Achieve Life Sciences, Inc. (ACHV) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Good afternoon. My name is John Bencich, and I am the Chief Executive Officer of Achieve Life Sciences and Chairperson of the 2022 Annual Meeting of Stockholders. I welcome you to our virtual annual meeting, which is being held via webcast and the dial-in numbers that we have provided. I now call the meeting to order. Amanda Rose from Fenwick & West will act as secretary and record the minutes of the meeting. Before turning to the formal items of business, I would first like to introduce our director nominees who are all in attendance today. In addition to myself, the director nominees up for election today are: Dr. Vaughn Himes. Dr. Himes has served as Chief Technical Officer at Seagen since August 2016 and has served as one of our directors since March 2022. Dr. Cindy Jacobs. Dr. Jacobs has served as our President since September 2020 and as our Chief Medical Officer since August 2008 and is one of our directors since March 2021. Mr. Donald Joseph. Mr. Joseph has served as our Chief Legal Officer and Secretary of Acer Therapeutics since April 2018 and has served as one of our directors since August 2017. Dr. Bridget Martell. Dr. Martell has served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Artizan Biosciences. She has served as one of our directors since March 2021. Dr. Martin Mattingly. Dr. Mattingly served as Chief Executive Officer of Trimeris from 2007 to 2011 and has served as one of our directors since June 2010. Mr. Jay Moyes. Mr. Moyes has served as Chief Financial Officer of Sera Prognostics since March 2020. He has served as one of our directors since August 2017. Mr. Richard Stewart. Mr. Stewart has served as our Executive Chairman since September 2020 and as our Chairman and as one of our directors since the consummation of the merger between OncoGenex Pharmaceuticals and the company in August 2017. I would also like to introduce our management team, Dr. Anthony Clarke, Chief Scientific Officer; Jaime Xinos, Executive Vice President, Commercial. Also present is a representative of PricewaterhouseCoopers, the company's independent auditors; and Leah Grant, representative of CT Hagberg. By authority vested in me by the Board of Directors, I have appointed Ms. Grant to act as the inspector of elections for this meeting. Ms. Grant, have you executed the oath of inspector of elections?

Yes, I have.

Please note that this meeting is being recorded. However, no one attending via the webcast or telephone is permitted to use any audio recording device. The inspector of elections will now report on the notice for this meeting.

I have a copy of the notice of this meeting, the proxy statement provided to all of the company's stockholders of record as of the close of business on April 1, 2022, and a declaration by Broadridge Financial Solutions as to the mailing of the proxy statement, which took place on or about April 21, 2022.

As of the close of business on April 1, 2022, the company had 9,475,077 shares of common stock outstanding, each entitled to 1 vote at this meeting. I'm advised by the inspector of elections that the holders of a total of at least 6,682,265 shares of voting stock are represented at this meeting by proxy, representing at least a majority of shares of voting stock outstanding, and a quorum is therefore present. I declare this meeting duly and lawfully convened. We will now proceed to the business items. The first item of business is to elect 8 directors to serve until our next Annual Meeting of Stockholders or until the directors' successors are duly elected and qualified. The candidates for directors that have been nominated by our Board of Directors are myself, Mr. Bencich; Dr. Vaughn Himes; Dr. Jacobs; Mr. Joseph; Dr. Martell; Dr. Mattingly; Mr. Moyes; and Mr. Stewart. Each director is elected by a plurality of votes cast. The second item is to ratify the appointment of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP as the company's independent registered public accounting firm for the current fiscal year. The affirmative vote of at least a majority of the shares of common stock cast is required to ratify this appointment. Ms. Grant, will you please report on the results of the voting?

Sure. Each of the nominees has been elected to the Board of Directors. Each nominee received more than 90% of the votes cast. The proposal to ratify the appointment of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP as the company's independent registered public accounting firm for the current fiscal year has been approved by 99% of the votes cast.

The final vote results will be reported in a Form 8-K to be filed within the 4 business days. There are no other formal items of business. Our 2022 Annual Meeting of Stockholders is now adjourned. Thanks again for joining us today.