Brian D. Gibson - Principal Financial Officer, Chief Accounting Officer, Vice President of Finance, Corporate Secretary and Treasurer Dominick C. Colangelo - Chief Executive Officer, President and Director

Good day, ladies and gentlemen, and thank you for standing by, and welcome to the Aastrom Biosciences Second Quarter 2013 Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] I would also like to remind you that today's call is being recorded for replay. I would now like to turn the call over to -- the floor over to Brian Gibson, Aastrom's Vice President of Finance. Sir, the floor is yours.

Great, thank you, Huey, and good afternoon, everyone. Welcome to our Second Quarter 2013 Conference Call to discuss our most recent financial results and the progress of our development programs. Before we begin, let me remind you that on today’s call, we will be making forward-looking statements covered under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, and all our projections and forward-looking statements represent our judgment as of today. These statements may involve risks and uncertainties that are described more fully in our filings with the SEC, which are also available on our website. In addition, any forward-looking statements represent our views only as of today and should not be relied upon as representing our views as of any subsequent date. With us on today's call is Aastrom's President and Chief Executive Officer, Nick Colangelo; and because we're in the midst of finalizing our public offering, which closes tomorrow, we will not be holding a question-and-answer session on today's call. I will now turn the call over to Nick.

Thank you, Brian, and good afternoon, everyone. I'd like to begin today by providing some perspectives on Aastrom's technology platform and the current development strategy for our lead product candidate, ixmyelocel-T, to highlight our progress with some of the important changes that we've instituted in recent months. At Aastrom, we're working everyday to help people with severe chronic cardiovascular diseases realize the promise of cellular therapy. We've developed an innovative technology platform that generates patient-specific multicellular therapies using a highly automated GMP manufacturing process. This platform is unique in the industry and has demonstrated the capability to expand multiple cell populations for therapeutic use, including bone marrow mononuclear cells, hematopoietic stem cells from cord blood or bone marrow, dendritic cells and T cells, all of which have the potential to play a critical role in the treatment of serious diseases. Our lead product candidate, ixmyelocel-T, is a highly differentiated multicellular therapy. It's the only cell therapy that contains expanded populations in both mesenchymal stromal cells and alternative reactivated M2 like macrophages, 2 cell populations that are known to play a key role, both individually and collectively, in promoting tissue repair and regeneration. In our preclinical and clinical research, we've generated consistent positive data in multiple preclinical models and across a number of clinical indications, demonstrating that ixmyelocel-T is well tolerated and efficacious in treating cardiovascular and other diseases. Aastrom's technology in therapeutic platforms also are covered by a comprehensive patent estate comprised of multiple U.S. and international patents, including a composition of matter patent that protects ixmyelocel-T through 2029. Our clinical development focus is on the treatment of severe chronic cardiovascular diseases, and we have several clinical development activities under way and expect to have a number of clinical milestones to announce over the next year. Our current clinical development…

Thanks, Nick. I'll begin with the review our quarterly financial results. For the second quarter ended June 30, 2013, Aastrom had an net loss attributable to common shareholders of $4.9 million or $0.11 per share versus $11.7 million or $0.26 per share for the same period in 2012. The substantial decrease in net loss is due to reductions in all areas, with research and development costs decreasing by 48%, general and administrative expenses decreasing by 30%, as well as noncash changes in the fair value our warrants and accretion of our preferred stock. Our loss from operations for the quarter, which excludes the impact of the warrants and preferred stock, was $5.2 million or $0.11 per share compared to $9.3 million or $0.24 per share a year ago. R&D expenses for the quarter ended June 30, 2013, were $3.7 million versus $7.1 million for the same period a year ago. The decrease in R&D expense is primarily attributable to the reduction of clinical trial expenses, due to stopping enrollment in the REVIVE-CLI clinical trial and the execution of a corporate restructuring that substantially reduced headcount and operating expenses. General and administrative expenses for the second quarter were $1.6 million versus $2.2 million for the same period in 2012. This decrease is primarily attributable to the corporate restructuring. At the end of the quarter, Aastrom had $4.5 million in cash and cash equivalents compared to $9.2 million at the end of the first quarter. Our cash use for operations of $4.7 million during the quarter was in line with our previous forecast of $4.5 million to $5 million. We expect our cash spend to continue to decline in the third quarter, decreasing to $4 million to $4.5 million. Moving to the public offering that we priced on Tuesday morning. We are…

Thanks, Brian. As you can see, we're continuing to make good progress with the clinical development of ixmyelocel-T for the treatment of advanced heart failure due to ischemic DCM. We're also making important progress in research, targeting additional potential indications where ixmyelocel-T may have meaningful therapeutic benefits. The Phase IIb ixCELL-DCM study is proceeding well with the support of our DCM Steering Committee, several new clinical sites now preparing to begin enrollment and our planned expansion into Canada. Positive results from this study will enable us to prepare for Phase III studies in the treatment of advanced heart failure due to ischemic DCM, and we'll also be well positioned to continue to pursue other potential indications for ixmyelocel-T moving forward. With a number of upcoming clinical milestones, promising preclinical programs underway and continued enhancement of our IP estate, we believe that we're well positioned to drive significant value for the company over the coming year. As Brian described, we've completed an essential step to address our current capital requirements and now are in a stronger financial position to continue to advance our ongoing clinical and preclinical programs, and address our capital structure and NASDAQ listing requirements. We appreciate the continued support of our investors as we work to complete these initiatives and advance our company, and I thank you for joining us today. We remain excited about the opportunities ahead for Aastrom and look forward to updating you on our next call. That concludes our call for this afternoon.

Thank you, gentlemen and thank you, participants. This does conclude today's call. Thank you for your participation and have a wonderful day. Attendees, you may now all disconnect at this time.