Precision BioSciences, Inc. (DTIL) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the Precision BioSciences call. Your main speaker today is Matt Kane. Matt, you have the floor.

Thank you, and good morning. My name is Matt Kane, Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder of Precision BioSciences, Incorporated, a member of the Board and the Chairperson of today's meeting. I'm very happy to welcome you to our inaugural Annual Meeting of Stockholders. But before I call the meeting to order, I'd like to invite Kevin Buehler, the interim Chairman of the Board of Directors, to introduce our meeting participants.

Thank you, Matt. It is a pleasure to be here today. I'd like to introduce to you the other members of the Board of Directors joining us today. On the call, in addition to myself and Matt Kane, please meet Geno Germano, Dr. David Jantz -- Derek Jantz, excuse me, Dr. Raymond Schinazi, Shalini Sharp and Dr. Tony Yao. We also have members of our management team joining the meeting, including the following officers, Dario Scimeca, General Counsel; and Abid Ansari, Chief Financial Officer. I would also like to introduce Mike Morton, Tim Fleischman, and Michael D'Urso of Deloitte & Touche LLP, the company's independent auditor, who are available to respond to relevant questions via the question-and-answer function on the annual meeting web page. And now, Matt, you may officially open the meeting.

Thank you very much, Kevin. The meeting will now officially come to order. But before we proceed with the formal business of the meeting, I would like to thank you, our stockholders, for joining us today and supporting Precision BioSciences. As we navigate the unprecedented landscape of the COVID-19 pandemic, I hope you and your loved ones are well. This virus has forced many unusual changes upon us, and now more than ever, we are committed to the health and safety of our employees, partners and the communities we serve. I am humbled that we have a strong team that continues to make meaningful progress on our key areas of business focus. In 2019, we achieved several company milestones, including a successful initial public offering, initiation of our first off-the-shelf or allogeneic CAR T clinical trial, and the construction and opening of our state-of-the-art manufacturing center for advanced therapeutics. We believe we can make a meaningful difference in the lives of millions of people around the world. Now let's proceed with the formal business of the meeting as set forth in the notice of annual meeting and proxy statement. For the purposes of today's meeting, we welcome only those questions from stockholders about the 2 proposals that will be discussed. [Operator Instructions] Upon joining the meeting, an agenda should have become available on your screen. Please note, at the bottom of your screen is a list of the rules of conduct for the meeting. To conduct an orderly meeting, we ask that participants abide by these rules. Our Board of Directors set March 23, 2020, as the record date for those stockholders entitled to vote at this meeting. We have a certified list of stockholders of the company as of the close of business on the record date who are entitled to notice of and to vote at this meeting. This list was available for inspection for 10 days prior to this meeting and for stockholders that have entered a valid 16-digit control number, the stockholder list is also available during this meeting on the bottom panel of your screen. I also have an affidavit of mailing, establishing that this notice of the meeting was first distributed or made available on March 27, 2020, to all stockholders of record of the company as of the close of business on March 23, 2020. A copy of the notice of meeting and the affidavit of mailing will be included with the minutes of this meeting. At this time, I'd like to introduce Victor LaTessa, a representative of Broadridge Investor Communication Services. The Board of Directors has appointed a representative of Broadridge to act as inspector of election at today's meeting. Mr. LaTessa has signed the customary oath of office to execute his duties with strict impartiality. We will file this oath with the records of the meeting. Mr. LaTessa has informed me that a quorum is present. Therefore, I hereby declare this meeting to be duly constituted for the transaction of business. We will now proceed with the formal business of this meeting. The polls opened today, May 13, 2020, at 11 a.m. Eastern Time. We're voting on the 2 proposals before us today. If you have not already voted and wish to vote, the polls will remain open until we finish presenting the proposals and close the polls. The voting is by proxy, and for those voting during the meeting, online ballot. You do not need to vote during the meeting if you have already voted and do not wish to change your vote. There are 2 proposals to be considered by the stockholders at today's meeting. The company recommends that the stockholders vote for each of the director nominees named in the first proposal and for the ratification of Deloitte & Touche LLP as our independent registered accounting firm for 2020. The first item of business is the election of Geno Germano, Matt Kane and Raymond Schinazi to serve as Class I directors of the company's Board to hold office until the company's Annual Meeting of Stockholders to be held in 2023 and until their respective successors have been duly elected and qualified. The plurality of the votes cast, meaning that the 3 nominees receiving the highest number of affirmative for votes, is the voting standard for this item of business and is required for each of the nominees to be elected as Class I directors. In accordance with the advanced notice provision in the company's bylaws, stockholders are required to provide advanced notice of their intent to nominate candidates for directors. No such notice was received. Therefore, I declare the nomination for director closed. The motion to elect 3 directors is now in order. The second item of business is the ratification of the Audit Committee's appointment of Deloitte & Touche LLP as our independent registered public accounting firm for our 2020 fiscal year. The affirmative vote of the holders of a majority and voting power of the votes cast affirmatively or negatively, excluding abstentions at this annual meeting by the holders entitled to vote on this item of business is required for the approval of this proposal. [Voting]

That was the final proposal for today's meeting. As a reminder, for the purposes of today's meeting, we welcome only those questions from stockholders about the 2 proposals discussed. [Operator Instructions] We remind everyone that we will report our first quarter 2020 financial results on Friday, May 15, 2020. We will now take questions. There are no questions related to the proposals at this time. The time is now 11:08 a.m. on May 13, 2020, and the polls are now closed for voting. The inspector of election will count the votes. Based on the preliminary report of the inspector of election, the preliminary results show that each of the proposals have been approved at today's meeting. Number one, each of Geno Germano, Matt Kane and Raymond Schinazi have been elected as Directors to serve on the Board until our annual meeting to be held in 2023; and two, the appointment of Deloitte & Touche LLP as our independent registered public accounting firm for our 2020 fiscal year has been ratified. The final tally of the votes will be published within 4 business days in a current report on Form 8-K to be filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. It is now 11:09 am, and the meeting has concluded. This meeting is now adjourned. With that, ladies and gentlemen, this concludes our annual meeting. We look forward to updating you further in our first quarter 2020 financial results, which again will be released on Friday, May 15, 2020. I want to thank you for attending and for your continued support of Precision BioSciences.

Thank you again, ladies and gentlemen. This concludes your call. You may now disconnect.