Today, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the Verrica Pharmaceuticals First Quarter 2026 earnings conference call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. After the speaker's remarks, there will be a question and answer session. As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. I will now turn the call over to our host, Kevin Gardner of LifeSci Advisors. You may begin your conference.
Thank you, operator. Hello, everyone, welcome to Verrica Pharmaceuticals First Quarter 2026 Corporate Update conference call. With me on the line this evening are Jayson Rieger, President and Chief Executive Officer, Noah Rosenberg, Chief Medical Officer, John Kirby, Interim Chief Financial Officer, David Zawitz, Chief Operating Officer, and Chris Chapman, Chief Commercial Officer. As a reminder, during today's call, management will make forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are based on the company's current expectations and involve inherent risks and uncertainties. Verrica's actual results and the timing of events could differ materially from those anticipated in such forward-looking statements. Please see Verrica's SEC filings for important risk factors. Verrica cautions you not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements and undertakes no duty or obligation to update any forward-looking statements as a result of new information, future events, or changes in expectations.
In addition, during today's call, management will discuss certain non-GAAP financial measures. These non-GAAP financial measures are an addition to and not a substitute for or superior to measures of financial performance prepared in accordance with GAAP. There are a number of limitations related to the use of these non-GAAP financial measures compared to their closest GAAP equivalents. The earnings release that the company issued today includes GAAP to non-GAAP reconciliations for these measures and is also available on the investor relations section of Verrica's website. I'll now turn the call over to Verrica's President and CEO, Jayson Rieger.
Thank you, Kevin. Good evening, everyone, thank you for joining us on our first quarter 2026 corporate update call. I am pleased to report that in the first quarter, we saw accelerating growth in market demand for YCANTH, setting new records for dispensed applicator units during the quarter and in the month of March. This growth continued after the end of the quarter as we observed further increased demand in April. YCANTH also achieved another significant milestone in February as our partner, Torii Pharmaceutical, launched YCANTH in Japan for patients with molluscum following their regulatory approval last year. Our hope is that Japan is only the beginning of our global expansion efforts for YCANTH as we are actively working to expand the availability of YCANTH into new markets around the world. While we grow the YCANTH business, we're also advancing our product portfolio.
As you may recall, in January, we announced that the first patient had been dosed in our global phase III program for the treatment of common warts, which represents a critical milestone in our strategy to expand into new indications. I'm proud to announce that we have achieved more than 50% of the currently targeted enrollment in the first phase III trial, also known as COVE-2, and have begun enrolling patients in the long-term follow-up study, COVE-4, in this program. Our target is to initiate the second phase III trial, known as COVE-3, in this program by mid-2026. We also continue to advance our phase III-ready asset, VP-315, for the treatment of basal cell carcinoma as we've begun efforts to secure clinical supplies and select a CRO to support initiation of the phase III program.
VP-315 is garnering increasing attention within the dermatology community based on compelling proof-of-concept data from our phase II program. I'll now provide a detailed update on our YCANTH commercial business. In the first quarter of 2026, we reported total revenue of $5 million, including U.S. YCANTH product revenue of $4.3 million, which was up 25.4% over the first quarter of 2025. First quarter U.S. YCANTH dispensed applicator units increased to 15,302, growing 51.3% over the first quarter of 2025. On a sequential basis, U.S. YCANTH revenue and dispensed applicator units increased 15.3% and 12.1% respectively compared to the fourth quarter of 2025.
As noted in our last call in March, while demand for YCANTH in January was likely impacted by severe winter weather across the East Coast, demand accelerated sharply in February and continued into March, which saw the best monthly dispensed applicator unit total since the launch of YCANTH. As we have now seen preliminary results for April, I am pleased to note that April dispensed applicator units also increased from March's then record level, and our team worked diligently every day to help more healthcare providers treat molluscum with what we believe to be is the best treatment available, YCANTH.
We continue to prioritize the ease of access for healthcare providers and their patients, we continue to make substantial investments in our co-pay assistance program, which is impacted during the first few months of each year by the annual reset of insurance plan deductibles in January. To ensure the broadest access to YCANTH for healthcare providers, we launched YcanthRx, our non-dispensing pharmacy, in the fourth quarter of 2025. YcanthRx simplifies the process for both the healthcare provider and patient by performing an initial benefit investigation and then triaging to an in-network dispensing pharmacy based upon the patient's unique healthcare coverage. YcanthRx is still in the early stage of rollout, it is being well-received, and in our view, will help further drive demand and coverage for YCANTH.
We would again like to congratulate Torii Pharmaceutical, now a subsidiary of Shionogi, on their February commercial launch of YCANTH in Japan for patients with molluscum. This milestone reflects the culmination of significant efforts by many team members from both companies. The launch of YCANTH in Japan means that the commercial supply we provide to Torii has begun to offset Verrica's portion of the clinical costs for the common wart program. As we announced in February, we also brought onboard Chris Chapman as our new Chief Commercial Officer in the first quarter. Chris and his team are already doing an outstanding job in optimizing our resources to maximize the productivity of the YCANTH commercial efforts.
Finally, as noted on our fourth quarter call, the Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use of the European Medicines Agency provided positive feedback that supports the filing of a Marketing Authorisation Application for YCANTH as a treatment for molluscum. With no further phase III clinical trials required for product approval, we are actively progressing through the next steps for submission in the EU. The EU represents a substantial market opportunity for YCANTH, and we look forward to evaluating potential commercialization partnerships in this large and underserved region. With respect to our pipeline, the common warts and basal cell carcinoma clinical programs continue to move ahead, representing what we believe can be multi-billion-dollar opportunities. As I mentioned, in December of 2025, we dosed the first patient in the first phase III trial, COVE-2, evaluating YCANTH for common warts, which continues to enroll patients.
The second phase III trial in the common wart program, COVE-3, with sites in both the U.S. and Japan, is targeted to be initiated by mid-2026. If the phase III program is successful, YCANTH could become the first therapy ever approved in the U.S. and Japan to treat common warts, a condition that impacts over 22 million people in the U.S. alone. As a reminder, Verrica and Torii will split the cost of the program 50/50, with Torii funding the first $40 million of trial costs, representing approximately 90% of the current trial budget. We expect to repay our portion by offsetting future transfer payments, milestones, and royalties relating to YCANTH sales in Japan.
As a reminder, all of the efforts we are undertaking for the commercialization of YCANTH for molluscum lay the foundation for ultimate commercialization for the common warts indication, if approved, and there will be significant overlap in the clinicians treating both molluscum and common warts, with the ability to access the same applicator through the same distribution channels. With respect to VP-315 for basal cell carcinoma, our program continues to drive strong interest with clinicians and patients alike as potential alternative approach to the existing surgical and non-surgical options. In our phase II study, treatment with VP-315 demonstrated a 97% objective response rate and an 86% reduction in overall tumor size, with more than half of the treated lesions achieving complete histological resolution. We continue to share additional data from the ongoing analysis of the results from the phase II at scientific conferences.
As reported last week, we will formally be presenting at the 2026 Society for Investigative Dermatology, or SID, at their annual meeting in Chicago later this week. We'll be sharing additional data regarding the abscopal-like observations from the phase II study. With a strong scientific foundation from our phase II results and regulatory engagement, we have also recently completed several market research activities to better understand how VP-315 would be received by various stakeholders. This work supports broad potential utilization and acceptance across general dermatologists, medical oncologists, and Mohs surgeons, as well as office managers and payers. We also conducted market research to evaluate the patient perspective, which indicated that a substantial majority of patients would elect to try VP-315 before other existing therapeutic options, regardless of whether they had previously been treated for skin cancer.
While the best outcome for patients is to completely eliminate the tumor, which we have observed in many patients in our phase II study, overall tumor size was reduced on an average of by 86%, which we view as clinically meaningful. This highlights the potential for VP-315 to improve the patient experience by reducing the size of the and potential complexity of future procedures, even where surgical excision is ultimately required. This market research reinforces our conviction and enthusiasm for the potential of VP-315 to change the paradigm for treatment of basal cell carcinoma. We continue to actively assess a variety of funding opportunities for this program and have initiated clinical and CMC activities to proactively prepare for the commencement of the phase III program.
As previously noted, Verrica has retained 100% global commercial rights to YCANTH for all approved and potential indications outside of Japan, as well as full global rights to VP-315 for non-metastatic skin cancers, including basal cell and squamous cell carcinoma. These programs represent a robust opportunity for potential partnership to create shareholder value and optimize global access to patients that can benefit most from these medicines. I'll now turn over the call to our interim Chief Financial Officer, John Kirby, to review our first quarter 2026 financials.
Thanks, Jayson. I'll now take a few minutes to summarize our financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2026. Total revenue for the first quarter of 2026 was $5 million, consisting of $4.3 million of U.S. net YCANTH revenue and $0.7 million of license and collaboration revenue associated with our Torii partnership, compared to $3.4 million of U.S. net YCANTH revenue and $17,000 of license and collaboration revenue in the first quarter of 2025. Net YCANTH revenue in the first quarter of 2026 reflects shipments to our distribution partners, offset by standard gross to net adjustments, including actual or anticipated product returns, off-invoice discounts, distribution fees, rebates, and co-pay assistance program expenses.
Gross product margins for the first quarter of 2026 were 87.3% compared to gross product margins of 87.6% for the prior year period. Cost of product revenue for the first quarter of 2026 was $0.5 million versus $0.4 million for the prior year period, consisting primarily of product costs related to the sale of YCANTH. Research and development expenses of $3.9 million in the first quarter of 2026 increased by $1.5 million when excluding the impact of stock-based compensation, compared to $2.3 million in the first quarter of 2025 due to increased spend on the Common Warts program.
Selling, general, and administrative expenses of $10 million in the first quarter of 2026 increased by $1.3 million when excluding the impact of stock-based compensation, compared to the expense of $8.8 million in the first quarter of 2025, driven primarily by increased commercial spend related to the expansion of our sales force. GAAP net loss was $9.7 million, or $0.45 per share for the first quarter of 2026, compared to a GAAP net loss of $9.7 million or $1.03 per share for the first quarter of 2025.
On a non-GAAP basis, which excludes stock-based compensation, non-cash interest expense, and change in fair value of embedded derivatives, the first quarter of 2026 net loss was $8.8 million or $0.41 per share, compared to a net loss of $8.3 million or $0.88 per share for the first quarter of 2025. Finally, as of March 31, 2026, Verrica had aggregate cash of $20.6 million, which is expected to fund operations into the first quarter of 2027. I'll now turn the call back over to Jayson for closing remarks.
Thanks, John. We are steadfastly advancing our efforts to establish YCANTH as the new standard of care for molluscum and are seeing traction with our strongest quarter in dispensed applicator units since launch. We are also positioning our company to fully capture the significant opportunities which lie ahead for our advanced stage pipeline if these programs successfully complete their development and are approved. Based on our phase II data, the feedback from the dermatology community, and alignment with the FDA on the phase III program design, we believe VP-315 truly has the potential to fundamentally change the treatment paradigm of basal cell carcinoma. In addition, the opportunity to expand YCANTH label into common warts would open in a new addressable patient population for which there are currently remains no FDA-approved therapies.
We believe each of these two opportunities represents significant potential upside for our company and for our shareholders, and we are excited about the future for Verrica and the potential impacts for patients. With that, we'd be happy to answer your questions. Operator?
Thank you. If you would like to ask a question, please press star one on your keypad. To leave the queue at any time, press star two. Once again, that is star and one to ask a question. We'll take our first question from Stacy Ku with TD Cowen. Please go ahead. Your line is open.
Hey there. Thanks so much for taking our questions. Congratulations on the enrollment progress for your common warts program, and also on the quarter for YCANTH. First
Consensus for the year seems to about be around the mid $20 million range. To the extent that you can comment, what are your views given what seems to be very encouraging growing demand in April? That's the first question. Second, I know this can be a little location-specific, but are you expecting to see seasonality with molluscum this year? And what are you doing to ensure you can capture any type of increased rates in the summertime? Would you also assume the YCANTH prescription hub services to start driving adoption and improve installment around that timeframe? That's the second question. The third is to get an update on the progress of expanding the sales force in regions that you're seeing good YCANTH adoption.
To just help us understand what you're seeing in terms of the additional step-wise expansion and if we should expect any additional updates with the sales force. Just help us understand the progress when it comes to YCANTH adoption and also maybe potentially YCANTH access. As you think about VP-315, just maybe help us understand as you think about phase III, where you expect the product to be positioned in the BCC treatment paradigm. What type of patient profile for BCC would opt for a product like this? Thanks so much.
Thank you, Stacy. I appreciate it. I think I made good notes on all of your questions. I'll do my best, but I'm sure you'll correct me if I miss any. Starting with the consensus, you know, we're very excited about the progress we're making. You know, we saw, you know, a good ending to the Q1, you know, solid performance so far, you know, in April. We're excited about the prospects of the year. You know, it's premature to give guidance at this point, so we're gonna leave that, you know, number alone. What we're seeing right now, it gives us confidence on, you know, the growth that we're seeing and the performance over the course of the year.
With regards to seasonality, depending on, you know, where you look and who you ask, you know, there's all kinds of comments on when the seasonality would be. Overall, I think there's general consensus to see growth as you enter the spring and summertime, and I think that's where we are right now, and that could be contributing to some of the growth we're seeing. A lot of it also comes down to the execution on the commercial side and the general, you know, adoption of YCANTH that we're starting to see. I'll let Chris comment a little more on your questions regarding the sales force and the sales focus, you know, in a moment.
One of those tools that's certainly gonna help, and we're starting to see some adoption, is the YcanthRx in our hub to help support, you know, the routing of scripts and importantly, fulfillment of scripts, facilitating it for the clinicians and the, and the patients to make that access as easy as possible. I'll let Chris comment a few minutes on your question on the commercial side, and then I'll round out the YCANTH on VP-315.
Thank you, Stacy, for the question. You know, as Jayson mentioned in the opening, I joined in March, and I've been very pleased with what I've found in the organization, but there are areas for optimization. You mentioned the field force. Currently, we are deployed, and our territories do capture about 85% of the TAM. However, there are areas that we can optimize reach and frequency, and we are going through a kind of stem-to-stern reach and frequency exercise. We will be staffing to about approximately 50 representatives. There are numerous markets that could use additional manpower. I think you're seeing in the momentum that we're building, slight tweaks to our deployment and our execution are yielding some momentum. I remain cautiously optimistic on that.
Again, we're totally reevaluating our, current targeting, to optimize that reach and frequency, which again gives us the opportunity to optimize 85% that we're already deployed against.
Thanks, Chris. I'll let Noah comment a little bit on your question on VP-315.
In terms of our phase III program, our initial approach is to target patients with low-risk BCC, i.e. nodular and superficial, and to target similar populations that we saw in phase II. Those would be primary tumors. I think broadly beyond phase III, I think it's important to also recognize that we see this as potentially long-term neoadjuvant approach for complex and difficult-to-treat tumors. Very excited about the abscopal data, which has some implication potentially for patients who often present with multiple lesions at initial presentation.
Thanks, Noah. Thanks, Chris. You know, to round that out, you know, one of the feedback that we've generally seen from, you know, patients we've, you know, asked about their perspective on this treatment is those who are naive to ever having had treatment with basal cell or those who have had multiple basal cell experiences before seem to be very receptive towards the potential of VP-315 as their first line of therapy, to try and see if they can reduce the size or perhaps completely eliminate the lesion. That bodes well both for them as well as if, you know, proceeds down to Mohs or other procedures where that lesion is smaller and that certain procedure would be simpler, in terms of complication, potential scarring, you know, side effects, et cetera.
Super helpful. Thank you as always.
Thanks, Stacy.
Thank you. We will move next with Dennis Ding with Jefferies. Please go ahead.
Hello, this is Georgia Bank on the line for Dennis Ding. Thank you for taking our questions. Congratulations on the quarter. I guess another question on the VP-315 program and on the SID data. I guess showing reductions in untreated lesions consistent with the potential abscopal effect, how are you thinking about validating that signal going forward? How should we think about the opportunity of that market where patients might have multiple lesions versus just a single and what would that look like? A follow-up on the YcanthRx pharmacy model and how it's performing today and what proportion of scripts are routed through that pharmacy. What are you seeing in terms of differences in prescription to, you know, treatment conversions or reimbursement success rates and so on?
It's Soha here. I think in terms of the abscopal effect and the overall implications for the patient population, I think many patients present initially with multiple lesions. Often patients, especially those who've already had procedures, want a surgical alternative. Again, we see this as complementary to surgery, but in some cases patients may not want that surgery and in some cases they've got more than one lesion. We believe that this data, while early and exploratory, is extremely encouraging. In terms of validating that data, we plan, as we've mentioned, two larger studies, 100 patients each in phase III, and we'll be able to explore and look at larger populations and look at that abscopal effect.
I think it's important to note that regardless of whether the patients were contralateral or they were nearby in terms of the lesions, we still saw effects broadly, and I think that was extremely encouraging, and we're very excited to embark on that data.
This is David Zawitz speaking on YcanthRx. The YcanthRx performance has been good in the early few months since we launched it. It's an option that we provide to the prescribers who are looking to write the product. It's not, you know, not mandatory. They can choose to write it if they are looking for the additional help with benefits investigations and with potentially processing prior auths if they're required. So far, you know, we've been improving the program throughout the quarter since the launch, and it's been going well. We're not gonna comment right now on sort of percentage of our total business that's running through that.
The adoption is growing and It is proving to be a useful option for prescribers who are looking to use it.
Understood. Thank you.
Thank you. We will move next with Serge Belanger with Needham & Company. Please go ahead.
Hi, good afternoon. Thanks for taking the questions. First one, I guess just on the 1Q performance, just trying to understand the variability from quarter to quarter in your gross to nets to reconcile the difference between the applicator unit growth and sales number. Secondly, can you maybe just talk about the competitor molluscum product that's currently in the market, whether it's been a headwind for YCANTH or maybe it's there's been a tailwind due to the additional voice in the market promoting molluscum? Thanks.
Serge, thanks for the question. It's Chris Chapman. You know, I think the variation certainly that you see between Q4 and Q1. You know, Q4 historically is the most valuable month for manufacturers. You know, most of the patients have cleared their deductibles and people are refilling their prescriptions. Q1, you do have the deductible reset. I think we saw a little bit of that. As I mentioned in my prior comments, you know, I'm really encouraged at the momentum that we saw coming out of Q1 into the first month of Q2. There are a couple of reasons, and they all relate to the questions that have been asked here. One is YcanthRx, which provides a useful option for those physicians who need some additional support.
The other, as you mentioned, is having additional share of voice. Having a second competitor in the market driving recognition and choosing to treat molluscum is a huge opportunity that we certainly are taking advantage of. The third, as I mentioned, being, you know, new to Verrica, is the opportunity to do some basic optimization on reach and frequency on your targets. I think those three areas. Again, I would anticipate you're continue to gonna see a synergistic effect of share of voice in the marketplace as well as those additional, you know, commercial levers that we're pulling. Expect to see, you know, more guidance as we get into Q3 and Q4. Right now, as I mentioned, cautiously optimistic, but impressed with the early results that we see.
Thanks, Chris. As I said, you know, Serge, to follow up, you know, what we've seen is this is a market dominated by, you know, a watch and wait mentality. Now that we have a viable option for treatment, and we believe, you know, YCANTH really addresses the unmet need by, you know, 1 to 2 treatments on average for most patients to get to a resolution that they're happy with in terms of their disease. We believe that will continue adoption and convert those from watching to actually getting treated. Awareness of the disease and that there's therapies out there, you know, bodes well for our program.
Thank you.
Thank you. We will move next with Ram Selvaraju with H.C. Wainwright & Co. Please go ahead.
Thanks so much for taking our questions. Just with respect to Europe, could you maybe elaborate on how you anticipate reference pricing to shake out as and when the product ultimately becomes eligible for market entry? Also, if you could give us a sense of post-approval, what the country-by-country cadence might be, which countries are most likely to be first in line for YCANTH introduction? Thank you.
Thanks, Ram. I appreciate that. We're still in the early stages of our Europe planning and strategy works. We have ongoing activities with regards to understanding pricing and pricing options and what reimbursement might look like there. We've explored that in a number of countries, and we're going to share that information as it's right to do so. In terms of countries, we're planning to have broad access across the EU. Obviously, there are some strategies on which countries may come first. In that, I would say we will probably be more consistent with traditional European rollouts. We're going to evaluate that based on the feedback on a country-by-country basis and the addressable population, as well as the pricing that may differentiate across those countries.
That work is ongoing in parallel to our work to complete the regulatory submission activities.
Can you also just briefly comment on any underlying emergent trends among both unique prescribers and repeat prescribers of YCANTH that you're seeing in the most recent data?
Yeah. I can speak to that. We're seeing what you would expect to see, that the dermatologists dominate the early adoption. You see that across classes. You also see it across competitors in this space. As you would imagine, you're also seeing repeat prescribing in those earliest adopters. As we continue to expand that prescriber pool, you see more and more pediatricians coming in. You know, clearly, those are the two largest segments. As you might imagine, dermatologists were the early adopters in molluscum in the selection to both diagnose and to treat and to retreat additional patients.
Thank you.
Thank you. We will move next with Kemp Dolliver with Brookline Capital Markets. Please go ahead.
Great. Thank you. What do you see as the gating factors behind demand now? You know, if you look back over the history of the launch, you know, there was reimbursement, there was compounded product in a lot of offices and on the market. You know, how do you see What do you see as the key things you need to overcome at this stage, assuming that those, the first couple of things I mentioned have been resolved?
I don't know if I would, if I would call access resolved. Certainly, we've achieved a steady state and a target access. Now we have the need to pull it through, you know, into the children accounts of the PBM. There are still geographic opportunities for us to pull it through. I think the real gating factor is what you kind of hear a theme in my answers here. It's appropriate targeting and segmentation. You know, of course, we need to get that early adoption, and we need to get trial. As you get into the pediatric segment, as Jayson mentioned, you know, the biggest competitor is watchful waiting. It's not that molluscum is not seen. It's with the prior lack of approved FDA-approved medications, it wasn't treated.
Now the gating factor to us is to drive trial. YCANTH works, and when we see physicians trial it, they rewrite it. For us, it's continuing to grow those prescribers concentrically out from the early adopters, from those deciles 10s, 9s, 8s, getting down into those lower decile physicians, which will take us in more into that pediatric segment. That becomes the real unique opportunity here in the next 3 to 4 quarters.
Yeah. Kemp, to add to that. Oh, go ahead, please.
I was just gonna say, follow up on that last point. Have you looked at whether there's a correlation between seniority of physician and willingness to trial?
When you mean seniority, what do you mean by that?
Age. I'm sorry, age.
Oh, interesting.
In medical schools, they used to teach them not to worry about it when you look at the senior physicians because there were no options.
Yeah, not necessarily, I will tell you this, where we do see some differential is your physician extenders, those on the front lines in the trenches, your nurse practitioners, your PAs. They are very open to treating. I guess in a way, you know, you might be able to extrapolate that to age. I think that's more of a relevant dynamic or the nurse extenders, or physician extenders. Yeah, I really don't see it as age. I will say, you know, dermatology as a whole is very familiar with cantharidin. Primary care, less so. I think the trial that we've seen early is to be expected. The adoption that we're now seeing in dermatology is to be expected, the opportunity remains as we expand out into pediatricians.
Kemp, to follow up.
Thank you.
Two more points to address with some of your comments. You know, we've spent the last year working on distribution and access and availability of the product for clinicians who want to treat. We just announced, you know, in our release, which we crossed over 100,000 applicator that have been dispensed since launch. You know, one of the things, you know, as Chris refers to the early adopters versus starting to expand beyond that, you start to get a critical amount of adoption and utilization outside post-clinical trials. That gives the later adopters and those who like to watch and take their time, you know, data to see that the safety profile, you know, is consistent with what we saw in the clinical studies. The efficacy is being consistent with what we've seen.
Both of those things really bode well for, you know, those next wave of adopters to start to come aboard. We've worked very hard to make it the access to be easy with our co-pay support, you know, our medical education, you know, and, you know, just awareness of the product for treatment of alopecia.
Thank you.
Thank you. We will move next with Dev Prasad with Laidlaw Capital Markets. Please go ahead.
Thank you for taking our question. Congrats on the progress. I have a couple. One, following up with the last one. I'm not sure if you answered it or not. Are you seeing YCANTH growth primarily from new prescriber entering this launch curve or from higher utilization from existing high volume account? Second is, what are the next gating steps for EU submission and potential launch? Thank you.
Thanks for the question. We're really seeing both. Those prescribers who trialed early are continuing to prescribe, but we are seeing a much quicker acceleration as we get into that early majority segment of the physician cohort. I think we're gonna continue. We have to drive both. Of course, when you do have a competitor come out, those earliest adopters are gonna trial that brand, which is a good thing. But we are seeing continued growth in both segments, and we'll continue to focus on the highest deciles, 10 through 8, to make sure that we, you know, we have that secure as we continue to expand, you know, into the rest of the market.
With regards to Europe, you know, there's obviously a number of steps that you have to go through. We have received our initial scientific advice regarding the general scope of what a submission would look like for approval. We need to go through the process, you know, for example, securing, you know, pediatric investigation waivers, rapporteur assignment, et cetera. We're going through that process now. As indicated, previously, you know, Verrica has retained global rights to YCANTH outside the United States, except for Japan, which is, you know, controlled by Torii. We have those rights, and, you know, we'll continue to explore that, you know, for a European partner to support both the commercialization process to address some of the earlier questions as well.
Great. Thank you.
Yep.
Thank you. At this time, there are no further questions in queue. I will now turn the meeting back to CEO, Jayson Rieger, for closing comments.
Thank you, operator, and thank you everyone for your time and attention. I'd like to thank you for joining us this evening, and we look forward to providing more updates on our progress throughout 2026. Have a nice evening.
Thank you. This brings us to the end of today's meeting. We appreciate your time and participation. You may now disconnect.