Palatin Technologies, Inc. (0KF3) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Opposed? [Voting]

Okay. I now declare that the motion is passed. The meeting will be adjourned with respect to the proposal to approve an amendment to our certificate of incorporation to effect an increase in authorized common stock and that the meeting will be reconvened with respect to such proposal at 9:00 Eastern Standard time on Thursday, July 23, 2020, by means of a virtual meeting at the same web address at this meeting. All stockholders of record as of April 29, 2020, which is the record date for this meeting, will be entitled to vote on such proposal at the reconvened meeting. Now moving to Proposal 5, which is the advisory approval of the compensation of our named executive officers. Proposal 5 ask stockholders to approve an advisory resolution on the compensation of our named executive officers for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2019, all as described in our proxy statement. This proposal is advisory. Although nonbinding, the vote will provide information to our Compensation Committee and our Board of Directors regarding investor sentiment about our executive compensation philosophy, policies and practices, which our Compensation Committee and our Board of Directors will be able to consider when making future executive compensation decisions. Are there any questions or comments on this proposal? Seeing none, I recognize the secretary of the meeting.

The polls are about to close, so if you have not yet voted and desired to vote at this meeting, please do so. [Voting]

Since everyone has had the opportunity to vote, it is now 9:12 a.m., and the polls are closed. The inspector of elections has delivered his preliminary report, and I will now announce the preliminary results. Mr. Chairman, based on the inspector of elections' preliminary report, each of the nominees has received over 50% of the votes cast in favor of his/her election and has been elected as a director of the company to serve for a 1-year term that will expire in 2021. The ratification of KPMG as the company's independent registered public accounting firm received more than 89% of the votes in favor, and the appointment has been ratified. The amendment to the company's amended and restated 2011 Stock Incentive Plan has been approved by more than 64% of the votes in favor of the proposal. And the resolution, on an advisory basis, for the compensation of our named executive officers for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2019, received more than 70% of the votes cast in favor of the proposal and has been approved. We will file the final report of the inspector of elections with the records of this meeting after verifying the additional votes, if any, that were cast during the meeting. We expect to report the definitive results of the voting of this meeting on a Form 8-K to be filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission within 4 business days of this meeting.

Okay. I was just adjusting my math, sorry for the delay there. That concludes the business for the meeting. The meeting is now adjourned. And with respect to the proposal to approve an amendment to our certificate of incorporation to effect an increase in authorized common stock, this meeting will be reconvened at 9:00 a.m. Eastern Standard Time on Thursday, July 23, 2020, by means of a virtual meeting at the same web address at this meeting -- as this meeting. All stockholders of record as of April 29, 2020, which is the record date for this meeting will be entitled to vote on such proposal at the reconvened meeting. Dr. Spana will now provide a brief overview of Palatin and our programs, following which I will respond with Dr. Spana to any questions submitted during the Annual Meeting. [Operator Instructions] Dr. Spana, could you please present Palatin overview?

Thank you, Mr. Wills. Dear fellow shareholders, we sincerely hope that you and your families are safe and healthy as you deal with the life-altering changes brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic. As economic activity resumes, we believe the pandemic will have had a limited adverse impact on our operations. However, we understand there can be further disruptions to business activity based on resurgence of the virus and we'll take steps to be as prepared as possible for this potential outcome. On June 23, 2019, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved Vyleesi for the treatment of premenopausal women with hypoactive sexual desire disorder. This was a major accomplishment for us and the culmination of years of hard work. This also resulted in a $60 million milestone payment from AMAG Pharmaceuticals, our North American licensing partner. To date, we have received $165 million in Vyleesi licensing revenue. AMAG began a limited launch of Vyleesi in September 2019. Unfortunately, this launch has been adversely impacted by a change to the strategy -- strategic direction at AMAG. In January of this year, AMAG announced that it will divest Vyleesi. At this time, there has been no announcement as to if there will be a new North American licensee or if Palatin will regain the rights to Vyleesi. We anticipate making an announcement in this regard within the next 30 days. Palatin continues on Vyleesi collaborations for territories outside the currently licensed territory of North America, China and Korea and anticipate executing multiple agreements during the second half of calendar year 2020 and calendar year 2021. A Phase II clinical study with PL-9643 for dry eye disease started in January 2020, and active patients continue treatment and monthly clinic visits. Enrollment of additional cohorts has been delayed, but we anticipate restarting enrollment within the next month. Data readout is targeted for the fourth quarter of calendar year 2020. We announced earlier this week that we are developing PL-8177 as a treatment for patients with COVID-19. This decision was based on positive results in multiple preclinical inflammatory disease models and a lung injury model, which showed the ability of PL-8177 to reduce inflammation, protect lung tissue and reduce lung fibrosis. In addition, we have had discussions with BARDA and the FDA and are incorporating their advice into our PL-8177 development plan. We currently plan to submit an IND in the third quarter of calendar year 2020 and expect a Phase II clinical trial initiation in the fourth quarter of calendar year 2020. Regarding our PL-8177 oral formulation for ulcerative colitis, our diabetic retinopathy and noninfectious uveitis programs, we have been able to continue all the preclinical activities required to move into clinical trials. And we anticipate that the pandemic will have a minor impact on the start of their clinical trials, which will be in 2021. With approximately $89 million in cash and no debt at March 31, 2020, we have the financial strength to execute our operating plan to advance our autoimmune and anti-inflammatory programs and take the appropriate steps to ensure that we receive full value for our Vyleesi programs throughout the globe. Please stay safe during these trying times. Thank you for going -- your ongoing support and continued interest in Palatin Technologies. Steve, any questions?

Thank you, Dr. Spana. We do have several questions. They all seem to center around the timing related to AMAG's divestiture of Vyleesi. These questions were actually submitted prior to your statement and overview, Carl. So I believe they were covered. But just for completeness, let me just reiterate what was in your statement, which is that we believe that the specificity around AMAG's divestiture of Vyleesi, we will be -- Palatin will be making an announcement within the next 30 days, I'm certain AMAG would be making an announcement at the same time. As Dr. Spana conveyed, there's just 2 scenarios. The one scenario is that there will be a new partner, new licensee for the North American rights of Vyleesi, which would not be AMAG or the Palatin will be regaining the rights to Vyleesi for North America, which would put us in a position where we would have the global rights, notwithstanding the China rights that have been licensed to Fosun. And South Korean rights that have been licensed to Kwangdong. So there's really nothing else to add. We know this process is in most people's eyes, say, from shareholders that have reached out to Carl and myself, has been a long process. We've been monitoring it very closely, and we look forward to, within the next 30 days, announcing where Vyleesi is going to -- the new home for Vyleesi and also expanding on why we believe that there is significant value with the Vyleesi program and some of the steps that will be taken to do our best to have that value inure to shareholders. So give me a few more seconds just to see if there's any other questions. Okay. That's it. At this time, ladies and gentlemen, I'd like to thank you for attending today's meeting. And I'll turn it back over to the operator just to -- actually, Dr. Spana, you always end all the other meetings on the conference call. So if you'd like to just do some -- any final comments, even though it's -- you've already stated them, let me turn it over to you and then the operator will sign off -- sign us all off.

Thank you, Steve. Well, once again, I'd like to thank everyone for participating in the Palatin Technologies Annual Shareholder Meeting. I hope you all stay safe during these trying times. And we look forward to continuing to update you on our progress. Our team here is continuing to work in a safe manner, and we will continue to move our programs forward, and we look forward to updating you all. Have a nice day, and I'm going to pass it back over to the operator to close out the conference call.

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for participating in today's conference. This does conclude the program, and you may all disconnect. Everyone, have a great day.