On May 10, 2016 ProNAi Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ: DNAI), a clinical-stage oncology company advancing novel therapeutics for patients with cancer and hematological diseases, reported its financial and operational results for the first quarter of 2016 (Press release, ProNAi Therapeutics, MAY 10, 2016, View Source [SID:1234512182]).

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"During the first quarter, we continued to advance our lead cancer drug, PNT2258, in two Phase 2 trials, Wolverine and Brighton, and we remain on track to report interim data from the Wolverine trial in third-line diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) in June 2016," said Dr. Nick Glover, President and CEO of ProNAi Therapeutics. "In addition, we continued to evaluate novel drug candidates for potential licensing or acquisition, with the vision of establishing a broad and diversified pipeline under our development. Supporting this vision, in the first quarter we further strengthened ProNAi’s core infrastructure by adding two industry veterans to our Board of Directors, Mr. Jeffrey H. Cooper and Mr. Tran Nguyen, and by opening an office in the San Francisco area where our world-class clinical development team resides led by Dr. Barbara Klencke."

First Quarter 2016 Financial Results (all amounts reported in U.S. currency)
Total operating expenses for the three months ended March 31, 2016 were $10.6 million compared to $6.7 million for the three months ended March 31, 2015. Total operating expenses included non-cash stock based compensation of $1.4 million and $0.2 million for the three months ended March 31, 2016 and 2015, respectively.

Research and development expenses increased to $6.6 million for the three months ended March 31, 2016 from $5.3 million for the three months ended March 31, 2015. These increases were primarily due to expenses related to the continuation of our PNT2258 clinical trials and an increase in personnel-related costs. These increased costs were partially offset by a decrease in third-party manufacturing costs for PNT2258.

General and administrative expenses increased to $4.0 million for the three months ended March 31, 2016 from $1.4 million for the three months ended March 31, 2015. These increases were primarily due to increased personnel-related costs and professional fees incurred in support of activities as a public company and corporate growth, and costs pertaining to business development activities.

For the three months ended March 31, 2016, ProNAi incurred a net loss of $10.5 million compared to a net loss of $8.0 million for the three months ended March 31, 2015. The net loss included a non-cash charge related to the change in fair value of preferred stock warrants of $1.3 million for the three months ended March 31, 2015.

At March 31, 2016, ProNAi had $140.9 million in cash and cash equivalents compared to $150.2 million in cash and cash equivalents at December 31, 2015.

At March 31, 2016, there were 30,174,778 shares of common stock issued and outstanding and stock options to purchase 4,153,460 shares of common stock issued and outstanding.