Investing Activities
Net cash used in investing activities was approximately $456,000 and $10,149,000 in the nine months ended September 30, 2023 and 2022, respectively. The cash used in investing activities for the nine months ended September 30, 2023 consisted of net purchases of short maturity US Treasury Bills from the proceeds of the February Offering, and the cash used in investing activities in the nine months ended September 30, 2022 consisted consisted of net purchases of short maturity US Treasury Bills from the proceeds of the August Offering and payments of remaining amounts due under our license agreement with Skinvisible, see “Research and Development Commitments” below.
Financing Activities
Net cash provided by financing activities was approximately $5,399,000 for the nine months ended September 30, 2023. The net cash provided increased due to the receipt of approximately $5,849,000 in net proceeds from the February Offering partially offset by repayments of amounts due to officers of $450,000. Net cash provided by financing activities in the nine months ended September 30, 2022 was $14,545,000, representing net proceeds of $14.9 million from the August 2022 Offering, offset by repayments of amounts due to officers of $450,000.
Research and Development Commitments
In October 2019, Quoin Inc. entered into the Exclusive Licensing Agreement (as amended from time to time, the “License Agreement”) with Skinvisible Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (“Skinvisible”), under which Skinvisible granted us an exclusive royalty-bearing license relating to the production and manufacture of prescription drug products related to certain patents held by Skinvisible, including those related to QRX003 and QRX004. We made Skinvisible a one-time non-refundable, non-creditable license fee of $1 million (the “License Fee”). In addition, we agreed to pay Skinvisible a single digit royalty percentage of our net sales revenues for any licensed product covered by the patent rights licensed under the License Agreement. We also agreed to pay Skinvisible 25% of any revenues we receive as royalties in the event that we sublicense any licensed products to a third party. The License Agreement also requires that we make a $5 million payment to Skinvisible upon receiving approval in the U.S. or European Union, whichever occurs first, for the first drug product developed using intellectual property licensed thereunder.
In November 2020, Quoin Inc. entered into a Master Service Agreement for an initial term of three years with Therapeutics Inc. for managing preclinical and clinical development for new products in the field of dermatology. The agreement required the execution of individual work orders. Quoin Inc. may terminate any work order for any reason with 90 days written notice subject to costs incurred through termination and a defined termination fee, unless there is a material breach by Therapeutics Inc. A work order was entered into in June 2022 for the first QRX003 clinical study at an expected estimated cost of approximately $4.4 million through 2024. A further work order was entered into in December 2022 for the second QRX003 clinical study at an expected estimated cost of approximately $830,000 through 2024. For the three and nine months ended September 30, 2023 and 2022, we incurred a research and development expense under these agreements of approximately $155,000 and $1,113,000, and $423,000 and $904,000, respectively. During the three months ended September 30, 2023, we received a credit of approximately $278,000 applied to prior expenses incurred during the period of March 2023 to July 2023.
In November 2021, we entered into a commitment with Queensland University of Technology for research related services associated with Netherton Syndrome of approximately $250,000 for an initial expected period of eighteen months. In May 2022, we entered into a commitment with Queensland University of Technology for research related services associated with Scleroderma of approximately $610,000 for an initial expected period of eighteen months. For the three and nine months ended September 30, 2023 and 2022, we incurred research and development costs related to these agreements of approximately $85,000 and $361,000, and $173,000 and $250,000, respectively.
Critical Accounting Policies and Use of Estimates
There have been no material changes to our critical accounting policies and estimates from the information provided in Item 7, “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations,” included in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2022.