Sales and Marketing Expense. Sales and marketing expenses for the six months ended June 30, 2020 decreased by $0.1 million or 4%, to $2.3 million, compared to $2.4 million for the same period in 2019. The decrease is primarily due a reduction in payroll related expenses of $0.1 million, a reduction in stock based compensation expenses of $0.2 million and a reduction in travel and entertainment expenses of $0.1 million, due to a temporary reduction of personnel caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. This was offset by an increase in consulting expenses of $0.1 million and an increase in advertising and marketing costs of $0.1 million. The increases in consulting and advertising and marketing are primarily attributable to spend during the first quarter of 2020 prior to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
General and Administrative Expense. General and administrative expenses were $5.3 million for the six months ended June 30, 2020 as compared to $9.8 million for the same period in 2019, a decrease of $4.5 million, or 45%. The decrease is primarily due to decreases in audit, consulting and other professional service provider expense of $2.2 million, legal fees of $1.4 million and stock based compensation expense of $1.0 million, offset by an increase in bad debt expense of approximately $0.1 million.
Research and Development Expense. Research and development expenses were $1.8 million for the six months ended June 30, 2020 as compared to $2.0 million for the same period in 2019. The $0.2 million, or 13%, decrease is due to a slowdown of the clinical trials for the ReShape Vest due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Impairment of Intangible Assets. There was no impairment charge recorded during the six months ended June 30, 2020. During the six months ended June 30, 2019, we recorded an impairment charge of $6.6 million on the indefinite-lived intangible asset recorded in connection with our acquisition of BarioSurg, Inc. (“BarioSurg”) in May 2017. We also assessed the recoverability of finite-lived intangible assets during the second quarter of 2019 and did not identify any impairment as a result the performance of this analysis.
Warrant Expense. There was no warrant expense for the six months ended June 30, 2020. Warrant expense for the six months ended June 30, 2019 includes noncash expense of $8.3 million for the value of variable price features included with the warrants and common stock issued in connection with our equity financing completed in June 2019 in excess of the proceeds received. This noncash expense was reduced by $4.2 million for the decrease in fair value of the warrant liability between the issuance date and June 30, 2019. In addition, during the six months ended June 30, 2019, we recorded warrant expense of $0.1 million for the change in fair value of certain warrants held by certain institutional investors for which the exercise price was reduced in connection with the sale of convertible subordinated debentures to those investors.
Net Interest Expense. Net interest expense for the six months ended June 30, 2020 was $1.0 million compared to $0.3 million for the same period in 2019. The primary reason for the increase is $0.8 million of amortization of deferred issuance cost recorded as interest expense, slightly offset by the interest expense related to the subordinated debentures in 2019.
Loss on Foreign Currency Exchange. Loss on foreign currency exchange for the six months ended June 30, 2020 was $10 thousand, as the gains recognized during the second quarter of 2020 offset the losses recognized during the first quarter of 2020. There was neither a gain nor a loss for the same period in 2019.
Other, net. There were no other expenses for the six months ended June 30, 2020. Other, net expenses of $0.6 million for the six months ended June 30, 2019 primarily relates to transaction costs required to be expensed as a result of the liability treatment for the warrants issued in connection with our June 2019 equity financing.
Income Tax Benefit. An income tax benefit of $68 thousand was recorded for the three months ended June 30, 2020, primarily related to expected losses in Australia. There was an income tax benefit of $0.6 million for the same period in 2019.
Liquidity and Capital Resources
As of June 30, 2020, we had $1.5 million of cash and cash equivalents to fund operations. We have financed our operations to date principally through the sale of equity securities and debt financing. Our anticipated operations include plans to (i) continue to integrate the sales and operations of the Company with the newly acquired Lap-Band product