Greetings. Welcome to Aerpio Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2019 Financial Results Conference Call. (Operator Instructions) Please note, this conference is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to Gina Marek, Vice President of Finance for Aerpio. Thank you. You may begin.

Good morning, and thank you for joining us for Aerpio's Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2019 Earnings Call. Joining me on the call today from Aerpio is Joseph Gardner, President and Founder. This morning, Aerpio released financial results for the fourth quarter and full year ended, December 31, 2019. If you have not received the news release or if you would like to be added to the company's distribution list, you can do so on the Investor Relations page of our website at aerpio.com. I'd also like to remind you the remarks made on the call today include forward-looking statements about Aerpio. Such statements may include, but are not limited to, those related to Aerpio and its business and its product candidates, including AKB-9778, ARP-1536 and the bispecific antibody asset; the clinical development plan therefore and therapeutic potential thereof; and the intended benefits from Aerpio's collaboration with Gossamer Bio Inc. for GB004. Each forward-looking statement is subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results and events to differ materially from those projected in that statement. A more complete description of these and other material risks can be found in Aerpio's reports filed from time to time with the SEC. Aerpio does not undertake any obligation to update publicly any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. I will now turn the call over to our President and Founder, Joseph Gardner. Joseph?

Thank you, Gina, and good morning. This is Joseph Gardner, President of Aerpio Pharmaceuticals. Welcome to today's conference call on Aerpio's 2019 year-end financial results. I am very excited to share with you our 2020 plan for Aerpio. As the company announced in October, we are exploring various strategic alternatives to maximize shareholder value. We plan to continue these efforts. However, in light of the strong feedback we have received from key opinion leaders, investigators and prescribers, we have also decided to conduct a Phase II trial of a topical ocular formulation of AKB-9778 in glaucoma, which we expect to readout data in the first quarter of 2021. Fortunately, Aerpio is in a very strong financial position to support this program with cash and cash equivalents of $38.5 million as of December 31, 2019. Please recall that we announced top line data from a Phase Ib trial of AKB-9778 in glaucoma in January, but I will recap it briefly here. In a cohort of 43 glaucoma patients with a baseline intraocular pressure, or IOP, ranging from 17 to 27 millimeters of mercury, we saw a 1.58 millimeter of mercury incremental reduction in diurnal IOP on day 7 when AKB-9778 was added once daily on top of existing standard-of-care prostaglandin treatment. In fact, we saw a statistically significant improvements in IOP at all time points measured after baseline. These data are consistent with our previously reported discoveries about the mechanism of action of AKB-9778, which show increased Tie2 activation in Schlemm's canal and lowered IOP via decreasing resistance to outflow from the eye, and the statistically significant IOP lowering signal, which we also saw in 2 previous sequential Phase II studies of systemically dosed AKB-9778 in ocular neurointensive patients with diabetic retinopathy. Based on these preclinical and clinical data and extensive…

Thank you, Joseph. The earnings release details our financial results for the fourth quarter and year-end 2019. So I won't repeat for you what is written in the release. For those interested, you can find additional details on our operations, results and financial conditions, beyond what is in our press release in our 10-K, which will be filed at the end of the day. However, I'll take this time to quickly point out a couple of items. Let me start with the income statement. For the 3 months ended December 31, 2019, our net loss attributable to common stockholders was $4.4 million, down from $8.5 million in the same period in 2018. Operating expenses for the fourth quarter of 2019 were $4.7 million compared to $8.9 million for the same period in 2018. For the full year ended December 31, 2019, net loss attributable to common stockholders was $23.3 million compared to $10.4 million for the full year ended December 31, 2018. The approximate $13 million increase in net loss year-over-year was attributable to the $20 million upfront payment we received and recorded as revenue in June 2018, as part of our license agreement with Gossamer for AKB-4924, which is now known as GB004. Operating expenses for the full year ended December 31, 2019 were $24.4 million compared to $31.3 million in 2018. The approximate $7 million decrease in operating expenses year-over-year was attributable to actions taken by the company in 2019 to lower expenses, including some clinical trial wind down and restructuring. Research and development expenses for the year ended December 31, 2019, decreased by approximately $5 million or 28.2% to $12.8 million from $17.8 million for 2018. This was the result of decreased spending on our lead candidate, AKB-9778, primarily for the TIME-2b trial in diabetic retinopathy, partially offset by increased spending in our glaucoma development program. General and administrative expenses for the full year ended December 31, 2019, decreased by approximately $3.7 million or 27.7% to $9.8 million from $13.5 million in 2018. This decrease was primarily attributable to decreased stock compensation, headcount reductions and general office expenses. One quick note on the balance sheet. Our cash position at December 31 was $38.5 million, and we have no debt. That concludes the financial summary. At this time, I will turn it back over to Joseph for final comments. Joseph?

Yes. Thank you, Gina. I would like to thank everybody for participating in this morning's call. We are looking forward to sharing top line results from the Phase II trial in glaucoma patients in the first quarter of 2021. If you do have questions, you can direct those to the company via e-mail, or at the phone line. Again, thanks for -- again for participating, and we are very excited about the plan for 2020. Have a great day.

Thank you. This concludes today's conference. You may disconnect your lines at this time, and thank you for your participation. End of Q&A: