Thank you. Hello, everybody, welcome to this call with the purpose of presenting the interim report for the second quarter of 2020, and give a little bit an overview of the highlights during the quarter. Of course, as for everybody, this quarter has been impacted for us by the ongoing COVID pandemic. We took early, appropriate measures, I would be saying, in order to limit the contamination amongst our staff, still being able to keep the operations up and running at the pace we needed to push forward the development of our different biosimilar candidates. Essentially, all the people that are working in the lab have been working at the office, while as we've been trying to have as many of the office workers or the people working from desk, let's say, to work from home.
I think this has been working out pretty well for us, and I'm actually pretty amazed how much you can accomplish in a digital manner. I think this has been a great discovery for us, as probably for many other companies. We were able, despite this environment, to close the partnership with Bausch + Lomb, and also to conduct the directed share issue. Obviously, a lot of those interactions leading up to those events being done digitally. I think we've been able to continue as planned despite the COVID pandemic. The main impact for us as a company has been related really to the recruitment into the XPLORE trial, which slowed down during the worst part of the pandemic, let's say March to May, and then picked up. We'll look more into detail in the recruitment into XPLORE in a short while.
I think those are really the highlights for the quarter, the Bausch + Lomb partnership, the share issue which we conducted, when we also welcomed two new institutional investors into the ownership of Xbrane, TIN Fonder and Swedbank Robur Ny Teknik. Then got the continued support from a lot of the existing shareholders. We're pleased for the support from new and existing shareholders in that directed share issue. Then also we signed an agreement with Akademiska Hus for new facilities. We'll talk a little bit more about that as well. I think that's great for the future development of the company, really what's needed for us to push forward a broader portfolio of biosimilar candidates going forward. Susanna will be talking more about the financials, of course, but regarding the cash position, we came out of second quarter with SEK 232 million in cash position.
Okay. On this page, we can look more into detail on the recruitment into XPLORE. This is something that's been requested by quite a few of our investors. It's just to provide a more detailed overview about how this has been looking over time. In mid-August, we had recruited 490 patients into XPLORE. That's roughly 85% of the targeted 580 patients. You can see on this graph, the blue line, which is essentially the number of recruited patients into the trial, and the purple line, which is the activated clinics participating in the trial. You can see, as you all recall, we had a little bit slower start than anticipated, and that was mainly due to slower activation of sites than anticipated.
You can see that when we reached the target of 150 activated sites being recruiting into the trial, you can see that the recruitment really picked up. If you look at the first quarter of this year, the period here we've highlighted as the pre-COVID-19 period, we were recruiting some 15, 20 patients a week, roughly. That's the rate we were running at. Of course, there was an impact with regards to COVID-19 and a slowdown in the recruitment. From May and onwards, we saw a pickup as there was a lower degree of contamination across the countries where we are recruiting patients, but also that restrictions which were putting in place by the governments in these countries were kind of lifted.
August was a little bit of a slower period, which was fully anticipated given the vacation impact in many of these countries where we're recruiting. Now we are at 490 patients. When we look forward, we believe that we shall recruit somewhere between 10 - 20 patients a week coming into September onwards. It's a little bit hard to say exactly, of course, as you can imagine. It's dependent upon the potential continued impact of COVID-19. You all see in the news what is happening and the uncertainty around this. In this period, May to July, when we saw a pickup, we were recruiting some 10 - 15 patients a week. As I said before COVID-19, some 15 - 20. I think it's reasonable to assume we will be in that range, if you will.
We're pretty confident that we will be able to close the recruitment in the trial. If we are at 15 patients a week, we will end by end of September. If it's a little bit lower than that, we will go into October. Latest by end of October, I believe we shall have finalized the recruitment and recruited the 580 patients into the trial. That's really the way it looks like, and I'm pretty pleased that we actually are coming towards an end with regards to the recruitment and getting closer to being able to do the first interim readout and then proceed to filing. With that said, let's move on to next page. Yes, the overall timeline.
From the day that we have the last patient into the trial we estimate it will take eight to nine months before we can publish the top-line data of the trial. We're doing the interim report readout at month six. Six months after the last patient came into the trial, we're doing the interim readout, and then it takes two to three months for the statistical analysis and everything for us to then be able to publish the top-line data. That is also the kind of interim readout upon which we are going to submit the marketing authorization application both to EMA and FDA, and this is in accordance to agreement with both authorities. We expect to be able to do that mid-2021, and then counting on a 12-month regulatory process, it takes us to mid-2022 for an expected approval of Xlucane.
That is also the timing for when the patent of the originator product, LUCENTIS, expires in Europe. That's the overall timeline for Xlucane. If we move on, I know we spoke about this in the last call, but I think it's important to stress again the partnership with Bausch + Lomb and really the strength in that when it comes to the North American part of Xlucane phase. We really believe that Bausch + Lomb is a perfect partner for us when it comes to sales and marketing of Xlucane. It's a 150-year-old company specialized in eye products and pharmaceuticals for the ophthalmic segment. Really having the sales force in place already, targeting the roughly 2,500 eye clinics in the U.S. which currently are prescribing LUCENTIS and therefore will be prescribing Xlucane in the future.
Bausch + Lomb being a really strong brand amongst eye clinics and in the ophthalmology segment. I really do believe that Bausch + Lomb is the company best suited to really maximize the commercial potential out of Xlucane in North America. I think we couldn't have had a better partner than them. Now maybe some of you saw that there were news coming out of Bausch + Lomb in the beginning of August with their intentions to split up the company in two parts both then intend to be listed the U.S., one being focused on the eye product and one being focused on the rest of their portfolio. I think this, if anything, strengthens Bausch + Lomb as a partner for Xlucane.
It provides more focus in the eye part of their business on specifically that portfolio, and Xlucane being an even more important part when it comes to future growth of that entity. Also, it will increase the transparency around the expectations for the different important components in their portfolio and amongst them, Xlucane being an important one for the investor community. There'll be more kind of focus from analysts covering them on the growth element including Xlucane. I think this, if anything, is good for us and for Xlucane. We're very happy with this partnership and of course now we, together with STADA, are working intimately to do all the preparatory work for filing and then regulatory approval of Xlucane in the North America and then subsequent launch.
We signed an agreement with Akademiska Hus with regards to new facilities for Xbrane. They're going to be located in Campus Solna, which is close by Karolinska Institutet, and it's a large facility, so 2,000 sq m. That's really good for us. We will be able to establish a development lab for biosimilars which encompass both E. coli-derived products and also mammalian cell-based products. We're going to have a biosimilar development lab, really significantly higher capacity than what we have today. That of course means that we can undertake development of a broader portfolio, which we intend to start by the time we move into these new facilities, which is expected March next year. This, of course, goes hand in hand with what we've been doing the last couple of years to develop and strengthen our platform technology.
I think that really going well. It looks almost surprisingly good. The strength we've had since the inception of the company in the E. coli space and the LEMO technology, which provides a significantly higher yield than competitive systems when it comes to production of E. coli-derived proteins. That is a strength of course when it comes to Xlucane and ranibizumab, since that is expressed in E. coli. What we have been doing the last couple of years is to expand into mammalian cell-based products. Already now we have a couple of patent applications sent in with certain aspects in that field where we believe also we will have a yield advantage when it comes to that environment.
We're very happy with the development of the platform technology, and it's really what we have to do to now scale up and move to larger facilities to really leverage that platform and being able to broaden the portfolio of biosimilars with this great platform and bring it to the market. We're very happy to take this step and more news to come, of course, on this topic as we move in and can start talk about which will be the new products we're going to add to the portfolio. Okay. With that said, I'm handing over to Susanna to go through the highlights when it comes to the financials.
Thank you, Martin. Let's move over to page eight and the update on the Q2 financials. On the left-hand side, we present total income quarter by quarter, and here we have added both revenue and also other operational income. In Q2, we had total income of SEK 5.3 million, and that consists of part of the milestone from Bausch + Lomb and as well as exchange rate gains on receivables and payables. Looking at SG&A to the right, we had total expenses of SEK 9.7 million in Q2, which is an increase by 23% from last year. The increase is related to Xbrane growing organization, but also related to transaction expenses. Let's move forward to page nine. In the table on the left side, we have R&D expenses amounting to SEK 45.1 million in Q2.
This is fairly in line with the previous quarter and also same quarter last year. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, there were lower activities, particularly in the recruitment in the XPLORE study, and this leading to lower expenses than what would have been the case without coronavirus. I should also mention that we have made a restatement of previous seven quarters, and that relates to the timing of the STADA prepayment for procurement of LUCENTIS for the XPLORE trials, and this can be found in appendix one. The co-development with STADA is structured such as Xbrane receives prepayments for the development of Xlucane, which should cover 60% of expenses. Part of the prepayment for LUCENTIS from STADA has, however, been recognized too early, and this has resulted in lower expenses in the P&L statement. We have corrected the figures for this period, which have been explained in appendix one.
This adjustment affects the results and thereby shareholders' equity and also current liabilities. Although, very important to emphasize it, is that this is just a timing difference and this will not affect the payments from STADA and therefore has no cash impact for Xbrane. All the prepayments from STADA are estimated to be recognized as revenue within 12 months. If we look at the net result to the right, it amounted to SEK -53.4 million. The loss is fairly in line with previous quarter, of which both quarters have experienced lower R&D activities due to the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic. Let's move forward to page 10. On the left-hand side, you can see the variation in operating cash flow quarter by quarter, and for Q2, the amount was SEK +15.8 million.
For changes in trade and other receivables and payables, we usually have quite big fluctuations due to the reimbursement structure that we have with our partner STADA, this was also the case this quarter. Looking at the cash balance to the right, we ended the quarter with a cash position of SEK 232.5 million. The cash balance has increased since last quarter due to the equity issue of SEK 136 million after transaction costs. Let's move forward to page 11. Looking at the summarized figure of the balance sheet in blue, you can see that it has increased to SEK 437.5 million compared to the balance sheet date of the previous quarter. Starting off on the assets side, we have non-current assets of SEK 91.6 million, which is fairly in line with the previous quarter.
Current assets amounted to SEK 113.5 million in Q2, where SEK 86.6 million is prepayment, primarily for the XPLORE study. SEK 21.2 million is receivable from our licensing activities. The cash amounted to SEK 232.5 million. The increase is due to the equity issue. Moving over to the other side of the balance sheet, we have shareholders' equity amounting to SEK 191.3 million. Also here the increase is due to the equity issue. Non-current liabilities amounted to SEK 14 million, and it's fairly in line with the previous quarters. Current liabilities amounted to SEK 232.1 million, and that includes deferred income and accrued expenses amounting to SEK 191.9 million, where SEK 130.6 million is deferred income from STADA. That was all on the financials. Back over to you, Martin.
Yes. We try always to be as active as possible to meet with existing and new investors. We participated in a couple of events during the spring, some of them which are uptaken on the video recording and also available on our webpage. What we plan to do now during the fall is to participate now in the beginning of September in two events. The Pareto Securities Healthcare Conference, which is the 2nd and 3rd of September, LSX Nordic Congress, which is happening the 1st to 4th of September. Both of these events are taking place digitally. The presentations will be recorded and also presented on our webpage. We plan to participate in the Jefferies conference in London in November and the LSX conference in connection with the Jefferies conference.
We are going to participate in more capital market days and so on and so forth. We're trying to put the full schedule in place here, but we'll also communicate with the market, let's say, a week in advance of planned capital market days. I really hope to be able to meet actually as many of you as possible, provided that the circumstances allow. Otherwise, many of these events are likely to take place in a virtual setting, but then to be able to meet as many as possible of you in a video context than audio context. Okay. I guess that is all from us from the formal presentation. I guess we're going to shift over to the questions here. Okay.
First question is, does Xbrane announce the primary eight-week endpoint results at the last patient in and tested at the eight-week period immediately when the results have been evaluated? The answer to that question is no. We're going to do the first interim readout when last patient has reached month six in the treatment schedule. We're doing an evaluation of primary endpoint, which as rightly stated here, is at week eight. We're doing the interim readout at month six. Next question is, the pace of recruitment has been approximately 31 - 32 patients per month for the XPLORE study. If this keeps constant, the study is fully recruited mid-November. Do you still see that it is realistic to get the study fully recruited before Q3 ends?
This figure might be right if you look at the whole study, but really one would have to look at these different periods which I tried to highlight in that slide. The period in Q1 this year when we had all the sites activated, we were running at 15-20 patients recruited per week. Then as I said in the pickup period after May to July, when we saw a pickup after the most severe COVID-19 impact, we were running at 10-15 patients recruited per week. Going forward. Now when people are coming back in the clinics from their vacation, I do believe that we will be somewhere between 10-20 patients a week. It's a little bit hard to predict given the potential continued impact from COVID-19. We already see this week that it's picking up towards these levels.
If it's, let's say 15 a week, we will be done by end of September. If it's 10 a week, it will be approaching end of October. If it's 20 a week, it will be even sooner, sometime in September. That's probably what we can say here. I'm pretty confident that we will be ending the recruitment by end of September or stretching into October, but latest by end of October. Okay. Last question we have here. Do you think Bausch + Lomb will be an owner in Xbrane in the future? Well, this is similar to a question which we've been getting a lot of times with regards to STADA's potential, let's say, ownership and/or acquisition of Xbrane. It's very hard to speculate into this.
I know, as with Bausch + Lomb, as for STADA, they're more engaged in the sales and marketing of pharmaceuticals and focusing more on licensing in products than doing development from scratch themselves. With that said, STADA is an owner today, and they've been very supportive from the equity investment side. We will have to see now going forward, whether that interest also will appear from the Bausch + Lomb side. That's probably what I can say as of now on that topic. Just to remind everybody on the call that you can type in potential questions in the ask a question section in the webcast. One more question that came up here. Have you checked study results as blinded, and do you still see there should be not any unexpected when it comes to efficacy and safety?
What we do throughout the trial is to look at the blinded data with the main purpose of see if there's something which sticks out from a safety perspective. If we were to see a higher level of adverse events than would be expected from normal usage of LUCENTIS, that would trigger a deeper evaluation of the data. If that would be the case, it could be so that from an ethical perspective, one would have to stop the trial, right? We've been following the trial and the data from a blinded perspective in that context, and we have seen nothing when it comes to the safety parameters in the XPLORE trial which deviates from normal usage of LUCENTIS.
The same is true when it comes to efficacy, more from the perspective to see that it's not so that a higher percentage of the participants in the trial, let's say, severely deteriorate their vision. That would also be an important parameter that you could trigger a more detailed evaluation and if that would be the case from an ethical perspective, stopping the trial, right? Here we haven't seen anything either that deviates from normal usage of LUCENTIS. That probably provides some kind of a better picture on what we're doing from that perspective. Okay. There was one more question coming in here, a specific and interesting one. Can you tell us more about Xoncane? Which formulation will be pursued for the drug, and will there be bridging studies for approval?
Xoncane is a biosimilar candidate to the leukemia drug Oncaspar, which is a pegylated asparaginase product. What we do when we do biosimilar development is, at the outset, targeting the exact same formulation used by the originator. That is what we're doing. We are working towards both PEGylation, which is identical to the originator now being Oncaspar, and also formulation being identical to Oncaspar. There are also, in the cases, there are different formulations. There is a judgment to be done with regards to development of all the formulations or the one who is selling most. I don't know if this question alludes in that direction that there is a lyophilized form, which of course is the most interesting one.
When it comes to clinical studies for such a program, for sure comparative clinical trials will be required as per the biosimilar guidelines. We haven't yet approached authorities with regards to specifically that program and the clinical design. I can't be more specific than that at this point in time. Okay. There was one more question here. Can you talk a little bit about Spherotide? Are you looking to bring it through phase III clinical trials by yourselves or do you foresee a sale of Spherotide? As we've been indicating last year or two, we have seen really the need for focus in the company and put our limited resources into the programs which we believe have the strongest commercial potential going forward. We prioritize clearly our biosimilar portfolio, which we develop here in Sweden with Xlucane, Xcimzane, [Xdivane] biosimilar, and the others.
With Spherotide and our Italian subsidiary, we've said that we are not willing to invest more into that subsidiary and that program ourselves. We want to find a partner that either would be interested in acquiring the whole subsidiary or in some kind of a co-developmental license arrangement, undertake the required financing for that program, in particular the phase III trial. This is an ongoing process, and I think we mentioned also now in the Q2 report that we are now in discussion with a couple of companies that are interested to engage in such a way. We will see where that leads and obviously come back to that topic as something hopefully now matures during this year. Okay. I see no more questions here in the webcast. I therefore think we can conclude the call.
I want to thank everybody for participating and also thank everybody for the questions. That's very helpful and makes it more fun when we get some questions to talk about. We will publish this audio cast, I think, on the webpage and also do a transcript as we've done the last couple of quarters and put on the webpage. With that said, I call this call final, and thank you everybody for participating.