Newtopia Inc.

Greetings and welcome to the Nutopia Inc. first quarter 2023 earnings conference call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. If anyone should require operator assistance during the conference, please press star zero on your telephone keypad. And as a reminder, this conference is being recorded. It is now my pleasure to introduce to you Tyler Drew, Investor Relations. Thank you. You may begin. Good evening.

Good evening. And welcome to Newtopia's first quarter 2023 earnings conference call. Joining me today are Jeff Ruby, founder and chief executive officer, Colin Swenson, chief financial officer, and Laura Dodo, chief growth and operating officer. Please note that today's call is being broadcast live over the internet and will also be archived for both telephone and online listening upon completion of the call. Details on how to access the replays are available in the company's first quarter press release issued this afternoon and can be found on the investor section of Newtopia's website at www.newtopia.com. Before we begin, let me remind you that certain matters discussed during today's call or answers that may be provided to questions asked during the Q&A portion of the call could constitute forward-looking statements which are subject to certain risks and uncertainties relating to Newtopia's future financial and business performance. Actual results could therefore differ materially from those anticipated in such forward-looking statements. Newtopia is under no obligation to update any forward-looking statements discussed today, and investors are cautioned not to place undue reliance upon these statements. The risk factors that may affect results are detailed in Newtopia's periodical results and registration statements, which you can access via the CDAR database at www.cdar.com. Also, please note that all figures stated on today's call are in Canadian dollars unless otherwise noted. I would now like to turn the call over to Jeff Ruby, founder and CEO of Newtopia. Please go ahead, Jeff.

Thank you, Tyler. And thank you to everyone for joining us today on our first quarter 2023 earnings conference call. It has only been a few short weeks since we spoke, so many of the topics we discussed on our fourth quarter 2022 earnings call continue to reign true. As you recall, in the fourth quarter of 2022, we initiated a strategic repositioning plan. We evaluated our cost to serve as well as our operations, determined what expenses were not generating return on their investment, and then went back to the basics of reducing our costs while simultaneously optimizing our inspirator or health coach service ratios. We completed all of these efforts while impressively maintaining and improving our industry-leading engagement and whole health outcomes. With our expenses and cost to serve increasingly in order, our main focus in 2023 remains achieving profitable growth alongside the closing of some exciting new employer and health plan contracts. The sizable efficiencies gained in the fourth quarter have proven helpful in moving the business in the right direction, and we have driven even further operating expense improvements in Q1 of 2023. As we make our way through each quarter, the efforts we've undertaken to improve margins and reduce operating expenses will be increasingly apparent. So let's turn to our financial results for the first quarter. Revenue for Q1 2023 totaled $2.65 million as compared to $2.87 million in the prior year period. Participant engagements were $33,000 during the quarter. It's worthwhile to note that with the implementation of a multi-year contract renewal for a large client, we made some important value-based changes to our definition of engaged participants. that had a declining impact on first quarter engagements. We anticipate that we will be able to make up for these participants' engagements in successive quarters as we transition new participant engagement behaviours into habits. These engagement results are even more important in tough market cycles, as our proven clinical outcomes demonstrate real cost savings for our health insurer clients, many of whom are actively cutting costs. We see now, more than ever before, a prevailing belief that unchecked chronic disease is one of the greatest cost generators across the entire North American healthcare landscape. Against this backdrop, there remain two developing macro trends, which we continue to believe Newtopia is incredibly well positioned to drive growth going forward. The first is the introduction of a new blockbuster class of effective diabetes and obesity drugs, or GLP-1s, with trade names like Ozempic, Wigovi, and Munjaro. These injectable drugs reduce appetite, boost production of insulin, and lower blood sugar. According to data from Komodo Health, in 2022, more than 5 million prescriptions were written for GLP-1s. This compares to just over 230,000 prescriptions for these medications in 2019, or more than 2,000% increase in just three years. Analysts project that the global obesity therapeutic market alone could be worth $100 billion by 2030, with the weight loss drug industry reaching as high as $200 billion in the next decade. Clearly, there is an increasing acceptance of GLP-1s and a huge addressable market to go with it. While these medications are generating promising clinical outcomes, many physicians believe that diabetes and obesity have no quick fix. as that injections alone are not the answer. Instead, GLP-1s are most effective, both clinically and economically, when paired with a proven habit change platform like Nootopia. As a result, we are seeing an increasing commercial evolution by large public players, from Weight Watchers to Teladoc, who are combining behavior change platforms, prescriptions, and more to go alongside these blockbuster drugs. We feel that we are exceptionally well-positioned to do the same, and Lara Dodo, our Chief Growth and Operating Officer, will speak further to that topic later on in this call. The second macro trend is the emergence of advanced primary care for employers and commercially insured populations. Advanced primary care represents an effort by providers to offer comprehensive value-based care blending in-person and virtual service delivery rather than a fee-for-service program. The goal of advanced primary care is to improve the patient experience and health of various populations, while simultaneously reducing costs for the insurer. Large public companies like CVS, Walmart, and Amazon have all announced that they are actively investing in primary care services. Value-based healthcare is not the norm just yet. However, one example of a program Neutopia is seeking to tap into that serves as a model for this type of care is Medicare Advantage. Newtopia represents an ideal complementary capability to advanced primary care options and has always been at the forefront of chronic disease management compared to our traditional system of sick care. We look forward to discussing opportunities in the advanced primary care space on future earnings calls. Newtopia is well positioned for an exciting 2023 as we cross over to profitable growth. With that, I'll turn the call over to Colin Swenson to discuss our first quarter financials in further detail.