GTx Provides Corporate Update and Reports Second Quarter 2018 Financial Results

On August 14, 2018 GTx, Inc. (Nasdaq:GTXI) reported financial results for the second quarter ended June 30, 2018 and highlighted recent accomplishments and upcoming milestones (Press release, GTx, AUG 14, 2018, View Source;p=irol-newsArticle&ID=2363550 [SID1234528880]).

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"During the second quarter, we achieved a key milestone for the company when we completed patient enrollment in our placebo-controlled, Phase 2 ASTRID Trial of enobosarm in postmenopausal women with stress urinary incontinence (SUI)," said Robert J. Wills, Ph.D., Executive Chairman of GTx. "Due to overwhelming interest from women wanting to participate in the clinical trial, we completed enrollment several months ahead of schedule and exceeded the 400 patients planned. We look forward to reporting top-line results early in the fourth quarter of 2018."

Clinical Highlights and Anticipated Milestones

Stress Urinary Incontinence (SUI):

Enobosarm, a Selective Androgen Receptor Modulator (SARM), is being evaluated in Phase 2 clinical development for SUI. Recent and upcoming important milestones are summarized as follows:

The Company has an ongoing randomized, double-blinded, placebo-controlled, Phase 2 trial to assess the efficacy and safety of enobosarm administered orally in post-menopausal women with SUI compared to placebo. More information about the ASTRID (Assessing Enobosarm for Stress Urinary Incontinence Disorder) Trial can be found here.
In April, the Company completed patient enrollment in the ASTRID Trial several months ahead of schedule, enrolling 493 women at over 60 clinical trial centers across the United States. Top-line results are expected early in the fourth quarter of 2018.
On May 18, 2018, a podium presentation entitled "Oral Enobosarm Shows Promising Activity in Post-Menopausal Women with Stress Urinary Incontinence: Results of a Phase 2 Study," took place at the 2018 American Urological Association (AUA) annual meeting. The presentation updated results from the Phase 2 POC clinical trial of enobosarm. Details of the AUA presentation can be found here and are summarized below:
At the end of the 12-week treatment period, all 18 enobosarm-treated women showed clinically meaningful (50 percent or greater) reductions in stress urinary incontinence episodes per day compared to baseline.
The reduction in incontinence episodes was sustained, or durable, well beyond the 12-week treatment period.
There were no serious adverse events reported and reported adverse events were minimal and included headaches, nausea, fatigue, hot flashes, insomnia, muscle weakness and acne. Mild transient elevations in liver enzymes that were within normal limits were observed, except for one patient with levels greater than 1.5 times the upper limit of normal which returned to normal following her 12-week treatment period. Reductions in total cholesterol, LDL-C, HDL-C and triglycerides were also observed.
The ASTRID Trial protocol includes a four-month, off-drug durability assessment in the first 225 patients enrolled. These data will be announced simultaneously with the ASTRID results. Once the 225-patient cohort completes the four-month, off-drug durability assessment, those patients will have, at their discretion, the option to enter an additional five-month, off-drug extension study to provide a total of nine months of off-drug durability assessment.
The Company also has initiated an open-label safety extension study. Each participating patient will receive 3 mg of oral enobosarm on a daily basis.
Prostate Cancer:

The Company has a Selective Androgen Receptor Degrader (SARD) preclinical program to evaluate its novel SARD technology in castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC). The Company has ongoing mechanistic preclinical studies designed to select the most appropriate compound to potentially advance into a first-in-human clinical trial.

Second Quarter 2018 Financial Results

As of June 30, 2018, cash and short-term investments were $45.7 million compared to $43.9 million at December 31, 2017.
Research and development expenses for the quarter ended June 30, 2018 were $8.0 million compared to $4.4 million for the same period of 2017.
General and administrative expenses for the quarter ended June 30, 2018 were $2.2 million compared to $2.0 million for the same period of 2017.
The net loss for the quarter ended June 30, 2018 was $10.0 million compared to a net loss of $6.4 million for the same period in 2017.
Net loss for the six months ended June 30, 2018 was $23.6 million compared to a net loss of $12.7 million for the same period in 2017.
GTx had approximately 24.0 million shares of common stock outstanding as of June 30, 2018. Additionally, there are warrants outstanding to purchase approximately 5.3 million shares of GTx common stock at an exercise price of $8.50 per share and approximately 3.3 million shares of GTx common stock at an exercise price of $9.02.
About the Phase 2 Proof-of-Concept Clinical Trial

The single-arm, open-label Phase 2 clinical trial is evaluating enobosarm in postmenopausal women with SUI, and is the first clinical trial to evaluate an orally-administered selective androgen receptor modulator (SARM) for SUI. This clinical trial is closed to enrollment; more information about the clinical trial can be found here.

About the Phase 2 ASTRID Clinical Trial

In addition to the Phase 2 proof-of-concept clinical trial that was presented at AUA, GTx also has a larger, ongoing, placebo-controlled Phase 2 clinical trial evaluating enobosarm in postmenopausal women with SUI. The study, called ASTRID (Assessing Enobosarm for Stress Urinary Incontinence Disorder), completed enrollment (n=493) and is being conducted at over 60 clinical trial centers across the United States. Top-line results are expected early in the fourth quarter of this year. More information about the ASTRID clinical trial can be found here.

About Enobosarm and SUI

Enobosarm (GTx-024), a selective androgen receptor modulator (SARM), has been evaluated in 27 completed or ongoing clinical trials enrolling over 2,100 subjects, in which approximately 1,500 subjects were treated with enobosarm at doses ranging from 0.1 mg to 100 mg. At all evaluated dose levels, enobosarm was observed to be generally safe and well tolerated. The rationale for evaluating enobosarm as a treatment for SUI is supported by preclinical in vivo data demonstrating increases in pelvic floor muscle mass following treatment with GTx’s SARM compounds, including enobosarm, and the proof-of-concept Phase 2 clinical trial of enobosarm 3 mg for the treatment of postmenopausal women with SUI.

About Stress Urinary Incontinence

Stress urinary incontinence (SUI) refers to the unintentional leakage of urine during activities that increase abdominal pressure such as coughing, sneezing or physical exercise. SUI, the most common type of incontinence suffered by women, affects up to 35 percent of adult women. There are a variety of treatments that are used to treat SUI in women, such as behavioral modification and pelvic floor physical therapy, especially as initial treatment options. As the condition worsens however, bulking agents and surgical procedures are often the most widely used treatments.

Altimmune Announces Second Quarter 2018 Financial Results and Provides Corporate Update

On August 14, 2018 Altimmune, Inc. (Nasdaq: ALT), a clinical-stage immunotherapeutics company, reported financial results for the three and six months ended June 30, 2018 (Press release, Altimmune, AUG 14, 2018, View Source [SID1234528918]).

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Recent Corporate Highlights

Filed a public registration statement in anticipation of an equity offering later in 2018;

Completed a plan to extinguish all remaining shares of preferred stock and substantially all of the potentially dilutive warrants associated with our August 2017 Series B preferred stock financing;

Appointed Mitchel Sayare as Executive Chairman of the Board;

Added José Ochoa to its Leadership team as Chief Business Officer.

"This quarter was highlighted by a focus on improving our capital structure and strengthening our internal operational team, which will allow us now to focus on our pipeline and developing our novel approach to vaccines," said William J. Enright, Chief Executive Officer of Altimmune. "We are confident the positive results from our NasoVAX trial earlier this year can lead to a new approach to combatting the flu, and that NasoVAX has tremendous potential as an effective, easy-to-administer flu vaccine. We look forward to getting additional Phase 2 clinical trials started next year."

Second Quarter 2018 Financial Highlights

Second quarter revenue was $2.4 million compared to $3.0 million in the prior year period. Revenue fluctuated in proportion to our research and development expenses for the NasoShield and SparVax-L programs.

Research and development expenses were $4.9 million compared to $5.3 million in the prior year period. The decrease is attributable to lower spending on the development of the NasoShield product candidate due to timing of manufacturing; while there were

increases in manufacturing and other costs for the NasoVax, SparVax-L and HepTcell programs when compared to the same period in 2017.

The Company recognized a loss on warrant exchange of $3.6 million which was included with the changes in fair value of the outstanding warrants to result in a total expense of $5.2 million for the quarter.

Net loss attributed to common stockholders was $9.8 million compared to $3.2 million for the same period in 2017. Net loss per share attributed to common stockholders was $0.34 compared to $0.26 in the prior year period.

At June 30, 2018, the Company had cash and cash equivalents of approximately $4.8 million.

During the quarter, the Company received $4.0 million in cash related to its federal tax refund receivable. Subsequent to the end of the quarter, the Company received $1.1 million in cash related to its UK research and development tax credits included in the Company’s tax refund receivable at June 30, 2018.

Conference Call Details

Date: Wednesday, August 15
Time: 8:30am Eastern Time
Domestic: 888-204-4368
International: 323-994-2083
Conference ID: 3879845
Webcast: View Source
Replays will be available through August 29:

Domestic: 844-512-2921
International: 412-317-6671
Replay PIN: 3879845

AIVITA Biomedical Announces Initiation of First Clinical Site for ROOT OF CANCER Glioblastoma Trial

On August 14, 2018 AIVITA Biomedical, a biotech company specializing in innovative stem cell applications, announced today the initiation of its first clinical site for the Company’s ROOT OF CANCER Phase 2 trial in patients with newly diagnosed glioblastoma (GBM) (Press release, AIVITA Biomedical, AUG 14, 2018, View Source [SID1234528865]). The University of California, Irvine (UCI)’s Comprehensive Brain Tumor Program and the UCLA-UCI Alpha Stem Cell Clinic (ASCC) have received IRB approval to begin recruiting patients to receive AIVITA’s platform ROOT OF CANCER treatment. Patients will receive autologous dendritic cells loaded with autologous tumor antigens derived from self-renewing tumor cells as an adjunctive therapy following primary surgery plus concurrent chemoradiation.

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AIVITA’s single-arm, open-label GBM trial calls for approximately 55 patients with newly diagnosed glioblastoma to be enrolled with the intent to receive the Company’s ROOT OF CANCER treatment. Under the direction of UCI neuro-oncologist and Principal Investigator Daniela Bota, MD, PhD, the treatment will be administered in a series of injections along with standard care, which may include surgery, chemotherapy and radiation.

"We are honored to be launching this trial with Dr. Bota and her very capable team," said Dr. Bob Dillman, AIVITA’s Chief Medical Officer. "With a 100% product manufacturing success rate and a world-class team, we are fully enabled to supply multiple clinical trial sites and get to definitive data quickly."

Dr. Daniela Bota said, "I am delighted to have the opportunity to offer my patients a new treatment that has already demonstrated remarkable improvements in survival rates during previous trials treating other cancer types."

AIVITA’s ROOT OF CANCER technology is also currently the subject of a Phase 2 clinical trial in ovarian cancer in the USA and a commercialization effort in melanoma in Japan. Of the 10 patient tumor samples received thus far in AIVITA’s ROOT OF CANCER ovarian trial, short-term tumor cell lines have been successfully established for all 10.

About Glioblastoma

Glioblastoma (GBM) is the most aggressive and most common form of malignant brain tumor. Median survival is only nine months, rising to 15–16 months for those able to receive aggressive standard of care surgery and adjuvant chemoradiation.1 The cause of most cases is unclear. The National Cancer Institute estimates there will be 23,880 new cases of brain and nervous system cancer in 2018.

[1] Bi, Wenya Linda, and Rameen Beroukhim. "Beating the Odds: Extreme Long-Term Survival with Glioblastoma." Neuro-Oncology 16.9 (2014): 1159–1160. PMC. Web. 18 June 2018.

About the ROOT OF CANCER GBM trial

AIVITA’s treatment is a platform technology applicable to any solid tumor type and consists of autologous dendritic cells loaded with autologous tumor antigens from autologous self-renewing tumor-initiating cells, which means the cells have to be self-renewing as a cell line.

Patients eligible for treatment will be those (1) who have recovered from surgery such that they are about to begin concurrent chemotherapy and radiation therapy (CT/RT), (2) for whom an autologous tumor cell line has been established, (3) have a Karnofsky Performance Status of > 70 and (4) have undergone successful leukapheresis from which peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) were obtained that can be used to generate dendritic cells (DC).

Surface Oncology Reports Financial Results and Corporate Highlights for Second Quarter 2018

On August 14, 2018 Surface Oncology (NASDAQ:SURF), a clinical-stage immuno-oncology company developing next-generation immunotherapies that target the tumor microenvironment, reported financial results and corporate highlights for the second quarter of 2018 (Press release, Surface Oncology, AUG 14, 2018, View Source [SID1234528881]).

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"Since the completion of our IPO, we have made significant progress across the company, including continued progress of our SRF231 Phase I trial, with initial data expected in the first half of 2019, and the advancement of a second program, NZV930, into clinical development by our partner, Novartis. The speed with which these programs have advanced from discovery to clinical stage is truly remarkable, and I congratulate the entire team on a job well done," said Jeff Goater, chief executive officer of Surface Oncology. "We remain focused on execution in all aspects of the company, including IND-enabling studies for our SRF617 and SRF388 programs."

Selected Highlights:

SRF231, a fully human monoclonal antibody targeting CD47: In February 2018, Surface initiated a Phase I trial of SRF231. The multi-center, open-label Phase I trial will evaluate the safety and tolerability of SRF231 in multiple ascending doses with the goal of establishing a recommended dose for further study. Following the dose escalation phase, the Company intends to evaluate the safety and efficacy of SRF231 in a targeted set of solid and hematologic malignancies. The trial plan calls for enrollment of up to ~150 patients with initial clinical results from this trial expected in the first half of 2019. Surface holds worldwide rights to SRF231. In July, the FDA granted SRF231 Orphan Drug Designation for the treatment of multiple myeloma.

NZV930 (formerly SRF373), a fully human monoclonal antibody targeting CD73: Surface’s collaborator, Novartis, initiated a Phase I clinical trial for NZV930 in June 2018. The study will assess the safety, tolerability, and preliminary anti-tumor activity of NZV930 alone and when combined with PDR001 (anti-PD-1) and/or NIR178 (A2AR antagonist), in patients with advanced cancers. The trial is designed to enroll up to 344 patients across multiple solid tumor indications, including non-small cell lung cancer, triple negative breast cancer, pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma, microsatellite stable colorectal cancer, ovarian cancer and renal cell carcinoma. NZV930 has been licensed on a worldwide basis by Novartis.

In June, Surface Oncology was recognized as one of the Best Places to Work in 2018 by the Boston Business Journal.

In July, Liisa Nogelo-Kerr joined Surface as General Counsel. She brings nearly 20 years of corporate, transactional, R&D and commercial legal experience in the biotechnology industry. Prior to Surface, Liisa served as the General Counsel of the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard. In this role, she was responsible for the Broad’s legal operations, including support of research initiatives and the negotiation of major transactions with pharma and tech companies. Prior to the Broad Institute, Liisa held senior positions on the R&D and corporate legal teams at Biogen and served as lead attorney and member of the executive committee for three late-stage drug development programs in ALS and hemophilia. Earlier in her career, Liisa practiced at Bingham McCutchen, an international law firm, where she advised private equity, medical device, biotechnology and other emerging technology company clients on a broad range of corporate and transactional matters.

Also in July, Seth Lewis joined Surface as Vice President, Investor Relations and Corporate Communications. Most recently Seth was Vice President, Investor Relations and Corporate Communications at Bavarian Nordic, an international biotech focused on live virus vaccine R&D and manufacturing. Prior to his time at Bavarian Nordic, Seth was a Senior Vice President of The Trout Group, LLC, a leading investor relations and advisory firm, focused on life sciences companies.
Financial Results
As of June 30, 2018, cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities were $185.6 million, compared to $63.3 million on December 31, 2017. This increase was primarily related to $108.7 million in net proceeds from the Company’s IPO and concurrent private placement completed in April 2018.

Research and development (R&D) expenses were $15.1 million for the second quarter ended June 30, 2018, compared to $10.7 million for the same period in 2017. The increase was largely due to expenditures associated with Surface’s advancing product pipeline, including increased R&D personnel costs associated with the growth of the Company. R&D expenses included $0.8 million in stock-based compensation expenses for the second quarter of 2018.

General and administrative (G&A) expenses were $3.9 million for the second quarter ended June 30, 2018, compared to $2.0 million for the same period in 2017. The increase was largely due to increased G&A personnel associated with the growth of the company and increased professional fees. G&A expenses included $0.7 million in stock-based compensation expenses for the second quarter of 2018.

For the second quarter ended June 30, 2018, net loss was $15.9 million, or basic and diluted net loss per share attributable to common stockholders of $0.73. Net loss was $6.6 million for the same period in 2017, or basic and diluted net loss per share attributable to common stockholders of $2.73. The decrease in net loss per share attributable to common shareholders is primarily due to the completion of the IPO in April 2018, which resulted in the sale of 7,200,000 shares of common stock and automatic conversion of 16,863,624 shares of convertible preferred stock into shares of common stock. In addition to the shares sold in the public offering, the Company completed a concurrent sale of an additional 766,666 shares at the initial offering price of $15.00 per share.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements:
Certain statements set forth in this press release constitute "forward-looking" statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, as amended. Forward-looking statements can be identified by terms such as "believes," "expects," "plans," "potential," "would" or similar expressions and the negative of those terms. These forward-looking statements are based on our management’s current beliefs and assumptions about future events and on information currently available to management.

Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause our actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. These risks include, but are not limited to, risks and uncertainties related to: our limited operating history and historical losses, our liquidity to fund the development of SRF231 and our other product candidates through current and future milestones, our ability to raise additional funding to complete the development and any commercialization of our product candidates, our dependence on the success of our lead product candidates, SRF231 and NZV930, results from preclinical studies or early clinical trials may not be representative of larger clinical trials, results from the clinical trials and preclinical studies of third parties working in immuno-oncology and our dependence on third parties in connection with our manufacturing, clinical trials and pre-clinical studies. Additional risks and uncertainties that could affect our future results are included in the section titled "Risk Factors" and "Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations" in our Prospectus dated April 18, 2018, which is available on the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov and our website at www.surfaceoncology.com. Additional information on potential risks will be made available in other filings that we make from time to time with the SEC. In addition, any forward-looking statements contained in this press release are based on assumptions that we believe to be reasonable as of this date. Except as required by law, we assume no obligation to update these forward-looking statements, or to update the reasons if actual results differ materially from those anticipated in the forward-looking statements.

Athenex, Inc. Announces Second Quarter 2018 Results and Provides Corporate Update

On August 14, 2018 Athenex, Inc. (NASDAQ:ATNX), a global biopharmaceutical company dedicated to the discovery, development and commercialization of novel therapies for the treatment of cancer and related conditions, reported its financial results and business highlights for the three and six months ended June 30, 2018 (Press release, Athenex, AUG 14, 2018, View Source;p=RssLanding&cat=news&id=2363558 [SID1234528919]).

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"The second quarter was marked by notable achievements across clinical, operational and financial fronts," stated Dr. Johnson Lau, Chief Executive Officer of Athenex. "We announced positive Phase 3 data with our lead Src Kinase inhibitor KX2-391 in actinic keratosis and, together with our commercial partner Almirall, we are now planning regulatory submissions in the major markets. We continue to seek opportunities to expand our oncology pipeline and announced, in July, the licensing of two very exciting technologies, an immunotherapy platform based on T-cell receptor-engineered T cells or TCR-T, and a metabolic based oncology candidate."

Dr. Lau continued, "Our commercial business continues to perform well and grow, with both Athenex Pharmaceutical Division and Athenex Pharma Solutions launching new products. We also continue to invest in our global supply chain platform, with the goal of having the right infrastructure in place in advance of commercializing our Oncology Innovation Products."

Second Quarter 2018 and Recent Business Highlights:

Second quarter revenue increased to $11.6 million as compared to $4.6 million in the same period last year.
Clinical Platforms:

Announced positive data from two Phase 3 studies of KX2-391 in actinic keratosis (AK). Each study achieved the primary endpoint of 100% clearance of AK lesions in patients following treatment, at high statistical significance (p<0.0001).
Received Orphan Drug Designation from the US FDA for Oraxol in angiosarcoma, a rare form of malignant blood vessel cancer
Presented Phase 1 data evaluating the safety, tolerability, pharmacokinetics and activity of Oraxol in patients with advanced malignancies, and a bioavailability study of oral paclitaxel and HM30181 compared with weekly intravenous (IV) paclitaxel in patients with advanced solid tumors, at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) (Free ASCO Whitepaper) annual meeting.
Commercial Business:

Launched 5 new products and 12 new SKUs during the second quarter.
Athenex Pharmaceutical Division ("APD") currently markets 21 products in the U.S. with 36 SKUs.
Athenex Pharma Solutions ("APS"), our 503(b) facility, currently markets 5 products with 27 SKUs.
Business Development and Strategic Highlights:

Received a strategic investment of $100 million from Perceptive Advisors
Establishing a joint venture with Xiangxue Life Sciences for the research, development, and commercialization of T-cell Receptor-Engineered T Cells (TCR-T), a next generation cancer immunotherapy technology.
In-licensed worldwide rights to pegylated genetically modified human arginase from Avalon Polytom (HK) Limited.
Strengthened Company leadership and Board with the appointments of Timothy Cook as Senior Vice President of Global Commercial Oncology; Christina Wang as Vice President of Clinical Operations and Corporate Development, Asia Pacific; and Benson Tsang to the Board of Directors.
Second Quarter 2018 Financial Results:

Revenue for the second quarter ended June 30, 2018 was $11.6 million as compared to $4.6 million in the same period last year. The increase was primarily attributable to a $5.2 million increase in specialty products sold through the Company’s Commercial Platform, a $1.4 million increase in API and medical device sales, and $0.6 million in sales of its 503B products. This increase was offset by decreases in contract manufacturing revenue of $0.1 million and a decrease in grant revenue of $0.1 million.

Cost of sales for the second quarter ended June 30, 2018 totaled $9.4 million, as compared to $4.1 million for the three months ended June 30, 2017. This was primarily due to the increase of $4.1 million cost of sales from the recently launched specialty products and $1.2 million cost of sales from 503B and API products

R&D expenses for the second quarter ended June 30, 2018 were $26.6 million, an increase of $9.0 million from a year ago. The increase was primarily due to an increase in clinical operations and included a $6.5 million increase in clinical trial costs related to the progression of the Phase 3 trials of KX-01 Ointment and Oraxol.

SG&A expenses for the second quarter ended June 30, 2018 were $12.8 million, a decrease of $0.8 million compared to $13.6 million in the same period last year. The decrease was primarily due to a decrease in employee compensation of $2.8 million from stock-based compensation incurred in the prior year in connection with the Company’s IPO, offset by a $1.9 million increase in other office expenses and professional fees for legal, consulting, and audit services related to operating as a public company.

Net loss for the second quarter ended June 30, 2018 was $36.9 million, or $0.58 per diluted share, compared to a net loss of $38.6 million, or $0.88 per diluted share, in the same period last year.

Cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments were $80.7 million at June 30, 2018, compared to $51 million at December 31, 2017. The company remains focused on using its cash position to fund development of the clinical pipeline, as well as working capital costs associated with the commercial platform and general corporate purposes.

In July 2018, Athenex closed a privately placed debt and equity financing deal with Perceptive Advisors, LLC for gross proceeds of $100.0 million and aggregate net proceeds of $97.1 million, net of fees and offering expenses. The Company entered into a 5-year senior secured loan for $50.0 million of this financing and issued 2,679,528 shares of its common stock at a purchase price of $18.66 per share for the remaining $50.0 million. The Company is required to make monthly interest-only payments with a bullet payment of the principal at maturity. In connection with the loan agreement, the Company also granted Perceptive a warrant for the purchase 425,000 shares of common stock at a purchase price of $18.66 per share.

In July 2018, Athenex executed a subscription agreement to establish, operate, and manage a limited liability company, Axis Therapeutics Limited, based in Hong Kong. This joint venture will be owned 55% by the Company and 45% by Xiangxue Life Sciences. The Company will make a capital contribution of $30.0 million to the joint venture. Subsequently, Axis Therapeutics Limited entered into a license agreement with the minority partner to license its TCR-T immunotherapy technology to develop and commercialize products for oncology indications. The Company will make an upfront payment for this license in the form of a $5.0 million issuance of its common stock.

First Half 2018 Financial Results

Revenue for the six months ended June 30, 2018 was $49.4 million compared to $9.2 million in the same six month period of last year. The increase was primarily attributable to $25.0 million of upfront license fees related to the collaboration agreement with Almirall, S.A. and a $13.8 million increase in specialty products sold through the Company’s Commercial Platform.

Cost of sales for the six months ended June 30, 2018 was $20.8 million, as compared to $7.0 million for the six months ended June 30, 2017. This was primarily due to the increase of $11.3 million cost of sales from the recently launched specialty products and $2.5 million cost of sales from 503B and API products.

R&D expenses for the first six months of 2018 were $47.9 million, an increase of $3.9 million from the $44.0 million from the year ago period. This was primarily due to an increase in clinical operations and included a $13.4 million increase in clinical trial costs related to the progression of the Phase 3 trials of KX-01 Ointment and Oraxol.

SG&A expenses were $25.9 million, an increase of $2.5 million compared to $23.4 million in the same period last year. This increase was primarily due to a $3.3 million increase of other office expenses and professional fees for legal, consulting, and audit services related to operating as a public company.

Net loss for the six months ended June 30, 2018 was $44.2 million, or $0.71 per diluted share, compared to a net loss of $79.6 million, or $1.89 per diluted share, for the six months ended June 30, 2017.

Outlook and Upcoming Milestones:

The Company is reaffirming its full year 2018 revenue guidance in the range of $100 million to $125 million, inclusive of licensing-fee revenue from Almirall.

Clinical Platforms:

A second interim analysis by the Data and Safety Monitoring Board (DSMB) for the ongoing Phase 3 trial of Oraxol in metastatic breast cancer is expected in September
IND filing for Oral Eribulin is planned for Q4-2018
Corporate Updates:

Construction on the Dunkirk facility is expected to be complete by the first quarter of 2019.
Conference Call and Webcast Information:

The Company will host a conference call and audio webcast on Tuesday, August 14, 2018 at 9:00 a.m. Eastern Time. To participate in the call, dial 877-407-0784 (domestic) or 201-689-8560 (international) fifteen minutes before the conference call begins and reference the conference passcode 13682063.

A replay of the call will be accessible two hours after its completion through August 21 by dialing 844-512-2921 (in the U.S.) or 412-317-6671 (outside the U.S.) and entering passcode 13682063. The live conference call and replay can also be accessed via audio webcast at the Investor Relations section of the Company’s website, located at www.athenex.com.