Good day and welcome to the Athlon Medical first quarter fiscal 2027 earnings and corporate update conference call. All participants will be in listen-only mode. Should you need assistance, please signal a conference specialist by pressing the star key followed by zero. After today's presentation, there will be an opportunity to ask questions. To ask a question, you may press star then one on a touch-tone phone. To withdraw your question, please press star then two. Please note this event is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to Jim Frakes, CEO and CFO of Athlon Medical. Please go ahead.

Thank you, operator, and good afternoon, everyone. Welcome to Athlon Medical's first fiscal quarter and to June 30, 2026 earnings conference call. My name is Jim Frakes, and I'm the Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer of Athlon Medical. At 4.15 p.m. Eastern Time today, Athlon Medical released financial results for its first fiscal quarter ended June 30, 2026. If you have not seen or received Athlon Medical's earnings release, please visit the investors page at www.athlonmedical.com to view it. Following this introduction and the reading of the company's forward-looking statement disclaimer, Dr. Steven LaRosa, our Chief Medical Officer, and I will provide an overview of Athlon's strategy and recent developments. I will then make some brief remarks on Athlon's financials. We will then open up the call for the Q&A session. Before we start the business portion of the call, please note that the news release today and this call contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Securities Act of 1933 has amended, and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 has amended. The company cautioned you that any statement that is not a statement of historical fact is a forward-looking statement. These statements are based on expectations and assumptions as of the date of this conference call. Such forward-looking statements are subject to significant risks and uncertainties, and actual results may differ materially from the results anticipated in the forward-looking statements. Factors that can cause results to differ materially from those anticipated in forward-looking statements can be found under the caption risk factors in the company's annual report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2026, the company's most recent quarterly report on Form 10-Q, and in the company's other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Acceptance may be required by law. The company does not intend nor does it undertake any duty to update this information to reflect future events or circumstances. I'd like to begin by highlighting progress during the first fiscal quarter ended June 30th as we continue to execute against our strategy of advancing the hemopurifier platform while maintaining disciplined cost control. During the period, we achieved important clinical, research, and intellectual property milestones. We continued to advance our oncology program while also expanding our evaluation of hemopurifier applications into additional disease areas through preclinical research. As Steve will discuss, we are now in the final cohort of our oncology trial. We continue to generate encouraging preliminary biomarker observations. and we are expanding our research into potential applications beyond oncology. Taken together, we believe these achievements demonstrate continued execution against our key priorities of clinical development, platform expansion, intellectual property growth and disciplined resource management. And now, I will turn the call over to Dr. LaRosa who will cover updates on the Australian oncology trial and then on our R&D efforts. Steve? Thank you, Jim.

Before discussing our clinical observation, I want to emphasize that the hemopurifier remains an investigational device. Any biomarker observations discussed today are preliminary and are based on a limited number of participants and should not be interpreted as evidence of safety or effectiveness or of clinical benefit. The first participants in our third and final cohort of our Australian oncology trials have been enrolled and treated. This participant received three four-hour hemospherifier treatments over the course of a one-week period. The participant is now two months into the follow-up period and has not experienced any device-related serious adverse events or dose-limiting consequences. We need only treat two additional participants to complete the trial, provided that none of the future participants develop any of these safety events. The three investigative sites remain engaged and are actively pre-screening potential participants. Our goal remains to complete all HP treatments and the eight-week follow-up central lab measurements, period, by the end of this year, 2026. The next steps would be analysis of the data, clinical study report completion, and pre-registration clinical trial discussion with regulatory advisors. Central lab measurements of extracellular vesicles, microRNAs, and lipocyte subsets have been completed by the University of Sydney on the samples from cohort two of the clinical trial, where participants received two four-hour chemo-purifier treatments over the course of one week. A review of the raw data has taken place. As stated in the press release on July 13, 2026, We continue to see decreases in total extracellular vesicle counts, including tumor-derived extracellular vesicles and microRNAs linked to cancer progression following the HP treatment. Additionally, we observed increases in lymphocyte subsets, as well as positive directional changes in laboratory parameter ratios that have been associated with responses to immunotherapy. The changes appeared to be more consistent across participants and persisted for longer in cohort two compared with cohort one, where participants received a single chemo-purifier treatment. Independent formal statistical analyses, including a dose-response analysis, will be performed upon completion of the trial. A segue now to preclinical R&D activities. Our prior work in long COVID was published in the peer-reviewed journal, International Journal of Molecular Sciences, on the 25th of June, 2026. In this publication, we present data demonstrating as both small and large easy extracellular vesicles in long COVID patient plasma samples bind to the proprietary GNA affinity resin within our cathlon hemopurifier. Furthermore, following exposure of mutation plasmids to the resin, a decrease in microRNAs associated with immune dysregulation and inflammation was observed. This data, coupled with the data from an outside group demonstrating the presence of the COVID spike protein and proteins associated with inflammation and admirable clotting within the EVs of long COVID patients, raises the possibility of EV removal as a potential experimental therapeutic strategy in long COVID. We plan discussions with academic institutions as well as regulatory agencies to see if there's a clinical development path forward or if additional preclinical work will be necessary. Finally, our lab continues to perform experiments exploring the ability of the hematurifier technology to bind and remove EV, implicated in other diseases such as lupus and heart disease and those with chronic kidney disease. With that, I'll turn the call back over to Jim for the financial discussion and the questions.

Thanks, Steve, and good afternoon again, everyone. Let me turn briefly to our financial position and our focus on discipline spending. At June 30, 2026, we had approximately $4.9 million in cash and cash equivalents, providing resources to support ongoing clinical and research activities. Subsequent to quarter end, we further strengthened our balance sheet by raising approximately $4 million in gross proceeds to a public offering of common stock. Based on current plans, we believe our cash resources are sufficient to fund operations for at least the next 12 months. Our consolidated operating expenses for the quarter decreased 11.9% to approximately $1.6 million, compared with $1.8 million in the prior year quarter. That decrease was driven by lower professional fees and reduced general and administrative and preclinical research costs, and our operating loss declined accordingly. You will find additional detail on these expense changes in our 10Q, which breaks down specific drivers by category. We included these earnings results and related commentary in our press release issued this afternoon. The release also included the balance sheet for June 30, 2026 and March 31, 2026, and the consolidated statements of operations for the fiscal quarters ended June 30, 2026 and 2025. We will file our quarterly report on Form 10Q following this call. Our next earnings call for the fiscal second quarter ending September 30, 2026 will coincide with the filing of our quarterly report on Form 10Q in November 2026. And now, we would be happy to answer any questions that you may have. Operator, please open the call for questions.

Thank you. We will now begin the question and answer session. To ask a question, you may press star then 1 on your touchtone phone. If you are using a speakerphone, please pick up your handset before pressing the keys. If at any time your question has been addressed and you would like to withdraw your question, please press star then 2. At this time, we will pause momentarily to assemble our roster. The first question today comes from Marla Marin with Zaxx. Please go ahead.

Thank you. So, I want to go back to something, Steve, that you said in your prepared remarks. I want to make sure that I understood. So, the three different cohorts of the Australia study increased dosage, increased treatments with the hemopura prior. and I think what you said was currently, you know, even though it's early, you know, in terms of the full data set, you were thinking that phase two participants exhibited a longer benefit than those who participated in phase one. Is that the right way to think about what your comments were?

Right, so in cohort one, the participants received only a single four-hour HP treatment. In cohort two, they received two four-hour treatments. So cohort one would be like on Friday, four hours, whereas cohort two would be Monday and Friday for four hours. All cohorts would then have samples done before and after the hemopurifier treatments, and then weekly in the follow-up period, for four weeks, so week one, two, three, and four, and eight. And we looked at EVs, T cells, as well as microRNAs over the course of all those time points. When you look at the raw data, and again, this is based purely on observations of the raw data. This is not looking at change from baseline, percent change from baseline, or a formal statistical analysis. You look purely at the raw data. Typically, in cohort one, we were seeing changes in two out of three participants, where in cohort two, we tended to see it more consistent across the three participants. And then if you look at the positive directional change in those parameters, where in cohort one, you see those changes go out, say, two, three weeks, we're seeing more times in cohort two where we're seeing the positive directional change go out as far as the eight-week time period. So at least What I can say is it looks like the biologic signal is more consistent across three participants in cohort two, and then it seems the positive directional change seems to last longer. So really cohort three will tell the tale if we continue to see that kind of increased magnitude and change as well as duration of change. It will tell us that what we've seen to date is real. in coverage nonetheless by at least the signal in the raw data that we're seeing.

Got it. Got it. And you can't really comment yet on cohort three because it's so early, correct?

Yeah, we don't have any results. The first patient is, like I said, just finished their two-month or their eight-week follow-up period, so we don't have any data back yet on that patient in terms of the .

Let's say that the trajectory continues along the same lines as you just described in cohort three. Participants show an even longer duration of improvement and more consistent across the participants. Would there be a reason to think that you should, you know, when you, if and when you move forward and design the next set of research parameters, would there make any sense to, design a cohort that gets four treatments weekly, or you think that's three treatments?

I think it's an excellent question. The thing you start running up against is tolerability and feasibility. So what we thought, based on clinical medicine, and then we're drawing on the experience of hemodialysis mostly, that Anything more than four hours of treatment three times a week, say a Monday, Wednesday, Friday schedule, just will not be tolerable to patients. That's about as much as people will tolerate. And so, no, we're not considering going to four treatments at only.

Okay. And that is not a function of the way the hemopurifier treatment is currently administered. That could possibly change if you do. moved to a simplified treatment, streamline treatment system. Is that correct? It has nothing to do with the way you're treating people. It really is just having that treatment in and of itself probably cannot be tolerated more than three times a week.

Yeah. Well, tolerated both in terms of logistics and locations themselves. I mean, You talk about four hours, but there's also time in terms of hooking the patient up, priming the system, taking them off. It ends up being a complete day. It's not just four hours. Anything more than three days. Again, if we see in cohort three what we're seeing in cohort two, where we're seeing the directional changes we want, hopefully of even greater magnitude with three treatments, then we would take that are the three treatments in a week strategy forward for an efficacy trial. But they're kind of getting a little bit ahead of ourselves with the data first.

Okay. One last question. So, you mentioned also that there are many other conditions and diseases where EZs are indicated. So, you've been really good in the past. And, you know, Jim, I think that this is more of a question for you probably. you've been very good in the past at maintaining, you know, certain maintaining research on the haemopurifier without incurring significant costs. Not, you know, actual clinical testing, but publishing papers, speaking at medical conventions and other, you know, ways of trying to test the hypothesis that the hemopurifier can be beneficial across a spectrum of different indications. Are there other opportunities, do you think, for doing more and broader work about the hemopurifier in an extremely cost-effective way?

Well, we can continue to do what we're doing, which is exactly as you described, Marla. using our in-house scientists, our in-house equipment, buying reagents and things. That's not expensive. And trying to get samples either given to us or inexpensively purchased. And we can continue to do that, continue to write articles. But to really move forward, eventually we would need to either bring in more capital to finance for the clinical trial in one or more of these diseases. Or, you know, partner up with somebody, get a government grant or two. There are options out there, but I think we would need support in one of those ways to actually conduct a clinical trial in one of these. So, we will continue to do what we're doing. to try to find the right opportunities to move forward.

Okay. That makes sense. But is it also fair to say that what you're doing, even though it's clear that you'd need to proceed to, you know, more structured clinical research, is it fair to think that what you are doing gives you much more optionality in terms of finding a potential partner for certain or a variety of indications?

It's possible. You know, we are talking to people. If another option is in future discussions with the FDA, if they chose to broaden or add to our breakthrough device designation in viruses. Right now, it's just for life-threatening viruses. which long COVID is not considered a life-threatening virus. But if they were to expand it to include that, then we could do potential emergency use, one-off treatments, actually get some human data. But, again, that's just a possibility. I'm not promising anything. But those options could happen.

Okay. Thank you.

This concludes our question and answer session. I'd like to turn the conference back over to Jim Frakes for any closing remarks.

Thank you. In closing, I'd like to recap some items to keep on your radar screens. First, we are now in the final cohort of our Australian oncology trial with the goal of completing treatment and related follow-up by the end of calendar 2026 or early 2027. The preliminary cohort two biomarker observations provide additional data for us to analyze as we complete the trial and move toward our next regulatory discussions. And third, as just discussed, we continue to explore the broader potential of the hemopurifier platform, including in long COVID and in other diseases in which extracellular vesicles may play a role. We remain focused on advancing the hemofurifier platform through disciplined clinical execution, rigorous analysis of our data, and careful capital management. We appreciate your continued interest and support. Thank you for attending our call.

The conference has now concluded. Thank you for attending today's presentation. You may now disconnect.