On May 9, 2016 Apricus Biosciences, Inc. (Nasdaq:APRI), a biopharmaceutical company advancing innovative medicines in urology and rheumatology, reported financial results for the first quarter of 2016 and provided a corporate update on its priorities for 2016 (Filing, 8-K, Apricus Biosciences, MAY 9, 2016, View Source [SID:1234512412]). Apricus will hold a previously announced webcast this morning at 8:00 am PDT with Edward D. Kim, M.D., a member of the Company’s Scientific Advisory Board and a Vitaros clinical investigator, to discuss the Vitaros opportunity as part of the Company’s corporate activities concurrent with the American Urological Association’s 2016 Annual Meeting, May 6 – 10 in San Diego. Please join the webcast at www.apricusbio.com to view the presentation slides or, to participate by telephone, dial (877) 841-3961 (Domestic) or (201) 689-8589 (International). The conference ID number is 13633850.

Schedule your 30 min Free 1stOncology Demo!
Discover why more than 1,500 members use 1stOncology™ to excel in:

Early/Late Stage Pipeline Development - Target Scouting - Clinical Biomarkers - Indication Selection & Expansion - BD&L Contacts - Conference Reports - Combinatorial Drug Settings - Companion Diagnostics - Drug Repositioning - First-in-class Analysis - Competitive Analysis - Deals & Licensing

                  Schedule Your 30 min Free Demo!

"In March, we sharpened our focus on growth of the Vitaros brand, as we streamlined our organization in an effort to align our corporate strategy and our financial resources with the goal of achieving profitability in 2017," stated Richard W. Pascoe, Chief Executive Officer. "Importantly, we experienced record Vitaros royalties in Europe in the first quarter of 2016 and we continue to have a productive dialogue with the Food and Drug Administration ("FDA") regarding the Vitaros New Drug Application ("NDA") resubmission content and format. As such, we remain on track to resubmit the NDA for Vitaros U.S. in the third quarter of 2016 with an approval decision expected after a six month review period. Finally, we will continue to work closely with our partners to grow Vitaros revenue by supporting additional regulatory approvals and launches, licensing additional territories, and leveraging our existing partnerships to help ensure Vitaros is actively commercialized in all approved territories."

First Quarter Highlights and Recent Developments

Apricus recently updated its corporate goals to focus on increasing Vitaros’ value through the fostering and expansion of its commercial partnerships, in the U.S. and globally, and strengthening the Company’s financial position. First quarter and recent highlights include:

• Closed on a $10 million registered direct offering with certain institutional investors, including existing investors Sarissa Capital and Aspire Capital;

• Reported top-line Phase 2b data for fispemifene in symptomatic secondary hypogonadism that failed to achieve statistical significance in key clinical benefit endpoints and abandoned further clinical activities surrounding fispemifene; and

• Expanded the Company’s exclusive distribution agreement with Ferring Pharmaceuticals to market Vitaros in the United Kingdom as part of the Company’s ongoing initiative to consolidate Vitaros territories with existing partners in an effort to maximize efficiencies and revenue.

2016 Priorities

Apricus is focused on achieving the following key strategic objectives:

Vitaros* (alprostadil)

• Continue implementation of the U.S. regulatory approval strategy to address the safety and manufacturing issues raised by the FDA in the original Vitaros NDA submission, with an NDA resubmission on target for the third quarter of 2016;

• Continue to support the Company’s ex-U.S. partners’ efforts to increase revenue in countries where partners have launched Vitaros, seek solutions to ensure that Vitaros is available to patients in every country where it is approved but not currently marketed, support new commercial launches by the Company’s partners and assist the Company’s partners in obtaining additional regulatory approvals in their respective territories; and

• Continue to generate the required data in 2016 to support delivery device improvements and related regulatory submission(s) with a priority to support the U.S. NDA resubmission of the refrigerated version of Vitaros.

RayVa (alprostadil)

• Complete the formulation development for at-home dosing;

• Finalize the Phase 2b study protocol;

• Explore Orphan Drug Designation in the U.S. and EU; and

• Explore global or regional partnerships prior to initiating the Phase 2b study.

First Quarter Financial Results

Revenue during the quarter ended March 31, 2016 was $0.6 million, compared to revenue of $0.5 million during the first quarter of 2015. Revenue during the quarter ended March 31, 2016 was comprised of $0.4 million in royalty revenues, an increase of $0.3 million or 317% over the quarter ended March 31, 2015. Revenue during the quarter ended March 31, 2015 included $0.4 million in license fee revenue related to the expansion of the Company’s license agreement with Sandoz to commercialize Vitaros in certain Asian and Pacific countries. Basic net loss for the quarter ended March 31, 2016 was $2.5 million, or basic loss per share of $0.05, compared to a net loss of $6.4 million, or $0.13 per share for the first quarter of 2015. Reducing the net loss for the quarter ended March 31, 2016 was a non-cash change in the fair value of the Company’s warrant liability in the amount of $2.6 million.

As of March 31, 2016, cash and cash equivalents totaled $6.9 million, compared to $3.9 million as of December 31, 2015.

2016 Financial Outlook

Early in the second quarter of 2016, Apricus reduced its staff, including the executive team, by approximately 30%, decreased the size of the Board by one member and reduced the Board’s cash compensation. Apricus plans to continue to reduce operating expenses (excluding non-cash stock-based compensation expense and depreciation expense), with a goal of achieving reductions of approximately 30% in 2016 and 60% in 2017 as compared to 2015 operating expenses (excluding non-cash stock-based compensation expense and depreciation expense).

In 2016, Apricus expects to continue to generate cash from milestone or licensing payments and royalty revenues from its partners’ sales of Vitaros. Apricus will also continue to pursue out-licensing opportunities for Vitaros in Asia-Pacific. Apricus’ expenditures will include minimal costs for the preparatory Phase 2b clinical development of RayVa, as well as costs for activities associated with supporting the regulatory approval of Vitaros in the U.S. and the commercialization of Vitaros in Europe.

On May 9, 2016 Dynavax Technologies Corporation (NASDAQ: DVAX) reported financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2016 (Press release, Dynavax Technologies, MAY 9, 2016, View Source [SID:1234512109]).

Schedule your 30 min Free 1stOncology Demo!
Discover why more than 1,500 members use 1stOncology™ to excel in:

Early/Late Stage Pipeline Development - Target Scouting - Clinical Biomarkers - Indication Selection & Expansion - BD&L Contacts - Conference Reports - Combinatorial Drug Settings - Companion Diagnostics - Drug Repositioning - First-in-class Analysis - Competitive Analysis - Deals & Licensing

                  Schedule Your 30 min Free Demo!

The Company had $166.8 million in cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities as of March 31, 2016, compared to $196.1 million at December 31, 2015. The net loss for the first quarter of 2016 was $27.0 million, compared to $26.2 million for the first quarter of 2015.

First Quarter Financials

Total revenues for the three months ended March 31, 2016 increased by $0.3 million, or 50%, compared to the same period in 2015.

Research and development expenses for the first quarter decreased by $2.2 million, or 10%, compared to the same period in 2015, reflecting an increase in employee headcount and activities in preparation for the anticipated commercial launch of HEPLISAV-B and a reduction in outside services expense due to lower activity related to HBV-23 following its completion in the fourth quarter of 2015.

General and administrative expenses for the three months ended March 31, 2016, increased by $3.3 million, or 68%, compared to the same period in 2015, as we added headcount and addressed information technology systems and other infrastructure needs in preparation for the anticipated commercial launch of HEPLISAV-B.

The net loss for the quarter ended March 31, 2016 was $27.0 million, or $0.70 per basic and diluted share compared to $26.2 million, or $0.97 per basic and diluted share for the quarter ended March 31, 2015.

Recent Progress

At the end of the quarter, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) accepted for review the Biologics License Application (BLA) for HEPLISAV-B, the company’s vaccine for immunization against hepatitis B infection in adults 18 years of age and older. The FDA has established December 15th as the Prescription Drug User Fee Act (PDUFA) action date for the BLA.

"We are focused on working with the FDA to obtain approval of HEPLISAV-B before year end and on preparing for launch, including preparation for an advisory panel in case one is called, hiring of key commercial personnel, market and pricing research and manufacturing of launch inventory," said Dynavax Chief Executive Officer, Eddie Gray.

In April, we reported additional details from the HBV-23 pivotal Phase 3 HEPLISAV-B trial at the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases’ (NFID) 19th Annual Conference on Vaccine Research (ACVR).

Also in April, we presented encouraging additional data from Part 1 of the Phase 1/2 study evaluating our lead immunotherapy product candidate, SD-101, in lymphoma patients. The clinical data, along with preclinical SD-101 data, were presented at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) (Free AACR Whitepaper) Annual Meeting.

On May 09, 2016 Vical Incorporated (Nasdaq:VICL) reported financial results for the three months ended March 31, 2016 (Press release, Vical, MAY 9, 2016, View Source [SID:1234512130]). Net loss for the first quarter of 2016 was $2.4 million, or $0.03 per share, compared with a net loss of $3.8 million, or $0.04 per share, for the first quarter of 2015. Revenues for the first quarter of 2016 were $4.6 million, compared with revenues of $4.9 million for the first quarter of 2015, reflecting revenues from Astellas Pharma Inc. for manufacturing services performed under our ASP0113 collaborative agreements. ASP0113 is Vical’s therapeutic vaccine designed to prevent cytomegalovirus (CMV) disease and associated complications in transplant recipients.

Schedule your 30 min Free 1stOncology Demo!
Discover why more than 1,500 members use 1stOncology™ to excel in:

Early/Late Stage Pipeline Development - Target Scouting - Clinical Biomarkers - Indication Selection & Expansion - BD&L Contacts - Conference Reports - Combinatorial Drug Settings - Companion Diagnostics - Drug Repositioning - First-in-class Analysis - Competitive Analysis - Deals & Licensing

                  Schedule Your 30 min Free Demo!

Vical had cash and investments of $40.3 million at March 31, 2016. The Company’s net cash use for the first quarter of 2016 was $1.7 million, which was consistent with the Company’s guidance for the full year. The Company is projecting net cash burn for 2016 between $8 million and $11 million.

Program updates include:

ASP0113 CMV Vaccine

The multinational Phase 3 registration trial in 500 hematopoietic cell transplant (HCT) recipients is ongoing and over 80% of the subjects have now been enrolled. Astellas expects enrollment to be completed by the third quarter of 2016, with the top-line data available in the fourth quarter of 2017. The primary endpoint of this trial is a composite of overall mortality and CMV end organ disease. Vical and Astellas have initiated process validation activities for the manufacture of the bulk drug product in anticipation of a potential BLA filing in 2018.

Enrollment in the multinational Phase 2 trial in kidney transplant recipients was completed in May 2015 and the last subject is expected to complete 1 year of follow up later this month. The primary endpoint of this trial is the incidence of CMV viremia and the study is powered to show an approximately 50% reduction in CMV viremia at 1 year after transplantation. Astellas expects the top-line trial data to be available in the third quarter of 2016.

HSV-2 Therapeutic Vaccine

Trial results, including data on multiple endpoints evaluating safety and efficacy, from our recently completed HSV-2 Phase 1/2 trial will be presented in an oral late-breaker presentation at the American Society of Microbiology (ASM) Microbe/ICAAC 2016 conference on June 20, 2016 in Boston, Massachusetts.

VL-2397 Antifungal

Enrollment is ongoing in Vical’s first-in-human Phase 1 trial of its novel antifungal, VL-2397. The randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial is intended to evaluate safety, tolerability and pharmacokinetics of single and multiple ascending doses of VL-2397 in healthy volunteers. The trial is expected to be complete by the end of 2016. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has granted Vical Fast Track, qualified infectious disease product (QIDP) and orphan drug designations for VL-2397 for the treatment of invasive aspergillosis. This invasive fungal infection is associated with a high rate of mortality in immunocompromised patients, underscoring the need for new antifungal therapies. Vical is working closely with a core team of expert advisors to design a proof of concept efficacy study for VL-2397 in the treatment of patients with invasive aspergillosis.

Vical will conduct a conference call and webcast today, May 9, at noon Eastern Time, to discuss the Company’s financial results and program updates with invited participants. The call and webcast are open on a listen-only basis to any interested parties. To listen to the conference call, dial in approximately ten minutes before the scheduled call to (719) 325-2484 (preferred), or (888) 523-1228 (toll-free), and reference confirmation code 9062407. A replay of the call will be available for 48 hours beginning about two hours after the call. To listen to the replay, dial (719) 457-0820 (preferred) or (888) 203-1112 (toll-free) and enter replay passcode 9062407. The call will also be available live and archived through the events page at www.vical.com. For further information, contact Vical’s Investor Relations department by phone at (858) 646-1127 or by e-mail at [email protected].

On May 9, 2016 PureTech Health plc ("PureTech," LSE: PRTC) reported the launch of Vor BioPharma, an immuno-oncology company dedicated to developing a new class of targeted cell therapies (Press release, FierceBiotech, MAY 9, 2016, View Source [SID:1234512233]). The company, which is advancing a novel approach to chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy, has licensed its core technology from the lab of Vor scientific co-founder, Siddhartha Mukherjee, M.D., Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Medicine at Columbia University and Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer.

Schedule your 30 min Free 1stOncology Demo!
Discover why more than 1,500 members use 1stOncology™ to excel in:

Early/Late Stage Pipeline Development - Target Scouting - Clinical Biomarkers - Indication Selection & Expansion - BD&L Contacts - Conference Reports - Combinatorial Drug Settings - Companion Diagnostics - Drug Repositioning - First-in-class Analysis - Competitive Analysis - Deals & Licensing

                  Schedule Your 30 min Free Demo!

"PureTech is excited to be collaborating with Sid Mukherjee and to have the support of a world-class team of immunologists and oncologists"
Tweet this
"CAR T-cell therapies have shown remarkable progress in the clinic, yet their applicability beyond a small subset of cancers is currently very limited," said Sanjiv Sam Gambhir, M.D., Ph.D., Vor Scientific Advisory Board Member, Professor of Radiology and Bioengineering, Chair of the Department of Radiology, Director of the Canary Center for Cancer Early Detection and Director of the Molecular Imaging Program at Stanford University. "This technology seeks to address bottlenecks that prevent CAR T-cell therapy from becoming more broadly useful in treating cancers outside of B-cell cancers."

Researchers continue to make big advances in using the immune system to fight cancer. CAR T-cell therapy, which modifies the body’s own immune cells (T-cells) to recognize and kill cancer cells, has emerged as a promising therapy for patients with advanced B-cell leukemias. These approaches have focused on targeting markers that are present on all B-cells, both healthy and cancerous. While the body can safely function without B-cells, using CAR T-cell therapy to treat other cancers—which would involve targeting cells necessary for survival—remains elusive. Furthermore, CAR T-cell therapy has shown more limited results in treating solid tumors. Vor is developing an entirely new approach to CAR T-cell therapy that seeks to broaden its applicability in other cancers, particularly those with limited therapeutic options, by removing key barriers generated by current modalities.

"We continue to make great strides in developing new ways to treat cancer using the body’s immune system," said Dr. Mukherjee. "The positive clinical response researchers have achieved with CAR T-cell therapies in B-cell leukemias has led to great interest within the oncology community and is something we hope to achieve in other cancers over time."

"PureTech is excited to be collaborating with Sid Mukherjee and to have the support of a world-class team of immunologists and oncologists," said David Steinberg, Executive Vice President of PureTech Health and Co-Founder of Vor BioPharma. "We look forward to advancing this technology that has the potential to expand immuno-oncology to currently untreatable, fatal malignancies."

Leading oncologists and immunologists are supporting Vor in developing its pipeline of novel immunotherapies. The company’s team of scientific founders and Scientific Advisory Board (SAB) members includes:

Joseph Bolen, Ph.D. – Scientific Advisory Board member and acting Chief Scientific Officer of Vor BioPharma and former President and Chief Scientific Officer of Moderna Therapeutics. Dr. Bolen has more than 30 years of industry and research experience and has been at the forefront of cancer and immunology research. He began his career at the NIH, where he contributed to the discovery of a class of proteins known as tyrosine kinase oncogenes as key regulators of the immune system. Dr. Bolen most recently oversaw all aspects of research and development for Moderna. Previously, he was Chief Scientific Officer and Global Head of Oncology Research at Millennium: The Takeda Oncology Company. Prior to joining Millennium in 1999, Dr. Bolen held senior research and development positions at Hoechst Marion Roussel, Schering-Plough, and Bristol-Myers Squibb.
Sanjiv Sam Gambhir, M.D., Ph.D. – Professor of Radiology, Materials Science & Engineering, and Bioengineering at Stanford University, where he is also the Chair of the Department of Radiology, Director of the Canary Center for Cancer Early Detection and Director of the Molecular Imaging Program. His research focuses on interrogating cellular and molecular events in living subjects through imaging and on the early detection of cancer. He is the recipient of over $90M in NIH funding as the principal investigator and served on the NCI Board of Scientific advisors for eight years. Dr. Gambhir has received several awards including the Hounsfield Medal, Tesla Medal, Holst Medal, and is an elected fellow of the National Academy of Medicine, as well as the National Academy of Inventors. He has co-founded several startups and is an advisor to several large corporations and biotechnology startups.
Dan Littman, M.D., Ph.D. – Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator and the Helen L. and Martin S. Kimmel Professor of Molecular Immunology and Professor of Pathology and Microbiology at New York University (NYU) School of Medicine. Dr. Littman has made numerous groundbreaking discoveries in the field of virology and immunology, including identification and isolation of receptors required for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) entry, molecular mechanisms of immune cells that mediate autoimmunity and the role of specific members of the gut microbiota in T-cell differentiation. Dr. Littman is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and is a Member of the National Academy of Sciences. He was awarded the 2004 New York City Mayor’s Award for Excellence in Science and Technology.
Siddhartha Mukherjee, M.D., Ph.D. – Assistant Professor of Medicine at Columbia University and oncologist. Dr. Mukherjee is the author of The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer, winner of the 2011 Pulitzer Prize in general nonfiction, and The Laws of Medicine. He has published distinguished articles in numerous publications, including Nature, The New England Journal of Medicine, Cell and The New York Times.
Derrick J. Rossi, Ph.D. – Associate Professor in the Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology Department at Harvard Medical School and Harvard University. Dr. Rossi is an investigator in the Program in Cellular and Molecular Medicine at Boston Children’s Hospital, and is also a principal faculty member of the Harvard Stem Cell Institute. TIME Magazine cited Dr. Rossi’s discovery of modified-mRNA reprogramming as one of the top ten medical breakthroughs of 2010. TIME Magazine also named Dr. Rossi as one of "People Who Mattered" in 2010, and as one of the 100 Most Influential People (Time 100) in 2011. Dr. Rossi co-founded Moderna Therapeutics and Intellia Therapeutics.

On May 9, 2016 Fate Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ: FATE), a biopharmaceutical company dedicated to the development of programmed cellular immunotherapies for cancer and immune disorders, reported business highlights and financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2016 (Filing, Q1, Fate Therapeutics, 2016, MAY 9, 2016, View Source [SID:1234512415]).

"We are gratified by the strong interest and the collaborative involvement with ProTmune that we have received from the allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplant community during this launch stage of our Phase 1/2 clinical trial. The level of community engagement underscores that GvHD remains a significant cause of morbidity and mortality in transplant recipients," said Scott Wolchko, President and Chief Executive Officer of Fate Therapeutics. "Our ex vivo immune cell programming approach to prevent GvHD is novel and highly differentiated and avoids costly and cumbersome processes such as the depletion or genetic engineering of donor T cells. As we move ahead in 2016 with ProTmune, we look forward to enrolling the Phase 1 stage of the study with immune cells from matched unrelated donors and to sharing safety and efficacy data."

Recent Highlights & Program Updates

· ProTmune Phase 1/2 Clinical Trial to Commence Enrollment in mid-2016. In January 2016, Fate Therapeutics announced that its Investigational New Drug (IND) application for ProTmune (FT1050-FT4145 programmed mobilized peripheral blood (mPB) cells) was cleared by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The Company is poised to begin subject enrollment in a multi-center, randomized, controlled study that is designed to evaluate safety and the potential of ProTmune to prevent acute graft-versus-host disease (GvHD) and cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection, both of which are leading causes of morbidity and mortality in patients undergoing allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT). There are currently no approved therapies for the prevention of GvHD or CMV infection in patients undergoing allogeneic HCT, giving rise to a significant unmet medical need.

· Cancer-Fighting Properties of ProTmune Presented at 2016 BMT Tandem Meetings. In February 2016, Fate Therapeutics presented preclinical data at the BMT Tandem Meetings in Honolulu, Hawaii demonstrating that FT1050-FT4145 programmed T cells retain anti-tumor, or graft-versus-leukemia (GvL), activity in vivo. GvL activity of T cells is critical to eradicating residual cancer and realizing the curative potential of allogeneic HCT. These data complement previously presented preclinical data demonstrating that the adoptive transfer of FT1050-FT4145 programmed mPB cells results in a statistically-significant reduction in GvHD score and improvement in survival in a murine model of allogeneic HCT.

· NK Cell Cancer Immunotherapy Program to be Highlighted at Innate Killer Summit 2016. Dr. Jeffrey Miller, M.D., Professor of Medicine and Deputy Director, University of Minnesota Cancer Center, plans to provide an overview of the Company’s NK cell cancer immunotherapy program at the Innate Killer Summit 2016 in San Diego, California from May 16-17, 2016. Fate Therapeutics is currently advancing through clinical translation a small molecule (FT1238) programmed NK cell therapy, which is comprised of highly-specialized "adaptive" NK cells that exhibit persistence and direct anti-tumor and antibody-dependent cell-mediated cytotoxicity as compared to other NK cell populations.

Schedule your 30 min Free 1stOncology Demo!
Discover why more than 1,500 members use 1stOncology™ to excel in:

Early/Late Stage Pipeline Development - Target Scouting - Clinical Biomarkers - Indication Selection & Expansion - BD&L Contacts - Conference Reports - Combinatorial Drug Settings - Companion Diagnostics - Drug Repositioning - First-in-class Analysis - Competitive Analysis - Deals & Licensing

                  Schedule Your 30 min Free Demo!

· CD34+ Immuno-Regulatory Cell Therapy Program to be Presented at ADA’s Scientific Sessions. Fate Therapeutics plans to present an abstract from its pharmacologically-modulated CD34+ cell therapy program at the American Diabetes Association’s 76th Scientific Sessions in New Orleans, Louisiana from June 10-14, 2016. The Company has previously shown in preclinical studies that programmed CD34+ cells have immuno-regulatory properties with the potential to traffic to sites of T-cell proliferation and express powerful immunosuppressive factors, including PD-L1.

First Quarter 2016 Financial Results

· Cash & Short-term Investment Position: Cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments as of March 31, 2016 were $55.6 million compared to $64.8 million as of December 31, 2015. The decrease is primarily driven by the Company’s use of cash to fund operating activities and to service principal and interest obligations under its loan agreement with Silicon Valley Bank.

· Total Revenue: Revenue was $1.3 million for the first quarter of 2016. All revenue was derived from the Company’s research collaboration and license agreement with Juno Therapeutics.

· Total Operating Expenses: Total operating expenses were $9.2 million for the first quarter of 2016 compared to $7.3 million for the comparable period in 2015. Operating expenses for the first quarter of 2016 include $0.8 million of stock compensation expense, compared to $0.6 million for the first quarter of 2015.

· R&D Expenses: Research and development expenses were $6.6 million for the first quarter of 2016 compared to $4.6 million for the comparable period in 2015. The increase in R&D expenses is primarily related to the conduct of the Company’s collaboration with Juno, including the hiring of additional employees and the purchase of equipment and materials, and the conduct of preclinical development activities under its sponsored research agreements with the University of Minnesota and Boston Children’s Hospital.

· G&A Expenses: General and administrative expenses were $2.6 million for the first quarter of 2016 compared to $2.8 million for the comparable period in 2015. The decrease in G&A expenses is primarily related to a decrease in corporation stock registration fees.

· Common Shares Outstanding: Common shares outstanding as of March 31, 2016 were 28.9 million compared to 28.7 million as of December 31, 2015. Common shares outstanding increased primarily as a result of the issuance of shares under the Company’s equity incentive plan.