Achieve Life Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:ACHV) Q1 2023 Earnings Conference Call May 9, 2023 4:30 PM ET

Company Participants

Nicole Jones - Investor Relations

John Bencich - Chief Executive Officer

Cindy Jacobs - President and Chief Medical Officer

Jerry Wan - Principal Accounting Officer

Conference Call Participants

Thomas Flaten - Lake Street Capital

François Brisebois - Oppenheimer

Michael Higgins - Ladenburg Dolman

John Vandermosten - Zacks

Operator

Thank you. Good day, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the Achieve Life Sciences First Quarter 2023 Earnings Conference Call. [Operator Instructions]

At this time, it is my pleasure to turn the floor over to your host, Nicole Jones, Investor Relations at CG Capital. Ma'am, the floor is yours.

Nicole Jones

Thank you, operator, and thank you to everyone for joining the call. Achieve, we have John Bencich, Chief Executive Officer; Dr. Cindy Jacobs, President and Chief Medical Officer; and Jerry Wan, Principal Accounting Officer. Achieve management will be available for Q&A after the prepared remarks. I'd like to remind everyone that today's conference call contains forward-looking statements based on current expectations. These statements are only predictions, and actual results may vary materially from those projected. Please refer to achieve documents available on our website and filed with the SEC concerning factors that could affect the company. I'll now turn the call over to John.

John Bencich

Thank you, Nicole, and thank you to all for joining us. Just a few weeks ago, we reported positive top line results from our groundbreaking Phase II ORCA-V1 clinical trial, the first-ever randomized placebo-controlled trial for vaping cessation. cytisinicline treatment resulted in a statistically significant benefit for nicotine e-cigarette cessation compared to placebo.

Results for the primary endpoint showed that study participants who received cytisinicline were approximately 3x more likely to quit vaping compared to those who received placebo. Cytisinicline also continued to demonstrate exceptional safety and tolerability. We are very pleased with another win for cytisinicline and for people who are seeking options to overcome their nicotine dependence. Nicotine e-cigarette use continues to be a growing concern. With recent reports from CDC indicating vaping rates in the U.S. are increasing. Data recently published indicated that roughly 11 million adults and 2.5 million high school and middle school students use e-cigarettes to vape nicotine. The CDC indicated in recent weeks, the percentage of use has increased by 2.5%.

As this segment of nicotine use continues to grow an increasing number of people who use e-cigarettes, they start to look for solutions to quit. And currently, there are no medications specifically indicated for vaping cessation. We completed a survey in people using e-cigarettes and found that 73% of participants desired to quit vaping in the next 3 to 12 months, and the overwhelming majority would be interested in using a naturally derived prescription treatment to help them do so.