Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Inc.

Welcome to Alexandria Real Estate Equity's first quarter 2020 conference call. Our participants will be in 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'll be an opportunity to ask questions. To ask a question, you may press star then one on your touchstone phone. To withdraw your question, please press star then two. Please note that this event is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to Paula Shorts from Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Thank you, and good afternoon, everyone. This conference call contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the federal securities laws. The company's actual results might differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements. Additional information concerning factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements is contained in the company's periodic reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. And now we would like to turn the call over to Joel Marcus, Executive Chairman and Founder. Please go ahead, Joel.

Thank you, Paula, and welcome to everybody. And with me today virtually, I think our first virtual quarterly call in order of presentation is Jenna Foger, Steve Richardson, Peter Moglia, and Dean Shigenaga. And we're pleased to present the first quarter earnings call. This will forever be known as the COVID-19 quarter for all public reporting companies. And as I always do, I want to thank our entire team for a truly stellar, operationally excellent first quarter 2020 under extraordinarily difficult COVID-19 circumstances. Our current and go-forward operating and financial status is excellent. On the fourth quarter and 2019 year-end earnings call on February 4th, I commented on the novel coronavirus global health emergency and what Alexandria and our client tenants were already working on. Astoundingly, it was not until March 11th, 2020, that the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a pandemic. The COVID-19 virus is a tiny 120 nanometer particle, roughly the wavelength of ultraviolet light that has rippled and replicated across the globe with virulent ultraviolence and more than 3 million cases worldwide to date. Tiny things have immense impact, especially when everything and everyone is so interconnected and vulnerable. And some have kind of dubbed this China's Chernobyl. In a few minutes, I'll ask Jenna to update you on the COVID-19 fight regarding testing, therapeutics, and vaccines, which is moving forward in a rapid pace literally every day. We at Alexander are laser-focused and enormously proud of our collective accomplishments during this very challenging first quarter, which none of us will ever forget. Our team's tireless and truly outstanding performance really by all metrics, and we are staying lean, mean, and laser-focused on our mission with no ego. Our teams acquired and delivered over 35,000 individual pieces of PPE, mostly N95 masks, and delivered those to hospitals in six cities. New York City, Boston, Seattle were our top priorities. We also delivered them to Dayton, San Diego, and LA hospitals. and we consider this to be a truly great execution of our corporate responsibility. Alexandria is among the industry leaders in total shareholder return. Alexandria has best-in-class tenants. Alexandria has best-in-class assets, and a powerful and inspiring cluster market presence, design, and placemaking, really second to none other. We have world-class trusted relationships, and importantly, Our Fortress Balance Sheet gives us great flexibility and optionality going forward. We in the life science industry are at the forefront of this multifaceted fight against COVID-19 while still innovating each and every day novel technologies and new products to also treat cancer, cardiovascular, metabolic, neurological, and other serious, serious diseases. While most REITs compare their business today to COVID-19, in the COVID-19 pandemic to the great financial crisis of 2008 and 2009. I think for us, we like to look at four years after that time, really in 2013, this industry and its innovation really catapulted its capabilities and impact starting in 2013, which really was the start of the great bull run of this industry. And as we sit here today, the life science industry is really the true solution to winning the battle against the COVID-19 pandemic, a return to the days when Merck and its then-CEO, Ray Vagelos, were the most admired company and the most admired CEO in America. The first quarter of 2020 set an all-time record quarterly high of $8.1 billion invested in venture-backed life science companies. A very high level and accelerated pace, over 80 of biopharma R&D collaborations took place, in the first quarter, including the blockbuster $483 million Moderna and BARDA government funding, and Moderna being one of our important tenants, to fund to advance and scale clinical testing in the manufacture for a novel COVID-19 vaccine, really the key to the solution here. Biopharma continues to outperform the broad market in the first quarter amidst the COVID-19 reality. While most industries are adversely affected by acute changes in consumer demand, this is not the case for biopharma, as the need for new medicines is fundamental to our human condition. This discrepancy is one of the reasons why biopharma outperformed other sectors during the great financial crisis and the tech bubble crash of 2001. NIH funding support remains very strong, with a 7% budget increase for fiscal 2020 up to $41.7 billion. A very favorable regulatory environment continues with the FDA, especially in light of COVID-19, and 11 new product approvals were achieved in the first quarter. Medical research philanthropy has also hit an all-time high as well. I think it's fair to say that much like flying was before and after 9-11, things will never again be quite the same as they were pre-COVID-19 and the international pandemic. How quickly we return to what will be a new normal depends on how we solve the public health situation, restore public confidence, and safety. Jim Collins, the famous business author and writer, research clearly evidences to be built to last, you have to be built to change. And more importantly, in Jim's introduction to his book, Built to Last, he states the real focus is, quote, it is really about building something that is worthy of lasting. It's about building a company of such intrinsic excellence that the world would lose something important if that organization ceased to exist. Jim Collins further stated, quote, We are more convinced than ever that building an enduring great company, one that is truly worthy of lasting, is a noble cause. And our mission at Alexandria is now more important than ever, and we are in the fight each and every day making a tangible and positive impact. And we were really graced by Jim Collins' quote on the cover of our 2016 annual report where he indicated, quote, Alexandria, has achieved the three outputs that define a great company, superior results, distinctive impact, and lasting endurance. And with that, let me turn it over to Jenna Foger.