Cancer treatment focused Theralase Technologies Inc (CVE:TLT, OTCMKTS:TLTFF) continues its bid to transition to a clinical firm from a pre-clinical one, it said in its 2016 results.
Theralase's pipeline includes numerous highly effective drug candidates, in various advanced stages of preclinical development.
The firm is a specialist in photo dynamic therapy (PDT) treatment and is currently carrying out a Phase Ib non-muscle invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC) clinical study to evaluate its lead cancer compound TLD-1433.
Chief executive Roger Dumoulin-White told investors: "The company looks forward to successfully reporting out on the first three patients treated in the phase Ib clinical study for NMIBC in late May, 2017.
Aimimng to derisk the technology...
"If successful, this will allow the company to significantly de-risk its PDT technology and increase shareholder value by successfully transforming from a preclinical to a clinical organization in the field of oncology."
Last year saw an increase in marketing expenses to $1.6mln, or 84% of sales, compared with $1.086mln, or 56% of sales, in 2015 - mainly due to increased spending on marketing and sales personnel, Theralase said.
"Selling expenses are expected to continue to increase in future quarters, as the company expands in Canada, the U.S. and international markets," it added.
As revenues increase, selling and marketing expenses should decrease as a percentage of revenue, it said.
The net loss, in keeping with a company at this formative stage, for 2016 was around $4.91mln, which included $613,521 of net non-cash expenses, down from a net loss in 2015 of $5.2mln.