Vaxart (OTC:VXRT) Q3 2026 Earnings Call

0:00 Greetings and welcome to the VaxArt third quarter 2026 Stockholder Fireside Chat. A question and answer session will follow management's opening remarks. Individual investors may submit written questions via the webcast portal at any time during the presentation. As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. I would now like to turn the webcast over to David Carey of FinPartners.

0:26 Good afternoon and welcome to today's call. Joining us from VaxArt are Steven Lo, Chief Executive Officer, Mark Watson, Lead Independent Director and member of the Board's Stockholder Engagement Committee, Dr. Rocky Bono, Independent Director and Chair of the Stockholder Engagement Committee, Dr. Sean Tucker, Founder and Chief Scientific Officer, Dr. James F. Cummings, Chief Medical Officer, and Jeroen Grasman, Chief Financial Officer. Before we begin, I would like to remind everyone that during the conference call, Backstart may make forward-looking statements, including statements about the company's financial results, financial guidance, its future business strategies and operations, any partnerships with third parties, timing of any anticipated regulatory milestones or clinical data readouts, the company's future cash runway, ability to raise capital, and its product development progress.

1:22 Actual results could materially differ from those discussed in these forward-looking statements due to a number of important factors, including the uncertainty inherent in clinical development and regulatory processes and other risks described in the risk factors section of VaxArt's most recently filed end report on Form 10-K and periodic reports filed with the SEC. VaxArt takes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements after the date of this call. I'll now turn the call over to Steve Lowe.

1:55 Thanks, David. Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you for joining us today for our third quarter 2026 Fireside Chat, the fifth quarterly Fireside Chat and sixth overall Fireside Chat we've hosted. These discussions are an important part of our ongoing commitment to maintaining transparency and visibility for our stockholders. The third quarter and recent weeks have been a productive period for VaxArt across our clinical programs, pipeline validation, and corporate governance. Our primary operational focus remains executing the main cohort of our Phase 2B COVID-19 trial. Following the encouraging 12-month head-to-head safety data we reported in July from our 400-participant Sentinel cohort, Our clinical operations and trial site teams have been actively advancing the approximately 5,000 participant main cohort.

2:53 We expect to report efficacy and safety data by mid-year 2027. In addition to our clinical momentum, we have taken important steps to strengthen our board leadership and corporate oversight. To speak more about our governance initiatives and introduce our newest director, I'd like to turn the call over to our lead independent director, Mark Watson. Mark?

3:22 Everyone, on behalf of the entire board, I want to take a moment to directly acknowledge and thank you, our stockholders. Your ongoing support and continued engagement are fundamental to everything we do at VaxArt. We value the perspective you share with us and look forward to continuing that dialogue into the future. To that end, our board has formed a dedicated stockholder engagement committee consisting of Steve, myself, and our newest independent director, Dr. Bono, retired Vice Admiral of the U.S. Navy. The committee provides an additional forum for direct engagement between the board and our shareholders, ensuring investor feedback informs our oversight of the company's strategy and execution.

4:07 We are pleased to have Dr. Bono serving as chair of this committee. She has also joined the Clinical and Regulatory Affairs Committee and the Nominating and Governance Committee. Rocky brings a distinguished track record of military, surgical, and public health leadership, having served as a three-star vice admiral in the US Navy and is former director of the Defense Health Agency. Her focus on operational discipline makes her an ideal leader for our engagement efforts and an ideal team member with this board. I'd like to invite Rocky to share a few words. Rocky?

4:43 Thank you, Mark. Good afternoon, everyone. Throughout my career, whether serving as a Navy trauma surgeon, leading the Defense Health Agency, coordinating Washington State's health system response during COVID-19, or directing global health operations for Viking Cruises, I've seen firsthand the limitations of traditional needle-based vaccines. That operational reality is why I believe so firmly in Baxart's mission. My experience leading large scale military and public health organizations has also reinforced the importance of trust, accountability, and open communication. I believe effective governance is vital to success and starts with listening, asking the right questions, in ensuring that different viewpoints are considered as decisions are made. These principles will be central to my approach as chair of the Stockholder Engagement Committee. I intend to thoroughly integrate stockholder perspectives into our board discussions, helping keep the board connected to these priorities as we oversee management's execution of Baxart's strategy and work to build lasting value.

5:55 I look forward to engaging directly with our stockholders and working alongside the entire board to support VaxArt's long-term success. With that, I'll hand the call over to our Chief Medical Officer, Dr. James Cummings, to walk through our clinical updates. James?

6:12 Thanks, Rocky, and welcome aboard. Before I get into our COVID-19 update, I'd like to highlight two notable developments across our broader pipeline. First, on norovirus. In late August of this year, The European Patent Office granted a patent extending protection for our oral norovirus vaccine technology to at least 2036 across 13 European nations. This directly complements our existing U.S. patent estate. Together, they provide multi-jurisdictional IP protection through 2036, which is now integrated into our data package for active discussions with prospective partners.

6:58 Second, on H5N1 avian influenza. In early October, we published a peer-reviewed data demonstrating 100% protection against a lethal challenge of H5N1 avian flu in a ferret model. The ferret is widely recognized as the gold standard for preclinical work in human respiratory infection. This study demonstrates the agility and modularity of our vast oral platform, highlighting how we can engineer and deploy vaccine candidates against high consequence emerging threats with real pandemic readiness. Now, turning to our Phase 2B COVID-19 trial, one of the questions that we receive most often centers on the clinical timeline, specifically What actually goes into running a study of this magnitude and why are the clinical and the regulatory processes, why does it take the time that it does? So to further understanding, I'd like to walk you through some of the key components of a trial of this size and complexity to illustrate why a deliberate, precise approach is necessary to generate high quality data that support the regulatory process.

8:22 First, look at the operational scale. Now, we're not doing a small, early safety trial of 30 or 40 volunteers. This is a large-scale, head-to-head, comparative trial evaluating our oral tablet vaccine candidate against an approved mRNA injection across approximately 5,000 active participants at 140 clinical sites nationwide. Building out that network, making sure every single site adheres to exact clinical standards and maintaining consistent regulatory grade data collection across thousands of participants, well, you know, that requires significant coordination.

9:09 Second, there's a stringent screening process. To enroll 5,000 qualified participants, our clinical teams have to screen many thousands more. Because this trial measures comparative immune responses and real-world infection endpoints against the KP2 variant of COVID-19, every single participant must fit strict protocol criteria regarding prior infection and vaccination history. Taking the time to properly screen participants ensures our final data set remains uncompromised and ready for regulatory scrutiny. Clinical timelines are fundamentally covered by required periods of observation.

9:55 To accurately measure vaccine efficacy, durability, and both mucosal and systemic immune responses, participants are followed over a set protocol windows spanning months. These observation periods are essential to understanding how the immune system develops and sustains protection over time. The resulting clinical and laboratory data must then undergo review and source validation prior to being finalized, which takes months for a study to success. Finally, once those patient visits are completed, there are thousands of mucosal swabs and blood samples that undergo standardized laboratory processing, assay validation, strict quality checks, and regulatory data locking before any unblinding takes place.

10:46 For this study, a significant share of the immunologic and viral laboratory testing is being conducted by BARDA partner labs, which helps to ensure a standardized approach and a more economical pathway for a program that's this large. Because these labs operate independently of Vaxart, testing and processing timelines are also subject to their schedules and the coordination with BARDA. You know, we're working very closely with the numerous partners to manage these dependencies and keep the program moving forward in a very timely manner. Working alongside BARDA under Project NextGen has provided VaxArt with the non-billable resources to execute a study of this scope and magnitude.

11:33 Partnering with the federal government also means adhering to regulatory schedules as well as BARDA's established review processes and oversight timelines. for a study of this scale intended for federal partnership and regulatory submission, rigorous execution and alignment with federal requirements must remain the priority. We've already crossed critical milestones here, including the clean 12-month safety clearance from our 400 participant Sentinel cohort. As we execute through the remaining follow-up windows, our team remains fully focused on delivering this clinical study, the readout by mid-year 2027.

12:20 With that, I'll hand the call over to Jeroen for our financial update. Jeroen?

12:26 Thank you, James. I'll now review our third quarter 2026 financial results. As to cash position and runway, Vaxart ended the third quarter with $65.5 million in cash, cash equivalents, and short-term investments. Based on our current operating assumptions, we continue to project that this cash balance will fund our operations into the second quarter of 2027. We continue to evaluate all opportunities to extend that cash runway. On the revenue front, total for the third quarter was $10.6 million compared to $72.4 million in the third quarter of 2025. Revenue recognized during the period was primarily driven by work performed under our BARDA Project Next Gen contract alongside ongoing revenue recognition associated with our collaboration agreement.

13:24 On the R&D side, our research and development expenses for the third quarter were $22.8 million compared to $75.9 million for the same period in 2025. Clinical trial expenditures primarily reflect our efforts in executing the Phase 2B COVID study. On the general administrative front, the G&A expenses were $5.1 million for the third quarter, compared to $4.3 million in the same quarter of 25. Finally, on our net loss, we reported a net loss for the third quarter of $17.7 million, or 7 cents per share, Thank you. Thank you.

14:37 at our sole discretion. We remain committed to strict financial discipline and continue to explore partnerships, grants, and other non-diluted funding mechanisms as we advance towards our major clinical readouts. I'll now turn the call back over to David to begin our Q&A session. David?

14:56 Thanks, Jeroen. We'll now begin the Q&A session. And as with previous calls, we've collected pre-submitted questions from our stockholders, which we've organized by topic. and we'll also be monitoring live submissions throughout the webcast portal. So to begin, Steve, I'll direct this question to you. Do you think the recent election results will impact funding for the COVID phase 2B trial or the timing of the release of the full trial results?

15:30 Thanks, David, and thanks for the question. We don't anticipate any changes. The short answer is no. As a reminder, when we were first awarded this trial, it was under a Democratic administration. And then under the trial, it went to a Republican administration. And I think the stockholders realized that in 2025, we were issued two stop work orders, and we were able to overcome them and continue the trial. So from our standpoint, we're pleased to be, frankly, the only company that survived A lot of other vaccine companies received them and have not continued to complete a trial. And from our standpoint, we really enjoy our close working relationship with BARDA. We appreciate their partnership and we continue to work together with them to finish out this trial.

16:26 Thanks, Steve. James, next question for you. You said the data readout for the full Phase 2B COVID trial is expected in the first half of 2027. Now you're saying mid-2027. Can you please discuss why you've updated timing?

16:44 Thanks, David, and thanks for the question. Sure. You know, as I went over just a little while ago, When you're executing a registration quality clinical trial that's this large, evaluating about 5,000 active participants across the nation, the timeline is fundamentally driven by delivered protocol requirements rather than arbitrary spacing. So just to reiterate, the three primary drivers here that govern the calendar are the protocol-defined observation windows, and that's a comparative efficacy trial, can't compress essentially biological time. Participants have to be monitored over set multi-month observation windows to evaluate real world variant infection endpoints and measure both mucosal and systemic immune response durability.

17:36 I mentioned some details about the laboratory processing and assay validation. Once these visits and sample collections wrap up, there are thousands of mucosal swabs and blood samples that undergo centralized laboratory processing and John Lopeman. And we're going to go ahead and get started. means working in close coordination with the partners of PARTA.

18:23 We have to adhere to federal oversight and the review processes that's part and parcel of that partnership, ensuring the data set meets PARTA program goals, as well as every agency standard for regulatory review.

18:38 Thank you. James. Sean, next question for you. While top line safety and side effect profiles from the Sentinel Group was impressive, Investors are interested in underlying data such as immunogenicity, viral load, shedding, and severity of infection. So has Vaxart, BARDA, Sanofi, or any other entity seen this more detailed sentinel data yet? And what about detailed full Phase IIb data? And second part of this is with the long wait for the full Phase IIb data, expected now in mid-2027. Can shareholders at least expect to see more detailed Sentinel data before end of year?

19:29 And if not, is it being withheld by BARDA or is it Vaxart's decision to withhold it?

19:38 Thanks, David, for the question. I just addressed your question directly. Neither Vaxart nor any external entity is withholding data. Following the contract modification, number seven, the study samples were submitted to two independent analytical laboratories for processing. Because these assays are handled externally, we can't predict the exact timeline for when labs will complete their analysis and provide the data. We have not seen it or anybody else the underlying immunogenicity data. Furthermore, under our contractual framework, any public dissemination or timing of these results is strictly contingent upon BARDA's formal review and approval. While we understand the desire for detailed Sentinel readouts before year-end, we are certainly as anxious as you are. We cannot commit to a specific release date until the lab data is finalized, delivered, and cleared for disclosure through our established partner protocols.

20:37 Okay, thanks, Sean. Gene, this is kind of a similar question, but I'll ask it to you as well. So you previously said that you'll share additional data cuts. So when are you going to do that?

20:49 Well, thanks, David.

20:51 You know, we're actively advancing these detailed analytics, though we're not in a position to provide a specific reporting timeline, as Sean mentioned, for additional interim data cuts right now. Our contract with BARDA provides the agency with authority over all trial readouts. So any disclosure timeline is dependent on that ongoing collaboration and approval process. We continue to maintain a strong, positive working relationship with the folks at BARDA, and we value their ongoing partnership as we advance this program together. Regarding overall trial milestones, we look forward to sharing efficacy and safety data from the main study cohort by mid-year 2027. Back to you, David.

21:36 Thanks, James. Sean, another question for you. Can you provide more detail on the XBB immunology data and what it tells us about the mucosal and systemic immune response?

21:51 Thanks, David, for the question. As we've mentioned before, we don't have XBB clinical immune data yet, so we can't talk about it. And I can just tell you that in animals, we know the vaccine was immunogenic.

22:05 Thanks, Sean. Steve, back to you. Many shareholders continue to believe that a norovirus vaccine would be among the most valuable advancements for the company and the stock. Can you provide an update on where you stand with respect to partnering?

22:21 Sure thing. And it looks like a few other questions just trickled in that are very related to this. So thanks, everybody, for asking the question on where we stand with the norovirus partnerships. I'll make three points here. So first, we are navigating a broader biopharma market headwinds where many of the partners that we have been speaking to They're tightening their capital allocation. They've had to deal with things such as most favored nations, etc. They are lengthening the diligence timelines a bit, and they're also getting increasingly selective. With that said, there does and continues to be interest in our norovirus phase two ready candidate, and we are having conversations with potential partners. In addition to that, global public health entities, government stakeholders, etc. We are trying to secure a structure that advances norovirus without, of course, compromising any long-term value for the company.

23:27 And thirdly, if we end up with no one interested at all, remaining at the table. We will, of course, communicate that clearly to the shareholders rather than prolong your expectations. We do have non-disclosure agreements in place as well as the SEC requirements that preclude us from sharing interim negotiations or even naming the companies that we are speaking to. But please be assured that advancing and finding a way to fund norovirus remains one of the top priorities for the leadership team. And we will certainly share significant updates when we have definitive agreements reached. So again, thank you everybody for the interest there.

24:15 Okay, thanks, Steve. Sean, another question for you. Can you provide more color on the implications of the norovirus European patent on Vaxart's business? Are there plans in place for commercialization in Europe and how might this advance your partnering efforts?

24:33 David, thanks for the question. The European Patent Office issued a patent in August of 2026 covering VaxArt's room temperature stable needle-free tablet vaccine technology against norovirus. We see immense value in ensuring our intellectual property is protected and it also ensured this oral vaccine could be available globally. Europe, of course, represents the second largest market outside the United States, making it critical strategic territory for our portfolio as we look at broader worldwide commercialization. This patent expands our global intellectual property portfolio and extends protection through at least 2036 across 13 European nations. These include key markets like Germany, France, Italy, Spain, and the U.K., It also directly complements FACTSAR's existing U.S.

25:22 patented state, creating multi-jurisdictional patent protection.

25:29 Thanks, Sean. Another one for you. Management previously stated G217 strain dominance was an obstacle for partners. The latest CDC Calcinet data seemed to show exactly the reversal those partners were waiting for. In the latest reporting period through September 2026, G2.4 Sydney has rebounded to approximately 46%, while G2.17 has declined to 17.5%. Given that G2.4 is once again the leading reported norovirus genotype, has this development led to any meaningful progress in those discussions? Also, can shareholders expect any G2.4 or G2.17 cross-reactivity data in the near term?

26:16 Yeah, thanks for the question. Strain prevalence continues to inform our discussions with potential partners for the norovirus program. The shift toward increased G2-4 prevalence might potentially improve the program's value proposition for the simple reason that we have G2-4 clinical data but have not evaluated a G2-17 strain yet in the clinic. Having said that, Faxart does have the ability to add strains quickly if necessary. Thank you very much.

27:07 Thanks, Sean. Steve, question for you. What progress has Magic made for securing a meaningful pharmaceutical partnership, licensing agreement, or strategic transaction?

27:22 Yeah, in terms of meaningful pharmaceutical partnerships and license agreements, I'll say that in the last two years, we've actually made some meaningful progress. As an example, we Thank you so much for joining us. Thank you very much.

28:30 Thank you. Thank you. As an example of how much we believe in the value of norovirus, as Sean was talking about, we made the investment to prosecute the patents in Europe. Because if there is a global partner who is interested, seeing that we have patent protection to 2036 is also very meaningful. So we are making investments in our pipeline and specifically actively looking for a reasonable partner on the norovirus program.

29:21 Okay, thanks Steve. Steve, another question for you. Has Vaxart submitted or are you considering submitting a proposal for BARDA's NPIVS program?

29:34 Yeah, I'll first say, as we were saying earlier, we enjoy a very good working relationship with BARDA, so that always keeps the dialogue going. What the management team does is we always monitor and we're pretty aggressive in pursuing non-dilutive grants, other agency partnerships, and this is across respiratory and pandemic preparedness indications. Obviously, this is a good way to support our clinical pipeline, as you've seen with the COVID study. At the same time, we want to be very are all cognizant of being capital efficient. So we do spend a lot of time looking at all of these opportunities. Any of these contract awards or new federal partnerships that are announced publicly, we stick to our disclosure requirements. We do not publicly state what or when we apply for these because we don't wanna jeopardize our chances of getting the award oftentimes, you know, that can impact it. And on top of that, because we are in a competitive environment, we don't want to share information so that a competitor is aware now of a very similar grant, and then now they're also applying for it as well.

30:52 So, you know, these are the reasons why we may not get into specific details. But I do want to say that we monitor for all of them. We're very diligent and we're certainly aware of all the opportunities there. So thanks for reminding us of that.

31:10 Okay, thanks, Steve. A question that we just received on the portal and Jeroen, I'll direct this to you. When do we expect the milestone payments from Altessa?

31:26 Yeah, thank you, David. And just for context for people on this call, I guess the Altessa, references to an out-licensed agreement we did for one of our assets historically as a company called Vapendavir. It's a clinical stage, broad-spectrum antiviral that Altessa is developing and is currently in a Phase IIb study. The agreement calls, and I guess as we disclosed in 2021, for about $130 million, up to $130 million in development and commercial milestones. as well as tiered royalties. Now, this program is not under our control, clearly. Altessa is developing this. It's in phase 2b. None of the milestones are due at this time.

32:14 So as the question is around timing, since we don't control the study ourselves, it's impossible for me to speculate on the timing of advancement. And we have not previously disclosed what exactly triggers those milestones and I'm not going to do so now but clearly it's a great question to make everybody aware that that's something that is actively in development and there's potential future dollars due to our company.

32:46 Thanks Jeroen. Steve, back to you. Has the Sanofi relationship expanded beyond COVID to discussions around Vaxart's broader platforms such as Influenza, Norvirus, or any other assets.

33:03 Our current Sanofi agreement, and as a reminder, this is something that Sanofi acquired in their acquisition of Dynavax, whom we did the original COVID-19 collaboration and licensing deal. That is only for the COVID-19 vaccine program. So we actually are interacting with Sanofi quite a bit, as well as through regular joint steering committee meetings. But they are solely focused on the Phase 2b study, delivering a robust clinical data package so that we can ensure a high chance of opt-in. And as a reminder to our stockholders, if Santa Fe opts in, that results in a $50 million payment to the company.

33:51 So I think you can imagine why we are spending a lot of time making sure that we build that relationship, but also executing on this study, as James had highlighted very well. Now, with a very close working relationship with Sanfi, I think it's safe to say that they're becoming more increasingly aware of our platform, the science behind it, which Sean has gone over. And from that standpoint, I can say that they're certainly aware of other programs we have in the pipeline.

34:28 Thanks, Steve. And another one for you, actually. To the extent allowed, can you give shareholders more visibility into current partnership and non-dilutive funding discussions?

34:42 Sure. I think I answered a very similar question, but I'll certainly talk a little bit more about this, right? So we're always looking for opportunistic ways to leverage our platform to create more value. Our current priorities are We want to execute on the Phase 2V COVID study, right? As I was sharing earlier, it'd be nice to have a $50 million opt-in payment. And so we want to do this correctly, execute the right way in conjunction with our current partner, BARDA. and hopefully we'll have a great partner in Sanofi. So with that said, we continue to look for other non-dilutive funding opportunities as the team was talking about earlier, whether it's government agencies, and these are agencies even outside the United States, we speak to global pharma companies, we speak to regional pharma companies as well. We look at territories that are outside the United States.

35:42 We look at the United States, of course, and then we also look at the European territory as evidenced by, once again, the work that Sean and our IP team have done to secure patents for norovirus in Europe. So those are the types of discussions that we have. For obvious reasons, when we enter into deeper discussions, we have to go under an NDA, a nondisclosure. Thanks, Steve.

36:32 Sean, back over to you. Have you considered pursuing other indications for your oral vaccine platform outside of COVID, noro, et cetera?

36:42 Thanks for the question. The short answer is yes. I think everybody's aware that we have an HPV vaccine, therapeutic vaccine in development that is in pre, and we published on it from preclinical standpoint. The other thing is that you may not be aware that years ago we received NIH funding to evaluate our platform against Venezuelan equine encephalitis virus. And this is one of the things we were able to do from using non-dilutive funding to advance not just this indication, but our platform as well. Keep in mind, of course, we are always optimistic about ways to leverage our platform to create additional value or obtain non-dilutive funding to initiate advanced current or additional programs. That said, initiating or expanding any new indications remains strictly contingent upon securing appropriate funding or strategic support.

37:32 As we previously stated, our current priorities are executing this Phase 2b COVID trial and securing a partner on funding for the norovirus program.

37:46 Thanks, John. Steve, what is the current plan for Vaxart beyond the COVID readout in mid-2027?

37:56 Yes, the first piece, as I mentioned earlier, is with the COVID readout, we want to work very hard on submitting the phase two package to the FDA. And of course, at that point, Sanofi will see the results as well. So we definitely want to ensure that we have an opt-in and a $50 million payment. And that, of course, means that You know, leveraging the support of our partner BARDA and making sure that we get to a very good point where Sanofi has good belief that this will have a great opportunity in their pipeline. Beyond that, you know, and this is, I think, a good example of we believe that the other assets in our pipeline are important.

38:45 oftentimes a readout of one asset enables others to be of higher confidence. So interesting enough, and we're seeing questions for, you know, what are you thinking about doing with flu as an example, right? So having a positive readout in a respiratory virus like COVID actually gives greater confidence for other partners or other funding sources to say, We also believe in flu. So that is, in a sense, a strategy that is tied to a certain portfolio. As we talked about earlier, we're working very hard to move forward what we can with getting norovirus funded. And again, it's usually non-dilutive, and partnerships is where we start. The other thing I'll add is, as we continue to be successful, we're gaining more experience with the platform.

39:39 and Sean has, of course, and his research team created some great opportunities with the second generation construct and in other areas. But at the end of the phase two B trial, think about this. We will have dose more than sixty five hundred subjects with our oral vaccine platform. And from my standpoint, that also provides greater confidence to any other parties out there who are interested in partnering with us.

40:07 Thanks, Steve. Sean, I'm going to direct the next question to you. What measurable accomplishments can management point to that have created tangible shareholder value over the past few years?

40:21 Yeah, again, thanks for the question. As the longest-term shareholder of Axart, I can assure you we work really hard at creating shareholder value with the funding we have. While leadership recognizes that tangible shareholder value is ultimately reflected in market valuation, Thank you so much for joining us. We then parlayed this into a licensing deal with Dynavax, and again, this has happened in the last few years, which is bringing additional non-dilutive funding of $25 million, along with a $5 million equity investment at a premium to the market price of our stock.

41:24 Had that COVID-19 study not been funded, the company at that point would not have any funding to advance any clinical studies, and we would have been in a very dire financial position. Thank you for joining us today. and established the Lean Operational and Financial Foundation required to build a sustainable long-term enterprise value as our trial endpoints mature.

42:19 Thanks, Sean. Steve, next question is for you. Can you explain the evaluation process for identifying the seventh independent director? What were the criteria?

42:33 Yes, so first of all, we're pleased to have Dr. Bono join our board of directors. She was appointed per the cooperation agreement that VaxArt entered into with the stockholder group. This is back in July of this year. It was a collaborative process with the stockholder group, so I want to really thank them for their engagement, for their ideas. They, along with VaxArt, had submitted nominees. So we all looked at the nominees together. And together we looked for an individual with extensive operational experience, leadership, public health experience.

43:18 As you can tell, Dr. Bono meets the criteria there, and especially with their distinguished background as a three-star vice admiral in the U.S. Navy, former director of the Defense Health Agency, trauma surgeon, former director of the health systems response and global health operations for the state of Washington during COVID and also Viking Cruises. And so she was jointly selected by both the stockholder group and by Vaxart.

43:51 And Steve, a follow-up question to that, who else did the group consider and what made Dr. Bona the best candidate?

43:59 Yeah, so we did consider many candidates. We're not able to share the names of the candidates, but we looked at many well-qualified candidates. And again, this was a joint decision. And once again, I want to acknowledge the stockholder group for working very closely with us. We had many meetings. So they were truly looking out for the best interests of the stockholders when We were working very closely with them. And as I stated, Dr. Bono's experience, I think her qualifications speak for herself that she is absolutely the best candidate to be joining the board. And I know she's looking forward to engaging and working with the stockholder engagement committee.

44:51 Okay, Steve, another question. Given the recent reorganization of board leadership and establishment of new oversight committees, have any specific charter mandates been assigned to evaluate capital market strategy, executive compensation alignment, and strategic transaction alternatives?

45:12 In terms of capital market strategy, executive comp alignment and strategic transactions. Yes, all of those are actually part of the purview of the board as a full board. And there are going to be specific initiatives that are assigned to committees. So as an example, executive compensation alignment is assigned to the compensation committee of the board. We recently made a change in the chair of that committee. And now it's Dr. Jim Breitmaier is Chair of the Comp Committee.

45:48 Okay. Another question for you, Steve. Is the Compensation Committee adjusting executive bonus structures, stock options, and equity grants to tie leadership payouts strictly to clinical milestones and market cap performance?

46:06 Yes, the compensation committee looks at all the factors in terms of the company's goals, the corporate goals, the performance metrics of all the individuals on the management team, but also the company as a whole. And they align the compensation to the metrics that are ultimately approved by our board of directors.

46:35 Thanks, Steve. Another question for you. As part of the stockholder agreement, both parties agreed to form a shareholder advisory council. Will this be limited to only the stockholder group members, or will it be opened up for other shareholders to request being considered to serve as well? Steve, any response to that?

46:58 Sure. So the specific language in the in the cooperation agreement calls us a stockholder engagement committee, which is chaired by Dr. Bono. I'll certainly say that we're deeply committed to input from not just the stockholder group that had signed the cooperation agreement with us, you know, as evidenced by us taking questions here and having a fireside chat. We really do want to have Thank you very much. I'm fully confident that Dr. Bono has been thinking through and we're working very closely with her on how best to engage folks.

48:04 As evidence of her listening in and participating here in this fireside chat, you can tell that she, along with Mark Watson, another member of our Stockholder Engagement Committee, were dedicated to ensure that we receive the input from as many shareholders as we can, and we'll continue to involve as many as we can as we're doing here.

48:29 Okay. Thanks, Steve. And another question for you. How does the committee plan to prioritize feedback it receives from shareholders and ensure it translates into meaningful discussions at the board level?

48:43 Yes. So we are utilizing all avenues, as Steve As an example here, many of the questions are being submitted. We group them, and we understand what themes are coming across. We review the emails that come in, and as well, we'll have the Stockholder Engagement Committee meeting. So we are really incorporating all the feedback, and this will help us jointly with the stockholder group prioritize what are the important, meaningful things We need to have they're going to meeting the stockholder group will provide the input. And of course, by providing that input to the committee, it makes it to the board level.

49:30 Thanks, Steve. Jeroen, a question for you. With cash runway into the second quarter of 2027 and the Phase 2b readout expected in mid-2027, what is management's plan to bridge through the readout and potential Sanofi decision while minimizing dilution?

49:52 Thank you. That's a great question and something top of mind for our shareholders, I'm sure. So our plan to bridge through that Phase 2B COVID-19 readout rests really on three main pillars. Discipline cost management at first. Secondly, it gets a continued drive for non-diluted funding. And then finally, I guess, preserving optionality on the timing and the financial terms associated with any future capital raises. So on the first point around cost management, We continue to prioritize spend against our major value drivers, clearly the BARDA-funded Phase 2B study, but also the whole young norovirus program. And we've taken steps to keep corporate spending very tightly controlled through this readout window, just to make sure that, again, we're just as efficient as possible on everything that's not directly associated with these programs.

50:51 On the topic of non-dilutive capital, So the BARDA contract funds the execution and data analysis of the Phase 2B study directly, and James has taken us through the details of that. Alongside that, we're pursuing co-development partnerships, licensing, public health grant funding, and Steve has gone extensively through the status of those efforts. Finally, on financing flexibility, we have access to a $25 million equity line of credit with Lincoln Park Capitals. So this is one of the tools that we have available. It's not a financing plan in and of itself. So our intent is to continue to use that equity line very selectively and only to the extent it's needed to maintain flexibility into these COVID study readouts.

51:45 Thanks, Jeroen. Steve, another question for you. Why have the board and executive leadership purchased shares in Vaxart?

51:57 Actually, the board and executive leadership have purchased shares in VaxArt. And on top of that, we have recently adopted a board stock ownership policy that has certain requirements for our board members to own shares. Look at the documents that were filed, and hopefully that will explain that they do need to purchase shares at a minimum. And then on top of that, many members of our management team, including myself, have actively committed our personal funds to purchase shares either directly or through the employee stock purchase program. So we are teaming up with all of our shareholders and rooting for the fact that we want our share price to improve.

52:54 Okay, thanks, Steve. Let's see. Next question, Jeroen. This is related to Lincoln Park Capital. So the recently released Form 10Q shows a dilutive cash raise in the amount of $420,000 via share sales to Lincoln Park Capital in Q3. Can leadership explain the purpose of diluting for this relatively small cash raise? at a time when cash runway is still well-funded.

53:28 Yeah, thank you, David. So if we're looking at is really that cash runway is constrained relative to the anticipated timing of this phase 2B readout and the potential opt-in by our partner on this COVID program. So while we believe that the terms of this equity line, those are fair comparative terms, We understand that dilution is top of concern for shareholders, so we understand that it's a challenging point for shareholders. So what we've chosen to do here is really use this equity line very judiciously, and that's what this reflects. We've only raised $420,000 in the third quarter through this, which is properly characterized as a dilutive capital sourcing mechanism.

54:22 but we've used it very, very judiciously in a small amount as we deemed necessary and we're trying to avoid higher impact to the share count.

54:36 Thanks, Sean. And a follow-up question related to that. So if you were to sell shares under the Lincoln Park Agreement, how far could that extend your cash runway?

54:48 So yeah, as I've noticed before, noted before the The full line of credit is for $25 million. So if we were to exercise that entire line of credit, that would potentially extend our cash runway into 2028. But as I just said, we continue to pursue alternate, non-dilutive sources of capital as a first priority and use this credit line only judiciously as we look at all the funding options in front of us.

55:22 Thanks, Jeroen. Next question, I guess, would be either for Jeroen or Steve. Why is VESA recruiting a VP of technical operations while significantly reducing R&D expenditure?

55:37 Yeah, thanks, and I'll take this one as well. So, again, we understand and appreciate that executive hiring in the midst of This challenging cash situation draws scrutiny. We're definitely in a situation where we need to manage capital very carefully, and we understand our shareholders' concerns. But attracting experienced leadership is essential for us to advance our pipeline, and we make each appointment very carefully with the company's resources and constraints therein and our strategic priorities firmly in our minds. I'd like to remind you of the terms of the agreement with DynaVax as we disclosed in the November 2025 Form 10-Q.

56:24 When we talked in that agreement about things like under a technology transfer in that agreement with DynaVax, it calls for us to disclose and transfer backside know-how. It mentions transfer of master batch records from manufacturer of face-to-be materials. It mentions analytical method transfer It mentions that all this needs to be done on a timeline that Dynavax, in good faith, determines is necessary for initiation of manufacturer of phase three clinical trial material. All those things point to us needing to be ready for that particular step. So despite constrained capital, we need to make sure we have the capabilities in our technical operations team to enable a successful future potential opt-in, even at a time when capital here is constrained.

57:20 Thanks, Jeroen. We're getting close to time, but a follow-up question related to that, and Steve, if you could take this one. Could you please discuss management's plan with regard to manufacturing, considering recent hires such as the new CTO?

57:38 Right, so this is in regards to our, you know, on top of what Jeroen just answered. This is also a related question on hiring our chief technology officer, Todd Lopeman. And I'll first say that we conduct our clinical manufacturing here in South San Francisco. It is considered a competitive advantage. In fact, one of the reasons why we were able to continue our study with BARDA was that we were able to clinically manufacture another strain We went from XPV to KP2 within about a quarter. And so BARDA was really pleased with that. So having the internal manufacturing here is a competitive advantage. On top of that, having manufacturing in the United States is also a very important piece, especially if we're being funded by the US government.

58:32 And as we look towards the future, as Jeroen just highlighted, part of what our obligations are is moving forward with tech transfer and having experience and capabilities with a person like Todd, who not only has in his career at Large Pharma but also at Dynavax been involved in clinical manufacturing, he's actually overseeing the tech transfer. He's actually overseeing phase three manufacturing. He's overseeing commercial manufacturing. And so from our standpoint, having someone with that experience also puts us in a competitive Thanks, Steve. And we are about at time, but I'm going to pass it back over to you for any closing remarks. Well, let me thank all of you for joining us today and for your questions.

59:34 We were certainly able to fill the hour up and really thank you for your engagement. The third quarter reflects continued progress across our clinical programs, pipeline, and governance, including securing our norovirus patent protection in Europe through 2036, publishing peer-reviewed preclinical data showing 100% protection against the lethal H5N1 avian flu, Methodically progressing our Phase 2B COVID-19 trial as we advance toward our mid-year 2027 milestone and welcoming Dr. Rocky Bono to our board to lead our Stockholder Engagement Committee. Everything we do is guided by a singular mission, breaking down the barriers of traditional needle-based vaccines by delivering stable, easy to distribute oral pill vaccines that provide mucosal and systemic protection directly where pathogens enter.

1:00:30 We want to sincerely thank our trial participants, investigators, and our dedicated team here at VaxArt, whose hard work makes this research possible. And thank you to our stockholders for your engagement and continued support. We look forward to updating you on our progress in the months ahead, and we wish you all a great evening.