Milestone Scientific Inc.

Greetings and welcome to the Milestone Scientific second quarter 2023 financial results and business update conference call. At this time, all participants are in a listen only mode and a question and answer session will follow the formal presentation. If anyone should require operator assistance during the conference, please press star zero on your telephone keypad. Please note this conference is being recorded. I will now turn the conference over to your host, Mr. David Waldman, Investor Relations. David, you may begin.

Good morning, and thank you for joining Milestone Scientific's second quarter 2023 financial results conference call. On the call with us today are Ariane Haverhals, Chief Executive Officer, and Peter Milligan, Chief Financial Officer of Milestone Scientific. The company issued a press release today containing second quarter 2023 financial results. which is also posted on the company's website. If you have any questions after the call or would like any additional information about the company, please contact Crescendo Communications at 212-671-1020. The company's management will now provide prepared remarks reviewing the financial and operational results for the second quarter ended June 30th, 2023. Before we get started, we'd like to remind everyone that during this conference call, we may make forward-looking statements regarding the timing and financial impact of Milestone's ability to implement its business plan, expected revenues, and future success. These statements involve a number of risks and uncertainties and are based on assumptions involving judgments with respect to future economic, competitive, and market conditions in future business decisions, all of which are difficult or impossible to predict accurately, and many of which are beyond milestone control. Some of the important factors that could cause actual results differ materially from those indicated by the forward-looking statements are general economic conditions, failure to achieve expected revenue growth, changes in our operating expenses, adverse patent rulings, FDA or legal developments, competitive pressures, changes in customer and market requirements and standards, and the risk factors detailed from time to time in Milestone's periodic filings of the Securities and Exchange Commission, including without limitation Milestone's report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31st, 2022, and Milestone's report on Form 10-Q for the second quarter ended June 30th, 2023. The forward-looking statements made during this call are based upon management's reasonable belief as of today's date, August 15th, 2023. Milestone undertakes no obligation to revise or update publicly any forward-looking statements for any reason. With that, we'll now turn the call over to Aryan Haberhal, Chief Executive Officer. Please go ahead, Aryan.

Thank you, David, and thanks to everyone for joining us today. I'm pleased to report that we achieved revenue of $2.9 million for the second quarter of 2023, an increase of 77% over the same period last year. Sequentially, sales increased 12% over the first quarter of 2023. We saw solid year-over-year increases in both domestic and international sales. And at the same time, our growth profit increased 178% over the same period last year. The increase in revenue and gross margin was due in part to the success of our new online portal for selling and shipping the STA single-toothed anesthesia system and hand pieces directly to dental clinics and dental service organizations or DSOs within the US. Establishing a direct relationship with our clients has not only improved margins by cutting out our prior distributor, but has allowed us to do a much better job in selling to and supporting these dentists. Since the launch of the portal in the beginning of this year, we have been able to track the sales data and thus conduct sales analysis. We know now the customer identity and their purchase pattern of our instrument and handpieces, enabling us to really improve the sales execution in terms of growing the existing customer base and acquiring new customers through upselling activities and reactivating these customers in the U.S. At the same time, we've engaged in more direct-to-consumer marketing, targeting patients specifically. We have seen more patients asking their dentist about the STA that has helped drive inbound interest to us from the dentists. In addition, we saw a strong increase in international dental sales during the second quarter as we are entering new international markets and deepening our penetration within existing international markets. It's also worth noting that our dental division continues to operate profitably. In fact, the dental division generated approximately $600,000 of operating income on a standalone basis, which is a more than threefold increase over the same period last year. So to summarize, within our dental business, our revenues increased, we're benefiting from higher gross margins, and we continue to generate solid cash flow on a standalone basis. As we continue to grow our revenues, we expect to benefit from economies of scale, as well as the recurring nature and high margins on our disposables. Turning to our medical segment, we are making good progress advancing our commercial efforts around the CompuFlow epidural system. Most notably, just last week, we announced reimbursement from commercial payers for the use of the CompiFlow Epidural System for patients who were involved in motor vehicle accidents. These payments are a significant achievement for the company. I would like to be clear that reimbursement can be a time-consuming process, which is standard for all new medical devices. Nevertheless, we are making more than good progress, and these payments are further validation of our technology and reimbursement strategy. We continue to expand the foundation of physicians utilizing our technology, which is building support for the appropriate level of reimbursement from insurance providers, which would stimulate then the adoption and utilization of the technology in their practices. Towards this end, we commend sales of CompreFlow epidural disposables into the pain and rehabilitation medical group in Torrance, California. Adoption of the technology by this clinic follows a successful evaluation process by its founder, Dr. Fabian Proano, an interventional pain medicine physician. Dr. Proano initially conducted eight cases using the CompreFlow epidural system in which he reported 100% success. The evaluation included epidural steroid injection procedures within the lumbar, thoracic, and cervical thoracic junction of the spine. As more and more physicians and anesthesiologists, such as Dr. Prolano, perform procedures and submit for reimbursement, our goal is to secure broad coverage for our technology, as well as establish the CompreFlow epidural system a standard of care within the industry. We also believe there is a market opportunity for a Compuflow Epidural Instrument within federal and other government agencies as our system can contribute to increased efficiencies. On the international front, we are expanding our network of distribution partners. Specifically, we are targeting independent distributors with existing relationships within key global markets and proven track records, introducing medical devices within their territories. We look forward to announcing additional international distributors as we advance our commercial rollout. At this point, I'd like to turn the call over to Peter Milligan, Chief Financial Officer, to go over the financials in detail.