On May 7, 2018 Lipocine Inc. (NASDAQ: LPCN), a specialty pharmaceutical company, reported financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2018 (Press release, Lipocine, MAY 7, 2018, View Source [SID1234526168]).

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First Quarter and Recent Corporate Highlights

The Company received $10 million through a Loan and Security Agreement with Silicon Valley Bank ("SVB Loan").
·The Bone, Reproductive and Urologic Drugs Advisory Committee ("BRUDAC") of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration ("FDA") met to discuss the New Drug Application ("NDA") for TLANDO, Lipocine’s oral testosterone product candidate for the proposed indication of testosterone replacement therapy in adult males for conditions associated with a deficiency of endogenous testosterone, also known as hypogonadism.
BRUDAC voted six in favor and thirteen against the acceptability of the overall benefit/risk profile to support approval of TLANDO as a testosterone replacement therapy ("TRT").
·The Company and the other defendants entered into a memorandum of understanding to settle the purported securities class action litigation captioned In re Lipocine Inc. Securities Litigation.
·The Company initiated a phlebotomy clinical study under the TLANDO investigational new drug ("IND") Application to confirm no ex-vivo conversion of testosterone undecanoate to testosterone.
·The Company submitted a draft protocol for an ambulatory blood pressure monitoring ("ABPM") clinical study to the FDA for review under the TLANDO IND.
The FDA’s assigned Prescription Drug User Fee Act ("PDUFA") goal date for the TLANDO NDA is May 8, 2018.

"We look forward to learning the FDA outcome on our PDUFA goal date for TLANDO. We continue to believe that as an oral drug TLANDO offers significant benefits to patients compared to topical gels and injections. These benefits include overcoming the inadvertent testosterone transference risk to children and partners that exist with topical gels," said Dr. Mahesh Patel, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of Lipocine.

First Quarter 2018 Financial Results

Lipocine reported a net loss of $2.7 million, or ($0.13) per diluted share, for the quarter ended March 31, 2018, compared with a net loss of $4.9 million, or ($0.26) per diluted share, in the quarter ended March 31, 2017.

License revenues were $428,000 during the three months ended March 31, 2018, compared to no revenue being received during the three months ended March 31, 2017. License revenue relates to royalty payments received from Spriaso, LLC under a licensing agreement for the cough and cold field.

Research and development expenses were $1.4 million in the quarter ended March 31, 2018, compared with $3.1 million in the quarter ended March 31, 2017. The decrease in research and development expenses was primarily due to reduced contract research organization costs for TLANDO and lower personnel costs offset by increased outside service costs primarily related to the TLANDO BRUDAC meeting in January 2018 and increased contract manufacturing costs for LPCN 1107.

General and administrative expenses were $1.7 million in the quarter ended March 31, 2018, compared with $1.8 million in the quarter ended March 31, 2017. The decrease in general and administrative expenses was primarily due to decreased personnel costs and overhead costs offset by increased professional fees related to legal, intellectual property and commercial activities.

As of March 31, 2018, the Company had cash, cash equivalents, and marketable securities of $27.8 million, compared to cash, cash equivalents, and marketable securities of $21.5 million at December 31, 2017. In the event TLANDO is not approved by the FDA on or prior to May 31, 2018, the SVB loan requires $5.0 million of cash to be restricted and held as cash collateral until such time as TLANDO is approved by the FDA.