pipeline, as well as increased personnel-related costs resulting from an increase in employee headcount, which includes the impact ofnon-cash stock-based compensation.
General and administrative expenses were $8.3 million for the first quarter of 2020 as compared to $5.3 million for the comparable period in 2019. This increase was primarily due to an increase in employee headcount, expenses associated with being a publicly traded company, and the impact ofnon-cash stock-based compensation.
As of March 31, 2020, AVROBIO had $257.7 million in cash and cash equivalents, as compared to $187.0 million in cash and cash equivalents as of December 31, 2019. The cash balance as of March 31, 2020 reflects the receipt of net proceeds of $93.6 million from the company’s February 2020follow-on stock offering. Following a diligent review of current and outer year operating and capital expense projections, AVROBIO has extended its cash runway. While AVROBIO initially expected its cash and cash equivalents to be sufficient to fund the company’s operating expenses and capital expenditure requirements into the second quarter of 2022, AVROBIO now expects its cash and cash equivalents will enable the company to fund its operating expenses and capital expenditure requirements into the second half of 2022.
About AVROBIO
Our mission is to free people from a lifetime of genetic disease with a single dose of gene therapy. We aim to halt or reverse disease throughout the body by driving durable expression of functional protein, even inhard-to-reach tissues and organs including the brain, muscle and bone. Our clinical-stage programs include Fabry disease, Gaucher disease and cystinosis and we also are advancing a program in Pompe disease.AVROBIO is powered by the plato™ gene therapy platform, our foundation designed to scale gene therapy worldwide. We are headquartered in Cambridge, Mass., with an office in Toronto, Ontario. For additional information, visitavrobio.com, and follow us onTwitter andLinkedIn.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements, including statements made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements may be identified by words and phrases such as “aims,” “anticipates,” “believes,” “could,” “designed to,” “estimates,” “expects,” “forecasts,” “goal,” “intends,” “may,” “plans,” “possible,” “potential,” “seeks,” “will,” and variations of these words and phrases or similar expressions that are intended to identify forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements include, without limitation, statements regarding our business strategy for and the potential therapeutic benefits of our prospective product candidates, the design, commencement, enrollment and timing of ongoing or planned clinical trials, clinical trial results, product approvals and regulatory pathways, anticipated benefits of our gene therapy platform including potential impact on our commercialization activities, timing and likelihood of success,