Good morning. We are ready to begin the 2026 annual meeting of stockholders of Annexon, Inc. Douglas Love, the President and CEO of Annexon, will now start the meeting.
Thank you, operator. Good morning. I am Douglas Love, President and CEO of Annexon Biosciences. I am pleased to welcome you to our Annexon 2026 annual meeting of shareholders. Please note that on today's call, we will be making forward-looking statements, including statements relating to the therapeutic and commercial potential of our product candidates. These forward-looking statements are based on current expectations and assumptions, which are subject to various risks and uncertainties described in greater detail under the section titled Risk Factors in our most recent annual report on Form 10-K and in our other filings with the SEC. They should not be relied upon as representative of our views as of any subsequent date. Except as required by law, we undertake no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statements in light of new information or future events.
Turning now to the progress underway at Annexon, we are entering an exciting and defining new chapter. After decades of pioneering research into C1q and the classical complement pathway, our two late-stage registrational programs, each with breakthrough potential, are positioned to address diseases affecting more than 10 million patients worldwide. What began as a bold scientific thesis to stop harmful inflammation where it starts on diseased tissue in the body, brain, and eye, has evolved into a late-stage pipeline poised to transform care across multiple neuroinflammatory diseases. In Guillain-Barré Syndrome, or GBS, the number one cause of acute neuromuscular paralysis affecting nearly 150,000 people globally each year, tanruprubart delivered unprecedented functional improvement in muscle strength and disability in our pivotal phase III trial. Indeed, approximately 90% of tanruprubart treated patients improved by week one of treatment.
With no FDA-approved therapies and no substantial evidence of effectiveness from currently available treatments, tanruprubart is poised to tackle the significant unmet needs associated with GBS for patients and their families worldwide. Our marketing authorization application for tanruprubart is currently under regulatory review in Europe, positioning it to become the first targeted therapy for treatment of GBS. In parallel, enrollment continues in our U.S. and European FORGE study, designed to broaden experience across Western geographies and to support our planned BLA submission in 2026. Turning to geographic atrophy, a leading cause of blindness affecting more than eight million patients globally, vonaprument demonstrated unprecedented neuronal and vision preservation in the phase II study.
We look forward to top-line pivotal data from our ongoing phase III study expected by year-end, which is designed to replicate the phase II findings and is a key milestone toward advancing vonaprument as the first treatment to preserve vision in patients with geographic atrophy. In autoimmune disease, ANX1502 is a first-of-its-kind oral therapy with the potential to expand access and convenience in antibody-mediated conditions. No oral therapies are currently available for the 100,000 patients treated with biologics in the U.S. for these diseases. This year, we expect proof-of-concept data characterizing ANX1502's pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics, safety, and tolerability profile to deepen our understanding of this potentially disruptive asset.
Importantly, with cash runway into the second half of 2027, Annexon is funded through several key upcoming catalysts, including approval of tanruprubart for the treatment of GBS in Europe, the filing of a BLA submission with tanruprubart for the treatment of GBS in the U.S., proof-of-concept data for ANX1502 in a chronic autoimmune disease, and pivotal phase III data with vonaprument for the treatment of geographic atrophy. On behalf of the entire board, I'd like to express my sincere appreciation to our employees, stakeholders, and patients who have supported our progress over the past year as we work to establish a leading biotech company. With the support of many, our commitment to developing first-in-kind therapeutics for patients and their families impacted by neuroinflammatory diseases is strong and growing.
Before I call the meeting to order, I'd like to introduce you to the members of the board and the management team who are present with us today. The members of the board participating online today are William Carson, Jung Choi, Bettina Cockroft, William Jones, Muneer Satter, and Will Waddill. I would also like to take a moment to acknowledge Mr. Tom Wiggans, who is retiring from the board of directors effective with today's meeting. The board is deeply grateful for Tom's eight years of dedicated service and the significant contributions he has made to the company. We wish Tom all the best in his future endeavors.
The members of the company's leadership team joining us online today are Rick Artis, Chief Scientific Officer, Jamie Dananberg, Chief Medical Officer, Linda Fitzpatrick, Chief Human Resources Officer, Jennifer Lew, Chief Financial Officer and Corporate Secretary, Michael Overdorf, Chief Business Officer, and Ted Yednock, Chief Innovation Officer. Lastly, I would like to introduce the following persons who are also joining us online today. Ona Nguyen of KPMG LLP, the company's independent registered public accounting firm, Sid Gupta and Alexander Gefter of Cooley LLP, the company's outside legal counsel, and Wendy Shiba of CT Hagberg LLC, acting as Inspector of Election at this meeting. We have made available both the agenda for this meeting and certain operating procedures under the Materials button on the bottom right-hand side of your computer screen.
To conduct an orderly meeting, we ask that participants abide by these procedures, and we appreciate your cooperation in this matter. This meeting will now officially come to order. The time is now 8:06 A.M. on Thursday, June 11th, 2026, and the polls are now open for voting on all matters to be presented. We will first present the four proposals submitted for approval by our board. After I describe each item to be voted on, we will close the polls. We will not accept ballots, proxies, revocations, or changes after the closing of the polls. Stockholders who are attending this meeting with a valid 16-digit control number may submit questions or comments through the text box located on the virtual meeting screen. Will the Secretary please report at this time with respect to the stockholders list and the mailing of the notice of the meeting?
I have a complete list of the stockholders of record of the company's common stock on April thirteenth, 2026, the record date for this meeting. An affidavit has been delivered certifying that on April twenty-seventh, 2026, a notice of annual meeting of stockholders of the company was deposited in the U.S. mail to all stockholders of record at the close of business on April 13th, 2026.
Thank you. At this time, I'd like to introduce Wendy Shiba of CT Hagberg LLC, who is acting as Inspector of Election at this meeting. Ms. Shiba has taken and subscribed the customary oath of office to execute her duties with strict impartiality. We will file this oath with the records of the meeting. Her function is to decide upon the qualifications of voters, accept their votes, and when balloting on all matters is concluded, to tally the final votes. Will the Secretary please report at this time with respect to the existence of a quorum?
I have been informed by the Inspector of Election that proxies have been received for 142,221,509 shares of the 162,507,278 shares of common stock outstanding on the record date, which represents approximately 88% of the total number of outstanding shares. This constitutes a quorum for the meeting today, and we may now carry out the official business of the meeting
Thank you. We will now proceed with the formal business of this meeting as set forth in your notice of annual meeting and proxy statement. There are four proposals to be considered by the stockholders in this meeting. The first item of business is the election of two class III directors to hold office until the 2029 annual meeting of stockholders, or until their respective successors are duly elected and qualified. The nominees for class III director are Bettina M. Cockroft, MD, and Douglas E. Love, Esquire. The second item of business is the ratification of the Audit Committee selection of KPMG LLP as the company's independent registered public accounting firm for the fiscal year ending December 31, 2026. The third item of business is the approval of a non-binding advisory basis of the compensation of our named executive officers. Excuse me.
The fourth item of business is the approval of the company's amended and restated certificate of incorporation to increase the number of authorized shares of our common stock from 300 million shares to 500 million shares. That was the final proposal for today's meeting. The Secretary will now describe the voting procedures.
Stockholders who have sent in proxies or voted via telephone or the internet and do not wish to change their vote do not need to take any further action. Any stockholder who has not yet voted or wishes to change their vote may do so now by clicking on the voting button on the web portal and following the instructions there. Only stockholders of record as of the close of business on April 13, 2026, are eligible to vote at this meeting. We are now going to take a short pause to allow for any stockholders who have not yet voted to do so. The time is now 8:11 A.M., and the polls are now closed for voting.
Thank you. May we have the preliminary results of the voting?
The preliminary report of the Inspector of Election covering the proposals presented at this meeting indicates that the proposal to elect Bettina M. Cockroft, MD, and Douglas E. Love, Esquire, as class III directors of the company is carried. The selection of KPMG LLP as the company's independent registered public accounting firm for the fiscal year December 31st, 2026, is ratified. The resolution concerning the advisory vote on the executive compensation of the company's named executive officers is approved. Finally, the resolution concerning the approval of the amendment to the company's amended and restated certificate of incorporation to increase the number of authorized shares of common stock from 300 million shares to 500 million shares is approved. The final voting results will be set forth in the report of the Inspector of Election, which will be included as part of the record of this meeting.
We expect to report our preliminary voting results, or, if available to us on a timely basis, our final voting results on a current report on Form 8-K to be filed with the SEC within four business days after the end of this meeting. If not earlier reported, we expect to report our final voting results in an amendment to our Form 8-K within four business days after the final results are known to us.
Thank you. This concludes the formal portion of today's meeting. We thank you all for your participation.
Thank you all for joining the meeting. We will now end the call.