On March 7, 2019 Cleveland BioLabs, Inc. (NASDAQ:CBLI) reported financial results and development progress for the fourth quarter and year ended December 31, 2018 (Press release, Cleveland BioLabs, MAR 7, 2019, View Source [SID1234534060]).
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Cleveland BioLabs reported a net loss of $(0.4) million, excluding minority interests, for the fourth quarter of 2018, or $(0.04) per share, compared to a net loss, excluding minority interests, of $(1.2) million, or $(0.10) per share, for the same period in 2017. Net loss, excluding minority interests, for full year 2018 was $(3.6) million, or $(0.32) per share, compared to a net loss of $(9.7) million, or $(0.87) per share, for full year 2017. The decrease in net loss for 2018 was primarily due to a decrease in the non-cash adjustment to our warrant liabilities, reduced operating costs in performance of the Joint Warfighter Medical Research Program contract for the Department of Defense as we awaited the completion of the bioequivalence study comparing the historical drug formulation used in prior preclinical and clinical studies with the to-be-marketed drug product lots, which results were delayed in 2018, and a reduction in EMEA activities, as a result of the withdrawal of our application before the European Medicines Agency, partially offset by increased expenses related to oncology applications of the entolimod family of compounds and an increase in General and Administrative costs related to the corporate formation of Genome Protection, Inc. (GPI), our joint venture with Everon Biosciences, Inc. focused on developing anti-aging medications.
As of December 31, 2018, the Company had $4.1 million in cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments, which, based on the Company’s current operational plan, is expected to fund operations into December of 2019.
Yakov Kogan, Ph.D., MBA, Chief Executive Officer, stated, "The development, pursuit of regulatory approval and commercialization for entolimod as a medical radiation countermeasure remains our top priority."
"We recently completed an in vivo bio-comparability study in non-human primates (NHP) between the drug formulation used in previously conducted preclinical and clinical studies and the entolimod drug formulation proposed for commercialization under the pre-Emergency Use Authorization or pre-EUA application with the US Food and Drug Administration," added Dr. Kogan. "While the NHP study was ongoing, the FDA proceeded with further review of the entolimod chemistry, manufacturing, and controls (CMC) information in our pre-EUA dossier and recently the FDA provided us with comments and questions on various aspects of entolimod CMC. Per FDA recommendation, the Company has now requested a meeting to brief the FDA on the results of the NHP bio-comparability data and is preparing responses to the FDA comments on entolimod CMC. We expect that after review and discussion of the bio-comparability data and the CMC information, the FDA will proceed with review of additional components of the pre-EUA dossier."
Further Financial Results
Revenue for the fourth quarter of 2018 decreased to $0.2 million compared to $0.9 million for the fourth quarter of 2017. Revenue for full year 2018 was $1.1 million compared to $1.9 million for full year 2017. The net decrease was primarily attributable to decreased revenue from our Joint Warfighter Medical Research Program contract from the Department of Defense for the continued development of the entolimod as a medical radiation countermeasure.
Research and development costs for the fourth quarter of 2018 decreased to $0.5 million compared to $1.5 million for the fourth quarter of 2017. Research and development costs for the full year 2018 decreased to $3.6 million compared to $5.0 million for the full year 2017. The reduction in research and development costs is due to a $1.9 million reduction in spending for biodefense applications of entolimod, partially offset by a $0.6 million increase in spending related to the oncology applications of the entolimod family of compounds.
General and administrative costs for the fourth quarter of 2018 decreased to $0.3 million compared to $0.6 million for the fourth quarter of 2017. General and administrative costs for the full year 2018 decreased to $2.3 million compared to $2.5 million for full year 2017. This decrease was primarily attributable to reductions in personnel and outside professional costs as well as a reduction in other operating expenses due to a decrease in property tax expense.