Zevra Therapeutics, Inc. (ZVRA) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Hello, and welcome to the Annual Meeting of Stockholders of Zevra Therapeutics, Inc. Please note that today's meeting is being recorded. [Operator Instructions] It is now my pleasure to turn today's meeting over to Mr. LaDuane Clifton, who is serving as the Chairman and Secretary of today's meeting. Mr. Clifton, the floor is yours.

Good morning. I'm LaDuane Clifton, the Chief Financial Officer, Secretary and Treasurer of Zevra Therapeutics, Inc. Welcome to Zevra's 2024 Annual Meeting of Stockholders. Today's virtual-only meeting is a live webcast. We appreciate your attendance, and we hope that this virtual meeting will maximize the participation of stockholders regardless of their location. This technology enables us to reach a larger audience, while also containing our costs. Before I call the meeting to order, I'd like to introduce you to the members of the Board and the business team who are with us here today. The Chairman of the Board, Tamara Favorito and members of the Board of Directors are in attendance, including our President and CEO, Neil McFarlane. I would also like to introduce Andrew Menendez of Ernst & Young LLP, the company's independent auditors; and Nathan Ajiashvili, of Latham & Watkins LLP, the company's counsel, all of whom are available to respond to appropriate questions. The meeting will now officially come to order. We will proceed with the formal business of the meeting as set forth in your notice of annual meeting and proxy statement. After the formal part of our meeting, we will provide an opportunity for you to ask questions related to our business. [Operator Instructions] I will now provide the secretary's report regarding the list of stockholders and proof of mailing of notice. I have at this meeting a complete list of the stockholders of record of the company's common stock on March 22, 2024, the record date for this meeting. I also have an affidavit certifying that on April 3, 2024, a notice of annual meeting of stockholders of the company was deposited in the United States mail to all stockholders of record at the close of business on March 22, 2024. At this time, I would like to introduce Sharmila Amladi of Computershare Trust Company, the company's transfer agent. Ms. Amladi has been appointed to act as Inspector of Election at today's meeting and has taken and subscribed the customary oath of office to execute her duties with strict impartiality. We will file this oath with the records of the meeting. Her function is to decide upon the qualification of voters, accept their votes and when balloting on all matters is completed, to tally the final votes. I have been informed by the Inspector of Election that proxies have been received for 31,191,812 shares of the 41,850,494 shares of common stock outstanding on the record date, which represents approximately 74.53% 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. There are 4 proposals to be considered by the stockholders at this meeting. If you need a copy of the Form 10-K or the proxy statement, the links are provided online. The time is now 9:04 a.m. and on Monday, May 13, 2024, and the polls are now open for all matters -- for voting on all matters to be presented. The polls will be closed to voting after we go through the matters to be voted on. The first item of business is the election of 3 directors to serve until the 2027 Annual Meeting and until their successors are elected. The nominees for Director are Thomas D. Anderson, Neil F. McFarlane and Alvin Shih. The second item of business today is the ratification of the appointment of Ernst & Young LLP as the independent registered public accounting firm of the company for its fiscal year ending December 31, 2024. The third item of business today is the approval on an advisory nonbinding basis of the compensation of the company's named executive officers. The fourth item of business today is to approve amendments to the company's amended and restated 2014 equity incentive plan. These are the only proposals for today's meeting. Now I will review the voting procedures. Voting is by proxy and on the Internet during this meeting. You do not need to vote during this meeting if you have already submitted your signed proxy prior to this meeting. If you have not voted or wish to change your vote, you may do so now by clicking on the link provided online. Any stockholder who has already voted and does not want to change their vote, need not take any further action. Each share of common stock is entitled to 1 vote. [Voting]

The time is now 9:06 a.m., and the polls are now closed for voting. Now we will review the preliminary vote results. The report of the Inspector of Election covering the proposals presented at this meeting is as follows: the proposal to elect Thomas D. Anderson, Neil F. McFarlane and Alvin Shih as directors of the company is carried. The appointment of Ernst & Young LLP as the independent registered public accounting firm of the company for its fiscal year ending December 31, 2024, is ratified. The compensation of the company's named executive officers is approved. The amendment to the company's amended and restatement 2014 equity incentive plan are not approved. We expect to report our preliminary voting results or if available to us on a timely basis, our final voting results on a current report on Form 8-K to be filed with the SEC within 4 business days after the end of this meeting. If not reported earlier, we expect to report our final voting results in an amendment to our Form 8-K within 4 business days after the final results are known to us. The 2024 Annual Meeting of Stockholders of Zevra Therapeutics is now concluded. [Operator Instructions] At this time, we did not see -- at this time, there are not any questions in the queue. And we'll allow just a moment longer, if you would like to ask a question. Okay. Seeing no questions, we will conclude today's meeting. We appreciate your attendance today. Thank you.

This concludes today's meeting. You may now disconnect.