NextCure, Inc. (NXTC) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Good morning, and welcome to the 2020 Annual Meeting of the Stockholders of NextCure, Inc., our first annual meeting as a public company. I'm David Kabakoff, Chair of the Board of Directors of NextCure. We're holding this meeting virtually over the Internet in order to ensure that the health and welfare of our stockholders, directors and management in the light of the COVID pandemic and to enable us to reach more stockholders and make it easier for them to participate than would be the case with an in-person meeting. To all of our stockholders, I wish the best for you, your families and your communities in these unprecedented times. There are 2 items of business on today's agenda: first, the election of Class I directors; and second, the ratification of the appointment of Ernst & Young LLP as the company's independent registered public accounting firm for 2020. I will act as the chair of the meeting. [Operator Instructions] In addition, after the business portion of the meeting, we will answer stockholder questions. At this time, the meeting is called to order. Now I'd like to introduce the other members of the Board and company management present today. In addition to me, the other Directors present today are Michael Richman, our President and Chief Executive Officer; Elaine Jones, Ph.D., retired Vice President of Worldwide Business Development and Senior Partner at Pfizer Ventures; Chau Khuong, Private Equity Partner at OrbiMed Advisors; Judith Li, Partner at Lilly Asia Ventures; Briggs Morrison, M.D., Chief Executive Officer of Syndax Pharmaceuticals; Stephen Webster, former Chief Financial Officer of Spark Therapeutics; and Stella Xu, Managing Director of Quan Capital. In addition to Mr. Richman, the other executive officers present today are Steve Cobourn, our Chief Financial Officer; Kevin Heller, M.D., our Chief Medical Officer; Sol Langermann, Ph.D., our Chief Science Officer; and Tim Mayer, Ph.D., our Chief Operating Officer. We are also joined here today by Aaron Church, representing the company's auditors, Ernst & Young. He will be available to respond to questions during the Q&A session after the formal portion of the meeting. Beth VanDerbeck of the Carideo Group has been appointed to act as inspector of election. Ms. VanDerbeck is also with us today. Tim Mayer will act as secretary of the Meeting. I will turn to him now for certain procedural matters.

As Dr. Kabakoff mentioned, we will provide time for comments and questions in connection with this meeting. Only validated stockholders may make comments or ask questions. [Operator Instructions] The Board of Directors set April 16, 2020, as the record date for determining stockholders entitled to vote at this meeting. We have made available a list of stockholders of record as of that date, which is available for inspection today by stockholders on the meeting portal. The company has received an affidavit attesting that a notice of Internet availability of the notice of the meeting was mailed on or about April 27, 2020, to all stockholders as of the record date. The affidavit will be made part of the minutes of this meeting. They are present at this meeting in person or by proxy stockholders of record, holding in excess of a majority of the company's issued and outstanding shares as of the record date. Therefore, a quorum is present and the business of the meeting may proceed. I will now hand the meeting back to Dr. Kabakoff.

We will now transact the business for which this meeting has been called. I will present the 2 matters to be voted on and we will give stockholders an opportunity to comment on the proposals after they have both been presented. The first matter that is now being submitted to stockholders for action today is the election of Judith Li, Garry Nicholson and Stella Xu as Class I directors, each to serve a 3-year term until the 2023 Annual Meeting of Stockholders or until a successor has been duly elected and qualified. Nominees will be elected as directors by a majority of the votes cast. The Board recommends a vote for each of the nominees. The second matter that is now being submitted to stockholders is ratification of the appointment of Ernst & Young LLP as next year's independent registered public accounting firm for the year ending December 31, 2020. The Board recommends a vote for ratification of the appointment of Ernst & Young. The affirmative vote of a majority of the votes present in person or represented by proxy is required to ratify this appointment. Because no further business is scheduled to come before the stockholders, the polls are now open. Stockholders who have not yet voted or wish to change their vote may do so by clicking on the voting button on the website and following the instructions there. Stockholders who have sent in proxies are voted via telephone or internet and do not want to change their vote do not need to take any further action. While stockholders are voting, this meeting is open for discussion relating to the proposals being presented. If any stockholder would like to make a comment regarding either proposal, please submit the comments through the website now.

No comments have been received. We will pause for a minute for any final voting. [Voting]

Mr. Mayer?

Yes. Now that everyone has had the opportunity to vote, the polls for the 2020 annual meeting are officially closed. With that, I once again turn the meeting over to Dr. Kabakoff.

Thank you, Tim. The preliminary vote report shows that each of the nominees for election to the Board has been duly elected and that the appointment of Ernst & Young LLP as our independent registered public accounting firm for the year ended December 31, 2020, has been ratified. We will report the final vote results in a Form 8-K to be filed within 4 business days. There being no further business to come before the meeting, the 2020 Annual Meeting of Stockholders of NextCure, Inc. is now adjourned. Now we would like to open for stockholder questions. As a reminder, this session is being webcast live this morning and only validated stockholders will be able to ask questions. We will attempt to ensure that everyone that has a question will have a chance to be heard. And either I or representatives of management will respond to questions. [Operator Instruction] In addition, questions that, among other things, are not related to the business of the company or about personal concerns or use offensive language will not be addressed. Finally, remarks today may contain forward-looking statements. Actual results could differ materially from those projected. The company undertakes no obligation to update or revise publicly any forward-looking statements, whether because of new information, future events or other factors.

No questions have been received. Dr. Kabakoff?

Okay. So seeing no questions at this time, that concludes the question-and-answer period, and we are going to end the session now. I want to thank all of you for attending today's meeting and for your continued support of NextCure, Inc. Thank you very much.