ACADIA Pharmaceuticals Inc. (ACAD) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Hello, and welcome to the Annual Meeting of Stockholders of ACADIA Pharmaceuticals Inc. Please note that today's meeting is being recorded. It is now my pleasure to turn today's meeting over to Steve Biggar, Chairman of the Board of Directors of ACADIA Pharmaceuticals. Mr. Biggar, the floor is yours.

Good morning, everyone. My name is Steve Biggar, and I'm the Chairman of the Board of Directors of ACADIA Pharmaceuticals. I'd like to welcome you to the 2020 Annual Meeting of Stockholders, which is being [ conducted ] virtually for the first time this year, obviously, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. I very much hope that all of you are healthy and safe in these extraordinarily difficult times for our country and for the world. Before I call the meeting to order, I'd like to introduce you to the other members of the Board and our executive officers who are with us today. The other members of the Board present today are: Steve Davis, who is also our Chief Executive Officer; Laura Brege; Jim Daly; and Ed Harrigan. The other executive officers of ACADIA who are present are: Serge Stankovic, our President; Austin Kim, our Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary; Elena Ridloff, Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer; and Michael Yang, our Executive Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer. I would also like to introduce you to Tim Holl of Ernst & Young, the company's independent registered public accounting firm, who is available to respond to appropriate questions. Okay. The meeting will now officially come to order. We will proceed with the formal business of the meeting as set forth in the notice of annual meeting and proxy statement. [Operator Instructions] During the formal part of the meeting, we will address only questions pertaining to the official business of the meeting. After the voting is concluded, we will address other pertinent questions that may be submitted. I will now turn over the meeting to Steve Davis, ACADIA's Chief Executive Officer.

Thank you, Steve. Will the Secretary please report at this time with respect to the mailing of the notice of the meeting and the list of stockholders?

Available on the virtual meeting portal is a complete list of the stockholders of record of the company's common stock as of April 24, 2020, the record date for this meeting. I also have an affidavit certifying that on May 6, 2020, a notice of annual meeting of stockholders of the company was deposited in the United States mail to stockholders of record at the close of business on April 24, 2020.

At this time, I'd like to introduce Heather Obi of Computershare Inc., the company's transfer agent. I'm appointing Ms. Obi to the -- act as inspector of election at this meeting. Ms. Obi has taken and subscribed the customary oath of office to execute her duties with strict impartiality. We will file with -- this oath with the records of this meeting. Her function is to decide upon the qualifications of voters; accept their votes; and when voting on all matters is completed, to tally the final votes. Will the Secretary please report at this time with respect to the existence of a quorum?

I have been informed by the inspector of election that proxies have been received for 146,623,358 of the 155,861,373 shares of common stock outstanding on the record date, which represents approximately 94% of the total number of outstanding shares. This constitutes a quorum for the meeting today, and we may now carry out the official business of the meeting. The deadline for voting by proxy, by telephone or online was 11:59 p.m. Pacific Daylight Time yesterday. In order to vote during this meeting using the "cast your vote" icon in the virtual meeting portal, you must be a stockholder of record, or if you are a beneficial owner, you must have requested a special proxy from the stockholder of record. [Voting]

We will now proceed with the formal business of this meeting. There are 5 proposals to be considered by the stockholders at this meeting. [Operator Instructions] After all of the proposals have been presented, we will answer questions, if any, relating to the proposals, after which we will announce the preliminary results of the voting. Mark Johnson, our Vice President of Investor Relations, is monitoring the portal and will read aloud any questions. The first item of business is the election of 2 Class 1 directors to serve until the 2023 Annual Meeting of Stockholders and until their successors are elected and qualified. The nominees for Class 1 directors are Jim Daly and Ed Harrigan. The second item of business today is the approval of the amendment to the company's 2004 employee stock purchase plan. The third item of business today is the approval of the company's nonemployee director compensation policy. The fourth item of business today is the approval on an advisory basis of the compensation of the company's named executive officers as set forth in the proxy statement. The fifth item of business today is the ratification of the election of Ernst & Young LLP as the independent registered public accounting firm of the company for the fiscal year ending December 31, 2020. That was the final proposal for today's meeting. Mark, are there any questions pertaining to the proposals?

There are no questions related to the proposals.

The Secretary will now describe the voting procedures.

Each share of common stock is entitled to 1 vote. You do not need to vote online today if you have already sent in your proxy via the mail or voted through the Internet. Furthermore, you can only vote online today if you are a stockholder of record or have requested a special proxy from the stockholder of record. The time is now 8:08 a.m. and the polls are closed for voting.

May we have the results of the voting?

The report of the inspector of election covering the proposals presented at this meeting is as follows: Jim Daly and Ed Harrigan have been elected Class 1 directors of the company. The proposal to amend the 2004 employee stock purchase plan has been approved. The proposal to approve the company's nonemployee director compensation policy has been approved. The stockholders have approved, on an advisory basis, the compensation of the company's named executive officers. In addition, the appointment of Ernst & Young LLP as the independent registered public accounting firm for the fiscal year ending December 31, 2020, has been ratified. A full tally of the votes will be published in a current report on Form 8-K, which we will file with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Thank you. This concludes the formal portion of today's meeting. The meeting is now adjourned. We would now be happy to entertain any brief questions you may have regarding ACADIA. [Operator Instructions] And Mark Johnson, our Vice President of Investor Relations, who is monitoring the portal, will read your questions aloud.

There are no questions.

Thank you, Mark. This concludes our Q&A session. I would like to thank each of you once again for attending our annual shareholder meeting.

And this concludes the meeting. You may now disconnect. Have a great day, everyone.