Adam Grossman
Analyst · Mizuho Financial Group
Thank you. Good afternoon, everyone. We had a strong start to the year with earnings growth and margin expansion despite total revenue being essentially flat, underscoring the resilience of the business. We grew adjusted net income by 22% year-over-year, expanded corporate gross margins to 71% and generated approximately $58 million of operating cash flow during the quarter. This was in spite of top line pressures primarily impacting BIVIGAM. We believe the first quarter results likely represent the trough revenue baseline from which we would expect to be able to drive growth in the coming quarters. Key drivers of that, in our view, will be enduring ASCENIV demand, expanding margins and continued strong cash generation. ASCENIV end market demand reached record levels in the first quarter with revenue growth of approximately 28% year-over-year. We saw continued strength and record metrics across new patient starts, prescriber adoption, product pull-through and patient adherence. As a reminder, our distributors not only have to maintain safety stock levels to ensure the continuity of patient care, but we understand these specialty distributors also typically keep extra stock available for immediate administration and to guard against any potential supply chain, manufacturing, testing or regulatory disruptions. We see our distributors' inventory and pull-through sales data on a regular basis and believe these levels are consistent with those of our industry peers and are appropriately sized. At the same time ASCENIV demand is growing, competitive dynamics in the first quarter as well as the variability in ordering patterns created a challenging commercial backdrop, in particular for BIVIGAM. I will discuss these competitive dynamics in a moment. Operationally, during the period, we completed the monetization of 3 plasma centers, enhancing liquidity while further diversifying our plasma sourcing by adding a new third-party plasma supplier. We are also actively reducing expenses in a targeted manner to improve profitability without adversely impacting our core operations. Importantly, with a balanced mix of internal and third-party plasma procurement, we believe we have ample supply of high-titer plasma to support both our near and long-term ASCENIV growth objectives. Our balance sheet remains strong with pro forma net leverage below 0.5x, driven by continued cash generation and adjusted EBITDA growth, which should provide us with the flexibility needed to support growth and activate on our capital allocation priorities. Now let me take a step back and explain why we believe we are experiencing an extraordinarily unique moment in our industry. We believe that historically, the plasma fractionation industry has been in a dislocated state where IG utilization demand has outpaced the industry's ability to supply. Over the back half of 2025, in the first quarter of 2026, new IG products have entered the U.S. market. During the first quarter, the industry also saw a surplus of raw material plasma supply, increased PDT and IG finished goods inventory across the distribution network and aggressive pricing tactics, including discounting and rebating from newer entrants. This drove greater-than-expected competitive intensity and distribution recalibration. We believe there was and continues to be a rapid shift in the ordering patterns occurring at the wholesaler and distributor level, which adversely impacted reported first quarter revenue and created additional variability in ordering patterns for ADMA's products within the quarter. We believe these dynamics were timing related and are transitory in nature. And although it's still early, we are observing signs of reversion in the second quarter. We see these as industry-wide dynamics, not only specific to ADMA. And again, we believe they primarily impacted distributor behavior rather than end market demand. While these dynamics impacted near-term ordering patterns, there was no deterioration in underlying demand for ASCENIV, where fundamentals remain strong and continue to improve with record utilization growth throughout the quarter. We are particularly encouraged that the second quarter run rate based on April demand is in line with the level of first quarter direct sales. This reinforces the key point. Record ASCENIV demand and utilization, which is a forward-looking indicator, is robust and growing, despite the broader standard IG and plasma products market competitive pressures. In our view, this is clear evidence that the first quarter variability was driven by distribution and inventory dynamics primarily affecting BIVIGAM, not by any change in demand or forward-looking growth outlook for ASCENIV. We continue to believe ASCENIV remains early in its penetration curve and that we have multiple durable growth drivers. We believe we still benefit from record new patient adds, a growing prescriber base, expanding distribution network, strong payer access and increasing physician confidence driven by ASCENIV's differentiated clinical profile and favorable real-world outcomes. In review of the reported ASP declines from certain competitor IG products, we know that the market is seeing elevated levels of aggressive discounting and rebating across standard IG. We remain disciplined in our pricing strategy and are committed to building a durable and sustainable growth model. These near-term competitive and pricing dynamics do not change our conviction in the forecast of long-term growth and durability of the U.S. IG market or ASCENIV's differentiated position in the later-line setting for refractory immunodeficient patients. Looking ahead, we believe we have several important catalysts, including our recent approval for ASCENIV's pediatric label expansion and the associated commercial opportunity and upcoming preclinical data publication for our lead pipeline program, SG-001, which will be presented at the International Society of Pneumonia and Pneumococcal Diseases Conference. We expect this SG-001 preclinical data presentation, including oral and poster sessions, to further illuminate the product's novel profile and market as we advance our capital-efficient development pathway. ADMA is a unique company in the plasma-derived therapies complex in that we have a specialized, innovative and forward-thinking R&D engine, which translates into growth opportunities and expanded product margins. Our yield enhancement manufacturing process allows us to maximize the high-titer plasma RSV plasma we collect required to meet ASCENIV's increasing demand. Yield improvement was designed to enhance our R&D pipeline programs including SG-001 so that, in the same way, we are able to maximize value on the hyperimmune plasma used to produce SG-001. We have identified a proprietary way of blending the highest-titer plasma containing strep pneumoniae antibodies from donors and will rely on the yield enhancement IG production methods for future clinical trials and potential future commercialization. To design the most effective method for SG-001 production, we have developed and designed proprietary blends of plasma that are already showing strong proof of concept in preclinical studies for two virulent and prevalent serotypes of pneumonia. As data becomes available, we will keep the market apprised of our R&D development. ADMA remains on track to submit its pre-IND package for SG-001 to the FDA later this year, and we believe, if approved. SG-001 represents an approximately $300 million to $500 million in annual market opportunity at peak that can be ramped to a short order, leveraging our existing platform, infrastructure and commercial footprint. All told, our confidence in ASCENIV's growth trajectory and our mission to meet unmet medical needs for immunocompromised patients remains unchanged. ASCENIV demand is strong, fundamentals are intact and the IG markets growth outlook remains robust, and we believe we are well positioned to drive sustained growth, expand margins and increase cash generation moving forward. Before I turn the call over, I want to recognize and thank our entire ADMA team for their continued dedication and execution during what has been a dynamic and evolving market environment. Their focus on patients, operational discipline and commitment to excellence continues to drive our performance and position the company for expected long-term success. We are grateful for your contributions and proud of the progress we are making together. With that, I'll turn the call over to Terry.