CEO. I have known and worked with Rob for many, many years and he is an excellent choice as my successor. He brings the experience, the leadership, and the strategic vision to build on AbbVie's past successes, advance our strategy, and enhance shareholder value. Since our inception, Rob has held several important leadership positions that have collectively had a tremendous impact on AbbVie. from establishing our financial planning organization to navigating the end of exclusivity for Humira in the U.S. to driving key business development opportunities that have been critical to diversify our business and support long-term growth, including the acquisitions of Allergan and Immunogen and the pending Cereval transaction. Looking back, AbbVie has evolved tremendously as an independent company. and our performance has truly been exceptional. Since our inception, we've grown our revenue from $18 billion to $55 billion. Our market capitalization has increased substantially from $54 billion to roughly $300 billion today. We have achieved a total shareholder return of more than 675 percent, which is top tier relative to our peers. And importantly, we have substantially increased our investments in R&D to discover and develop new medicines that have the potential to improve the lives of patients. As I look ahead, our company has never been stronger, and our future has never been brighter. We are executing well across all aspects of our business, and our long-term growth prospects remain very strong. In summary, It has been a privilege and immensely gratifying to serve with all of my AbbVie colleagues for the past 11 years, growing AbbVie into what it is today. And I look forward to continuing to work with Rob and the leadership team to create meaningful value for our shareholders and all of our stakeholders. And I'd also like to take this opportunity to thank all of our shareholders for the trust and confidence you put in me as AbbVie's CEO. With that, I'll turn the call over to Rob for comments on our recent business performance. Rob? Thank you, Rick.