Operating Expenses
Selling, General and Administrative Expenses
Selling, general and administrative expenses (“SG&A”) consist primarily of costs related to our employees, independent contractors and consultants. Other significant general and administrative expenses include accounting and legal services and expenses associated with obtaining and maintaining patents as well as marketing and advertising services and expenses associated with establishing our brand and developing our website, marketing materials and call center.
For the three months ended March 31, 2022 and 2021, we incurred $2,142,224 and $380,002, respectively, of SG&A and stock-based compensation expenses. We attribute the increase of $1,762,222 primarily to the increase in costs required to be a public company as well as a greater level of business activities being conducted in the three months ended March 31, 2022 as compared to the same period in 2021. Public company costs include: audit and legal fees; costs required to establish investor relations, financial reporting and public relations functions; increased insurance costs; public company filing and registration fees and related costs. These public company costs drove an increase in SG&A of approximately $730,000 in the first quarter of 2022 as compared to the first quarter of 2021. The balance of the increase was primarily due to stock-based compensation expense of approximately $670,000 and increased rent and personnel costs of approximately $150,000.
Research and Development Expenses
Since our inception, we have focused our resources on our research and development activities. We expense research and development costs as they are incurred. Our research and development expenses primarily consist of outsourced engineering, product development and manufacturing design costs. For the three months ended March 31, 2022 and 2021, we incurred $531,483 and $1,589,690, respectively, in research and development costs. Research and development expenses decreased by $1,058,207 for the three months ended March 31, 2022 as compared to the prior year period. Research and development activities were higher in the first quarter of 2021 as compared to the current quarter due to product development, engineering, testing and regulatory costs incurred to prepare our Pūrgo device for launch in July 2021.
Net Losses
Our net losses were $2,577,964 and $1,969,692 for the three months ended March 31, 2022 and 2021, respectively. Losses increased in the first quarter of 2022 as compared to the first quarter of 2021 for the reasons set forth above.
Liquidity and Capital Resources
Sources of Liquidity
As of March 31, 2022, we had cash of $17,774,097 compared to cash of $19,629,649 as of December 31, 2021. On November 29, 2021, we completed our initial public offering (“IPO”) of 2,514,000 shares of our common stock, which included the partial exercise of the underwriters’ overallotment option, at a public offering price of $10.00 per share for aggregate gross proceeds of $25,140,000 and net proceeds of approximately $21,640,000, after deducting underwriting fees and closing costs of approximately $3,500,000.
Prior to our IPO, AeroClean Technologies, LLC, our predecessor, funded its operations principally with approximately $15,000,000 in gross proceeds from the sale of Class A units. As of March 31, 2022, we had an accumulated deficit of $4,325,824. The Company’s net cash used in operating activities was $1,827,477 for the three months ended March 31, 2022 as compared to $1,722,012 used in operating activities for the prior year period.
We have incurred operating losses since our inception. While the Company began producing and selling its Pūrgo device in July 2021, these losses are expected to continue through at least the end of 2022 as we continue to make significant investments to develop and market our products and to establish our consumables and service business.