Greetings and welcome to the Matinas BioPharma 2022 Fourth Quarter and Full Year Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. It is now my pleasure to introduce your host, Jody Cain. Thank you, Jody. You may begin.

This is Jody Cain with LHA. Thank you for participating in today's call. Speaking on today's call from Matinas BioPharma will be Jerry Jabbour, Chief Executive Officer; and Keith Kucinski, Chief Financial Officer. We also have Dr. Terri Matkovits, Chief Development Officer; and Dr. Terri Ferguson, Chief Medical Officer, available to answer questions during our Q&A session. I'd like to remind listeners that remarks made during this call may state management's future intentions, hopes, beliefs, expectations or projections. These are forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. Forward-looking statements are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the federal securities laws. These forward-looking statements are based on Matinas BioPharma's current expectations and actual results could differ materially. As a result, you should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Some of the factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contemplated by such forward-looking statements are discussed in the periodic reports Matinas BioPharma files with the Securities and Exchange Commission. These documents are available in the Investors section of the company's website and on the SEC's website. Furthermore, the content of this conference call contains information that is accurate only as of the date of the live broadcast, March 15, 2023. Matinas BioPharma undertakes no obligation to revise or update any statements to reflect events or circumstances, except as required by law. And now I'd like to turn the call over to Jerry Jabbour. Jerry?

Thank you, Jody. Good afternoon, everyone and thank you for joining us. During our 2023 strategic outlook call in late January, we detailed our strategy of focusing on the non-toxic extrahepatic delivery of nucleic acids and small molecules through our proprietary lipid nanocrystal platform technology, or LNC. This strategy capitalizes on the increasingly sophisticated approaches to targeting the body's genetic machinery to develop highly effective therapeutics as we believe genetically-targeted therapy is the future of medicine. We continue to believe that our LNC technology and our business strategy are putting us on a path to becoming a leader in the ever-evolving world of delivering genetic material. Currently available options for the intracellular delivery of therapeutics include liposomes, lipid nanoparticles and viral vectors. While these technologies have been widely adopted, each has well-recognized limitations such as challenges with extrahepatic delivery, undesirable and dangerous toxicity and adverse immunogenicity and unstable formulations that can necessitate challenging storage conditions. We believe our LNC delivery platform overcomes many of these limitations. Our confidence is significantly bolstered by the success of MAT2203. Results from the Phase II EnACT clinical trial of MAT2203 in a deadly brain fungal infection, demonstrated that our LNC platform is able to deliver amphotericin B in a safe, well-tolerated oral form across the blood-brain barrier with dramatic survival outcomes. In contrast to the currently available formulations of this potent yet highly toxic antifungal which are only available with shorter-term intravenous administration. We are actively working to further validate and advance development of our LNC platform with several notable milestones expected during the second quarter. Among these are anticipated data readouts on key differentiating and value-creating aspects of the platform from our internal program with smaller oligonucleotides like siRNA and ASOs and for larger oligonucleotides like messenger RNA and DNA being exploring collaborations…

Thank you, Jerry and good afternoon, everybody. Today, we reported revenue for 2022 of $3.2 million which was generated from our research collaboration with BioNTech that we announced in April 2022. This compares with revenue for 2021 of $33,000 from our feasibility study agreement with Genentech. Total costs and expenses for 2022 were $27.8 million compared with $24.8 million for 2021. The increase was due mainly to higher research and development expenses related to the later stage of our MAT2203 clinical development program. Net loss attributable to common shareholders for 2022 was $21 million or $0.10 per share. This compares with a net loss attributable to common shareholders for 2021 of $23.7 million or $0.11 per share. As of December 31, 2022, cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities were $28.8 million. Based on current projections, we believe our cash position is sufficient to fund planned operations into the second quarter of 2024. With that, I'll turn the call back to Jerry.

Thanks, Keith. We believe that the Matinas investment thesis has never been stronger and we could not be more excited about our prospects going forward. We are well positioned with a Phase III ready asset that has produced compelling and unprecedented survival data in the treatment of a deadly fungal infection. MAT2203 has established a solid foundation for our company and we are taking prudent steps to position that asset for long-term success. With our LNC platform, we have the potential to disrupt the delivery of nucleic acids by providing safe, extrahepatic intracellular delivery with enhanced stability with multiple potential routes of delivery, including oral. We are gaining confidence in our technology through internal programs with ASOs and siRNAs and through collaborations with industry leaders like BioNTech, Genentech and National Resilience. All of this supports our goal of building robust internal programs and external pipelines with leading pharmaceutical companies. We see tremendous value for our company and our shareholders in establishing a leadership position for Matinas in intracellular delivery. We have many high-value milestones in the near term and throughout this year and we look forward to reporting on our progress and execution. With that, I will now turn the call over to the operator for our question-and-answer session.

[Operator Instructions] Our first question is from Greg Fraser with Truist Securities.

On 2203, will there be any new or incremental data from EnACT that's presented at ECCMID meeting next month?

Sure. Terry Matkovits, do you want to handle that one?

Sure. Thanks for the question, Greg. So as we've completed enrollment in all patients have completed the entire treatment phase and follow-up, we will be releasing the overall final data set. So -- but I can say that the data that we're seeing in the final data set supports and is very much in line with what we saw with the interim data readout. So very favorable results both from an efficacy as well as a safety perspective.

Got it. I'm not sure if I missed this but did you already have the meeting with BARDA?

So it's a good question. So Greg, we have had an initial meeting with BARDA and enthusiastic meeting where we reviewed sort of their criteria, our program and how it aligned with their mission to identify promising antifungal therapies. They're as interested in we are in FDA's feedback on the Phase III program and IFIs. Their primary focus is on IFIs like aspergillosis, mucormycosis and things like coccidioidomycosis, Valley Fever. So they very much want to see what FDA's feedback there is on program size, length because it's at that point that we have been invited to submit a white paper, seeking -- it's essentially a formal proposal. We've skipped a couple of steps with BARDA but that key piece there for that white paper will come as a result of the FDA meeting in the second quarter.

Got it. And how quickly after that meeting would you expect to have visibility on the study design and FDA's view?

Yes. I mean having been through a number -- this is now, I think, our fifth or sixth meeting with this division with this product. So we've developed a very good rapport with this group. You usually get a pretty good sense during our meetings with FDA, how they're leaning. They're very collaborative with Matinas and in fact, it was during one meeting last year where they suggested a tweak to the design of the Phase III for cryptococcal meningitis which very much was in our favor. So we expect to have a pretty detailed discussion with them at this meeting. You have to wait typically 30 days for the formal minutes of those meetings but we'll have a good sense before that. We obviously prepare our own minutes of those meetings but we will want to wait for the official minutes before we make any comment on that.

Got it. Okay. And then I just had a question on the emergency use treatment. I'm curious how many patients have been treated with 2203? Is there a limit to the number that can be treated? And what are your plans to present or publish data related to those patients?

Yes. And I'll let Terri Matkovits take this. I just want to say that I think this has been one of the most exciting things that has happened over the last 6 months as the amount of interest we've seen from patients interested in compassionate use. I think there's some confusion between the use -- emergency use spaces in compassionate use and I want to be clear that this isn't an emergency use basis like you see for a global pandemic. This is compassionate use consistent with the intended use of the drug. Certainly, other routes administration. Our ability to provide amphotericin in an oral form that can be used longer is a big attraction for these physicians. But Terri, why don't you comment on the number on what we're seeing and then some of the exciting things that will be all that ECCMID with some of these other invasive fungal infections outside crypto.

Sure, I'd be happy to. So we have agreed and supported the compassionate use of MAT2203 for the treatment of 5 patients, 4 of whom have had very favorable responses, both from a safety and an efficacy perspective. All of the patients who have been put forward as compassionate use patients have had significant renal toxicity associated with their IV administered IV amphotericin. And these were patients for whom there were no other treatment options. So they were clinically responding to the IV-administered amphotericin but had significant renal toxicity which is why they were coming to us for our support. I'm very happy to be able to share with you that 2 of the patients have completed treatment and have successfully responded to treatment. The first patient which will be presented as an oral presentation at ECCMID had an osteomyelitis, so a bone infection in her left foot and was at risk for amputation. She had a Rhodotorula infection that was not -- she was not able to continue IV amphotericin because she had significant renal failure. Upon transitioning to our oral MAT2203, she had continued clinical response such that we were able to save her foot. She was able to resume normal weight-bearing activity and very importantly, the renal dysfunction and toxicity was completely reversed once she transitioned to our oral MAT2203. And now after 3 to 4 months of treatment, she's completely clinically -- her infection is completely clinically resolved. The second patient had a candida infection in his bladder after only 2 weeks of transitioning on to oral MAT2203. He also had complete clinical resolution of his symptoms. The other 2 patients continue to improve on MAT2203. One of the patients who is severely -- presented with severe aspergillosis and mucormycosis is continuing to improve on treatment. This is a chemotherapy patient who was again significantly ahead of safety risk with the IV amphotericin that she was receiving. After transitioning to our drug, she has been clinically improving and has had very favorable response both for her aspergillosis as well as her mucor infection. And the fourth patient, who is continuing to receive MAT2203, has a mucocutaneous infection who's also responding very well to treatment.

[Operator Instructions] There are no further questions at this time. I'd like to turn the floor back over to Jerry Jabbour for any closing comments.

Thanks, Paul. Thank you once again for joining us today and for your interest in Matinas BioPharma. We're very excited about our company's future and look forward to reporting progress during our Q1 investor call, a short time from now in May. Thanks and have a great evening.

This concludes today's conference. You may disconnect your lines at this time. Thank you for your participation.