DURECT Corporation (NASDAQ:DRRX) Q4 2023 Earnings Call Transcript March 27, 2024 4:30 PM ET
Company Participants
Tim Papp - CFO
Jim Brown - CEO
Norman Sussman - CMO
Keith Lui - SVP, Business Development, Commercial, Medical Affairs
Conference Call Participants
Francois Brisebois - Oppenheimer & Co.
Carl Byrnes - Northland Capital Markets
Thomas Yip - H.C. Wainwright
Operator
Greetings and welcome to the DURECT Corporation Full Quarter and Full Year Earnings Conference Call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. A brief question-and-answer session will follow the formal presentation. [Operator Instructions] As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. It is now my pleasure to introduce your host, Tim Papp, Chief Financial Officer. Thank you, Tim. You may begin.
Tim Papp
Good afternoon and welcome to DURECT Corporation’s fourth quarter 2023 earnings conference call. This is Tim Papp, Chief Financial Officer, of DURECT.
Before we begin, I would like to remind you of our safe harbor statement. During the course of this call, we may make forward-looking statements regarding DURECT’s products and development, expected product benefits, our development plans, future clinical trials, or projected financial results. These forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that can cause actual results to differ materially from those in such forward-looking statements. Further information regarding these and other risks can be found in our SEC filings, including our 10-K and 10-Qs, under the heading Risk Factors.
To begin, I would like to review our fourth quarter and full year 2023 financial results. Total revenues in 2023 were $8.5 million compared to $19.3 million in 2022. 2023 revenues were lower primarily because 2022 revenues included $10 million of milestone payments related to our POSIMIR agreement with Innocoll. For the fourth quarter of 2023, revenues were $2.7 million compared to $3.3 million for the prior year. This decrease is due to lower revenue from collaborations in 2023. R&D expense was $29.4 million in 2023, as compared to $36.9 million for the prior year and $5.6 million for the fourth quarter, compared with $10 million for the prior year. The decreases were primarily due to lower clinical trial-related expenses as we substantially completed the AHFIRM trial, lower contract manufacturing expenses, and lower employee-related costs.
SG&A expenses were $14.4 million in 2023 as compared to $15.9 million for the prior year and $2.7 million for the fourth quarter compared with $4.3 million for the prior year. These decreases were primarily due to lower patent expenses as well as lower employee expenses. As of December 31, 2023, we had cash and investments of $29.8 million as compared to $43.6 million at December 31, 2022, and our cash burn for 2023 was $38.1 million, excluding net proceeds from financings. We believe our cash on hand is sufficient to fund operations through the end of 2024.