Gerard Michel
Analyst · Craig-Hallum Capital Group. Please go ahead
Thank you for joining us today to review our first quarter's financial results and business updates. I'm proud of our continued progress this quarter in terms of both revenue growth and incremental center openings. Both HEPZATO and CHEMOSAT have had an impressive first quarter of 2025, generating a combined revenue of $19.8 million. HEPZATO sales in the U.S. contributed $18 million while CHEMOSAT sales in Europe added $1.8 million. Thanks to the exceptional efforts of our commercial team, we ended the quarter with 17 treating sites and have since opened an additional two centers, bringing our total to 19 active centers in the U.S. In the first quarter, we continued to solidify the company's finances with positive cash from operations of $2.2 million net income of $1.1 million and positive adjusted EBITDA of $7.6 million. Additionally, we ended the quarter with no debt and approximately $59 million in cash and investments. With this strong financial footing, we will continue to leverage cash from operations to support HEPZATO's research and development initiatives beyond metastatic uveal melanoma patients. Given our belief that HEPZATO and the underlying hepatic delivery system platform has the potential to benefit a much broader set of patients suffering from cancer in the liver. Turning back to center activations. In the first quarter, we activated the University of Kansas Health System, Cleveland Clinic and Providence St. John's. So far in the second quarter, we activated Northwestern Memorial Hospital and the University of Miami. In addition to the 19 active treating centers, there are currently 10 centers now accepting referrals and pending activation. With our pace of opening between 3 to 5 centers per quarter, I am confident that we are well on track to achieve our previously stated goal of 30 active centers by year end. In the first quarter, we averaged approximately two treatments per month per center. And based on the expected pace of new center activations and mix of existing centers, we expect the average monthly treatment per site to be just under 2 for the remainder of the year. As we increase our footprint across the United States, we are expanding from 4 to 6 territories, with each territory having a liver directed therapy manager, an oncology manager and a clinical specialist. This transition to 6 territories is nearly complete, and we are successfully attracting top commercial talent across the United States to support our expansion. We continue to improve access for patients with metastatic uveal melanoma through our newly implemented HEPZATO KIT Access 360 platform. This comprehensive program connects patients with authorized HEPZATO KIT treatment centers and supports eligible patients in reducing their out-of-pocket costs. HEPZATO KIT Access 360 also includes co pay assistance for those with commercial insurance and also helps patients explore additional financial support available. The European market continues to experience growth, increasing 29% over the prior quarter to $1.8 million. As we have previously stated, given the reimbursement and pricing challenges in Europe, this market will not be a significant contributor to revenue, at least in the short to medium term. However, given CHEMOSAT holds a comprehensive pan solid tumor device label and several of our European sites post over a decade of experience with CHEMOSAT, the region has and will continue to be a critical source of clinical data. Turning to company sponsored trials. Our clinical team is diligently working to establish sites for our liver dominant metastatic colorectal and metastatic breast cancer trials, which represent a promising new indication for HEPZATO. Our Phase II trial in metastatic colorectal patients received FDA clearance in December of 2024. As a reminder, the Phase II trial will evaluate the safety and efficacy of HEPZATO in combination with standard of care versus standard of care alone in patients receiving third-line treatment. Standard of care will be trifluridine-tipiracil, bevacizumab. Our Phase II trial metastatic breast cancer received FDA clearance in April of this year. The Phase II trial will evaluate the safety and efficacy of HEPZATO in combination of standard of care versus standard of care alone in second- or third-line patients with lipid dominant HER2-negative metastatic breast cancer. standard of care options will be eribulin, vinorelbine or capecitabine. Each trial will enroll approximately 90 patients across over 20 sites in United States and Europe. Both trials have a primary endpoint of hepatic progression-free survival. We anticipate both studies starting by the end of 2025 with enrollment for the metastatic colorectal trial to begin the third or early fourth quarter and enrollment for metastatic breast cancer to follow shortly thereafter. For metastatic colorectal, we anticipate the primary endpoint to read out by the end of 2027 or early 2028 with overall survival data expected to follow in 2028. For our metastatic breast cancer trial, we project hepatic progression-free survival data to be read out in late 2028 or early 2029 with overall survival data likely following in 2029. Our market research estimates that an annual addressable market of approximately 7,000 patients with liver-dominant metastatic colorectal cancer advancing to third line treatment in the U.S., alongside a comparable population of approximately 7,000 patients with liver-dominant metastatic breast cancer eligible for second-or third-line therapy. Each of these markets is approximately 7 times larger than the metastatic uveal melanoma patient population, which affects approximately 1,000 patients annually in the U.S. These substantial patient populations face a significant unmet need as neither systemic therapies nor permanent liver directed therapies adequately address liver metastases, underscoring the urgent demand for innovative treatment options. Our strong start to 2025 was marked by consistent revenue growth and the expansion of active treatment centers adopting HEPZATO. In the first quarter, we achieved both positive net income and operating cash flow, driven by robust clinical demand and accelerating adoption among oncologists and interventional radiologists. Our ongoing engagement with these specialists underscores the critical role of whole liver treatment in addressing liver-dominant disease, informing our strategy to pursue additional indications. These efforts position us to potentially transform care for a broader population of metastatic patients, including those with liver-dominant colorectal and breast cancer. I'll now hand the call over to Sandra, who will provide a detailed overview of our financial performance.