OREANDA-NEWS. uniQure N.V., a leader in human gene therapy, today announced financial results for the first quarter ending March 31, 2016, and provided a corporate update.

"We are very pleased with our progress so far in 2016 as we continue to advance our clinical and preclinical programs and build out our gene therapy platform," commented Daniel Soland, Chief Executive Officer of uniQure. "We achieved two important milestones related to our hemophilia B gene therapy AMT-060: announcing our first clinical data from the study's low-dose cohort and completing the dosing of all 10 patients in the study, including the high-dose cohort. Additionally, we presented and published data from several preclinical studies, including proof-of-concept data for AMT-130 in Huntington's disease and several new technologies designed to optimize gene therapy and expand its applicability to patients across the world. We look forward to presenting additional data on AMT-060 at EHA in June and remain on track to present new data from our high-dose cohort before the end of the year."

As of March 31, 2016, the Company held cash and cash equivalents of €184.6 million, compared with of €203.5 million, as of December 31, 2015, a decrease of €18.9 million. The decrease includes €16.0 million of cash used in operating, investing and financing activities during the three months ended March 31, 2016, in addition to a €2.9 million loss related to foreign currency effects on U.S. dollar-denominated deposits.

Licensing and collaboration revenues for the three months ended March 31, 2016 were €3.9 million, compared with €1.1 million for the comparable period in 2015. The change was primarily due to the amortization of upfront payments and target designation fees received from BMS in the second and third quarters of 2015, and the increase of research activities associated with S100A1 for heart failure, which are fully reimbursed by BMS in accordance with our collaboration agreement.

Research and development expenses were €15.1 million for the three months ended March 31, 2016, compared with €10.1 million for the comparable period in 2015. The increase is mainly due to the initiation of our Phase I/II clinical study of AMT-060 in hemophilia B, an increase in activities in support of our collaboration agreement with BMS, which closed in May 2015, and the continued progression of our various research programs, including our collaboration with 4D and preclinical product candidates for hemophilia A and Huntington's disease.

Selling, general and administrative expenses were €6.6 million for the three months ended March 31, 2016, compared with €4.2 million for the comparable period in 2015.  The change primarily related to increases in the numbers of employees, contractors and consultants, as well as increases in professional fees and expenses associated with the Glybera global registry and Phase IV study, which are currently classified as selling, general and administrative expenses, but were previously capitalized in the same period in 2015, prior to the commencement of Glybera commercialization.

The net loss for the first quarter 2016 was €20.6 million, or €0.83 per share, compared with €12.6 million, or €0.69 per share, for the first three months of 2015.