as a clinical-stage company , our revenues , expenses and results of operations are likely to fluctuate significantly from quarter to quarter and year to year . we believe that period-to-period comparisons of our results of operations should not be relied upon as indicative of our future performance . as of december 31 , 2017 , we had approximately $ 53.2 million in cash and cash equivalents . 73 financial operations overview the following discussion sets forth certain components of our consolidated statements of operations as well as factors that impact those items . revenue we generate revenue primarily from the receipt of upfront or license fees , milestone payments and payment for procurement services that are made pursuant to license agreements or related supply agreements or from the receipt of payments made pursuant to a royalty monetization agreement . license agreements with commercial partners generally include nonrefundable upfront fees and milestone payments , the receipt of which is dependent upon the achievement of certain development , regulatory or commercial milestones , as well as royalties on product sales of licensed products , if and when such product sales occur , and payments for procuring pharmaceutical ingredients . for these agreements , management applies judgment in the allocation of total agreement consideration to the separately identifiable components on a reliable basis that reasonably reflects the selling prices that might be expected to be achieved in stand-alone transactions . for the years ended december 31 , 2017 and 2016 , we recognized into revenue $ 1,000 and $ 11.4 million , respectively , in payments under a license agreement or procurement agreement . for the year ended december 31 , 2016 , we recognized into revenue nonrefundable payments received from our licensee for elobixibat in japan and other specified countries in asia , ea pharma co. , ltd. ( formerly known as ajinomoto pharmaceuticals co. , ltd. ) , or ea pharma , of $ 8.0 million in connection with a renegotiated payment stream and 3.225 million triggered by the decision of ea pharma to proceed with the preparation of a new drug application for elobixibat in japan . we expect that any future revenue recognized under our license agreement with ea pharma will fluctuate from quarter to quarter and year to year as a result of the uncertain timing of future milestone payments , if any . operating expenses research and development expenses research and development expenses consist primarily of personnel costs ( including salaries , benefits and other staff-related costs ) for employees in research and development functions , costs associated with preclinical and clinical development services , including clinical trials and related manufacturing costs , third-party contract research organizations , or cros , and related services and other outside costs , including fees for third-party professional services such as consultants . our preclinical studies and clinical studies are performed by cros . we expect to continue to focus our research and development efforts on preclinical studies and clinical trials of our product candidates . as a result , we expect our research and development expenses to continue to increase for the foreseeable future . our direct research and development expenses are tracked on a program-by-program basis and consist primarily of external costs such as fees paid to cros and others in connection with our preclinical and clinical development activities and related manufacturing . we do not allocate employee costs or facility expenses , including depreciation or other indirect costs , to specific product development programs because these costs are deployed across multiple product development programs and , as such , are not separately classified . successful development of our current and potential future product candidates is highly uncertain . completion dates and costs for our programs can vary significantly by product candidate and are difficult to predict . as a result , we can not estimate with any degree of certainty the costs we will incur in connection with development of any of our product candidates . we anticipate we will make determinations as to which programs and product candidates to pursue and how much funding to direct to each program and product candidate on an ongoing basis in response to the results of ongoing and future clinical trials , our ability to enter into licensing , collaboration and similar arrangements with respect to current or potential future product candidates , success of research and development programs and assessments of commercial potential . general and administrative expenses general and administrative expenses consist primarily of personnel costs ( including salaries and benefits ) for our executive , finance and other administrative employees . in addition , general and administrative expenses include fees for third-party professional services , including consulting , information technology , legal and accounting services and other corporate expenses and allocated overhead . critical accounting policies and estimates our management 's discussion and analysis of financial condition and results of operations is based on our consolidated financial statements , which have been prepared in accordance with united states generally accepted accounting principles . the preparation of these financial statements requires us to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets , liabilities , 74 revenues and expenses . we base our estimates and assumptions on historical experience and on various assumptions that we believe are reasonable under the circumstances , and we evaluate them on an ongoing basis . these estimates and assumptions form the basis for making judgments about the carrying values of assets and liabilities and the recording of revenues and expenses that are not readily apparent from other sources . actual results and exper iences may differ materially from these estimates and judgments . in addition , our reported financial condition and results of operations could vary if new accounting standards are enacted that are applicable to our business . story_separator_special_tag the difference in interest income ( expense ) , ne t was principally attributable to the conversion of convertible loan notes issued in 2014 and 2015 into equity in connection with the completion of the biodel transaction in november 2016 and a reduction for 2017 in the amount of interest paid under a form er loan facility . non-operating income ( expense ) , net year ended december 31 , change 2017 2016 $ in thousands non-operating income ( expense ) , net $ 335 $ ( 2,675 ) $ ( 3,010 ) non-operating income ( expense ) , net was $ 335,000 of income for the year ended december 31 , 2017 compared with $ 2.7 million of expense for the year ended december 31 , 2016 , a difference of $ 3.0 million . the difference in non-operating income ( expense ) , net was principally attributable to adjustments for the 2016 period to fair value for derivative liabilities associated with outstanding convertible loan notes that were converted into equity in connection with the completion of the biodel transaction in november 2016 , a change in the mark-to-market adjustments on warrants between the periods , and the may 2017 exercise by our former lender of warrants valued at $ 617,000. income tax replace_table_token_3_th income tax expense was $ 212,000 for the year ended december 31 , 2017 compared to $ 62,000 for the year ended december 31 , 2016. years ended december 31 , 2016 and december 31 , 2015 revenue year ended december 31 , change 2016 2015 $ in thousands revenue $ 11,364 $ 5,099 $ 6,265 revenue was $ 11.4 million for the year ended december 31 , 2016 compared with revenue of $ 5.1 million for the year ended december 31 , 2015 , an increase of $ 6.3 million . the higher revenue was due to recognition in full of payments from ea pharma of $ 8.0 million received in april 2016 in connection with a renegotiated payment stream linked to know-how and intellectual property that we had delivered upon inception of the license agreement in 2012 and 3.225 million earned in the fourth quarter of 2016 upon the decision of ea pharma to proceed with the preparation of a new drug application for elobixibat in japan . for the year ended december 31 , 2015 , we recognized into revenue $ 5.1 million in payments received under our license agreement with ea pharma . research and development expenses year ended december 31 , change 2016 2015 $ in thousands research and development expenses $ 8,077 $ 5,634 $ 2,443 79 research and development expenses were $ 8.1 million for the year ended december 31 , 2016 compared with $ 5.6 million for the year ended december 31 , 2015 , an increase of $ 2.4 million . the increase was principally due to a $ 1.7 million increase in costs incurred to third parties for preclinical research services and clinical trials , primarily related to a4250 for which we initiated a phase 2 clinical trial in children with chronic cholestasis and pruritus in the second half of 2015 , as well as an in crease of $ 755,000 primarily in fees for contract r & d consulting services and also comprising facilities and personnel costs . the following table summarizes our principal product development programs and the out-of-pocket third-party expenses incurred with respect to each clinical-stage product candidate and our preclinical programs for the years ended december 31 , 2016 and 2015. replace_table_token_4_th ( 1 ) other project costs are leveraged across multiple programs . ( 2 ) other costs include facility , supply , consultant and overhead costs that support multiple programs . general and administrative expenses year ended december 31 , change 2016 2015 $ in thousands general and administrative expenses $ 15,786 $ 4,462 $ 11,324 general and administrative expenses were $ 15.8 million for the year ended december 31 , 2016 compared with $ 4.5 million for the year ended december 31 , 2015 , an increase of $ 11.3 million . the increase was principally attributable to professional fees incurred in connection with the negotiation and completion of the biodel transaction ( $ 3.9 million ) , higher personnel and stock-based compensation costs ( $ 2.2 million ) , severance costs ( $ 1.7 million ) , lease termination fees ( $ 1.2 million ) , accounting fees ( $ 500,000 ) , as well as costs associated with being a public company . other ( income ) expense , net replace_table_token_5_th other ( income ) expense , net totaled $ 205,000 of income for the year ended december 31 , 2016 compared with $ 271,000 of income for the year ended december 31 , 2015 , a difference of $ 66,000. the difference resulted from changes in currency exchange rates between the two periods . 80 interest expense , net year ended december 31 , change 2016 2015 $ in thousands interest expense , net $ ( 1,319 ) $ ( 1,722 ) $ ( 403 ) interest expense , net totaled $ 1.3 million for the year ended december 31 , 2016 compared with $ 1.7 million for 2015 , a decrease of $ 403,000. the decrease was attributable to lower interest on convertible loan notes issued in 2014 and 2015 due to their conversion into equity in connection with the completion of the biodel transaction . all accrued and unpaid interest on the convertible loan notes as of november 3 , 2016 was waived by the holders of the notes . non-operating expense year ended december 31 , change 2016 2015 $ in thousands non-operating expense $ ( 2,675 ) $ ( 320 ) $ 2,355 non-operating expense was $ 2.7 million for the year ended december 31 , 2016 compared with $ 320,000 for the year ended december 31 , 2015 , an increase of $ 2.4 million . the increase reflected adjustments

sources of liquidity we do not expect to generate significant revenue from product sales unless and until we or a potential future licensee or collaborator obtains marketing approval for , and commercializes , one or more of our current or potential future product candidates ( other than elobixibat as a treatment for chronic constipation in japan ) , which we do not expect to occur until at least 2021 , if at all . we anticipate that we will continue to generate losses for the foreseeable future , and we expect the losses to increase as we continue the development of and seek regulatory approvals for our product candidates . we are subject to all of the risks applicable to the development of new pharmaceutical products and may encounter unforeseen expenses , difficulties , complications , delays and other unknown factors that may harm our business . we expect that , having become a public company upon completion of the biodel transaction in november 2016 , we will continue to incur additional costs associated with operating as a public company and anticipate that we will need substantial additional funding to complete development of and potentially commercialize our product candidates . our operations have historically been financed primarily through issuances of shares of common stock , preference shares or convertible debt , upfront fees paid upon entering into license agreements , payments received upon the achievement of specified milestone events under license agreements , grants and venture debt borrowings . our primary uses of capital are , and we expect will continue to be , personnel-related costs , third party expenses associated with our research and development programs , including the conduct of clinical trials , and manufacturing-related costs for our product candidates . as of december 31 , 2017 , our cash and cash equivalents were approximately $ 53.2 million . 81 during the first quarter of 2018 , following the japanese mhlw 's approval of elobixibat for the treatment of chronic constipation in january 2018 , we received a $ 45 million payment , net of certain transaction expenses , from hcr under our riaa .


 Write a concise suspicious activity report of the following text delimited by triple backquotes. Return your response as a formal report which covers the key points highlighting the location,dates,entity names and account holder information in chronological order of the text.
     ```sources of liquidity we do not expect to generate significant revenue from product sales unless and until we or a potential future licensee or collaborator obtains marketing approval for , and commercializes , one or more of our current or potential future product candidates ( other than elobixibat as a treatment for chronic constipation in japan ) , which we do not expect to occur until at least 2021 , if at all . we anticipate that we will continue to generate losses for the foreseeable future , and we expect the losses to increase as we continue the development of and seek regulatory approvals for our product candidates . we are subject to all of the risks applicable to the development of new pharmaceutical products and may encounter unforeseen expenses , difficulties , complications , delays and other unknown factors that may harm our business . we expect that , having become a public company upon completion of the biodel transaction in november 2016 , we will continue to incur additional costs associated with operating as a public company and anticipate that we will need substantial additional funding to complete development of and potentially commercialize our product candidates . our operations have historically been financed primarily through issuances of shares of common stock , preference shares or convertible debt , upfront fees paid upon entering into license agreements , payments received upon the achievement of specified milestone events under license agreements , grants and venture debt borrowings . our primary uses of capital are , and we expect will continue to be , personnel-related costs , third party expenses associated with our research and development programs , including the conduct of clinical trials , and manufacturing-related costs for our product candidates . as of december 31 , 2017 , our cash and cash equivalents were approximately $ 53.2 million . 81 during the first quarter of 2018 , following the japanese mhlw 's approval of elobixibat for the treatment of chronic constipation in january 2018 , we received a $ 45 million payment , net of certain transaction expenses , from hcr under our riaa .
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 Suspicious Activity Report : as a clinical-stage company , our revenues , expenses and results of operations are likely to fluctuate significantly from quarter to quarter and year to year . we believe that period-to-period comparisons of our results of operations should not be relied upon as indicative of our future performance . as of december 31 , 2017 , we had approximately $ 53.2 million in cash and cash equivalents . 73 financial operations overview the following discussion sets forth certain components of our consolidated statements of operations as well as factors that impact those items . revenue we generate revenue primarily from the receipt of upfront or license fees , milestone payments and payment for procurement services that are made pursuant to license agreements or related supply agreements or from the receipt of payments made pursuant to a royalty monetization agreement . license agreements with commercial partners generally include nonrefundable upfront fees and milestone payments , the receipt of which is dependent upon the achievement of certain development , regulatory or commercial milestones , as well as royalties on product sales of licensed products , if and when such product sales occur , and payments for procuring pharmaceutical ingredients . for these agreements , management applies judgment in the allocation of total agreement consideration to the separately identifiable components on a reliable basis that reasonably reflects the selling prices that might be expected to be achieved in stand-alone transactions . for the years ended december 31 , 2017 and 2016 , we recognized into revenue $ 1,000 and $ 11.4 million , respectively , in payments under a license agreement or procurement agreement . for the year ended december 31 , 2016 , we recognized into revenue nonrefundable payments received from our licensee for elobixibat in japan and other specified countries in asia , ea pharma co. , ltd. ( formerly known as ajinomoto pharmaceuticals co. , ltd. ) , or ea pharma , of $ 8.0 million in connection with a renegotiated payment stream and 3.225 million triggered by the decision of ea pharma to proceed with the preparation of a new drug application for elobixibat in japan . we expect that any future revenue recognized under our license agreement with ea pharma will fluctuate from quarter to quarter and year to year as a result of the uncertain timing of future milestone payments , if any . operating expenses research and development expenses research and development expenses consist primarily of personnel costs ( including salaries , benefits and other staff-related costs ) for employees in research and development functions , costs associated with preclinical and clinical development services , including clinical trials and related manufacturing costs , third-party contract research organizations , or cros , and related services and other outside costs , including fees for third-party professional services such as consultants . our preclinical studies and clinical studies are performed by cros . we expect to continue to focus our research and development efforts on preclinical studies and clinical trials of our product candidates . as a result , we expect our research and development expenses to continue to increase for the foreseeable future . our direct research and development expenses are tracked on a program-by-program basis and consist primarily of external costs such as fees paid to cros and others in connection with our preclinical and clinical development activities and related manufacturing . we do not allocate employee costs or facility expenses , including depreciation or other indirect costs , to specific product development programs because these costs are deployed across multiple product development programs and , as such , are not separately classified . successful development of our current and potential future product candidates is highly uncertain . completion dates and costs for our programs can vary significantly by product candidate and are difficult to predict . as a result , we can not estimate with any degree of certainty the costs we will incur in connection with development of any of our product candidates . we anticipate we will make determinations as to which programs and product candidates to pursue and how much funding to direct to each program and product candidate on an ongoing basis in response to the results of ongoing and future clinical trials , our ability to enter into licensing , collaboration and similar arrangements with respect to current or potential future product candidates , success of research and development programs and assessments of commercial potential . general and administrative expenses general and administrative expenses consist primarily of personnel costs ( including salaries and benefits ) for our executive , finance and other administrative employees . in addition , general and administrative expenses include fees for third-party professional services , including consulting , information technology , legal and accounting services and other corporate expenses and allocated overhead . critical accounting policies and estimates our management 's discussion and analysis of financial condition and results of operations is based on our consolidated financial statements , which have been prepared in accordance with united states generally accepted accounting principles . the preparation of these financial statements requires us to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets , liabilities , 74 revenues and expenses . we base our estimates and assumptions on historical experience and on various assumptions that we believe are reasonable under the circumstances , and we evaluate them on an ongoing basis . these estimates and assumptions form the basis for making judgments about the carrying values of assets and liabilities and the recording of revenues and expenses that are not readily apparent from other sources . actual results and exper iences may differ materially from these estimates and judgments . in addition , our reported financial condition and results of operations could vary if new accounting standards are enacted that are applicable to our business . story_separator_special_tag the difference in interest income ( expense ) , ne t was principally attributable to the conversion of convertible loan notes issued in 2014 and 2015 into equity in connection with the completion of the biodel transaction in november 2016 and a reduction for 2017 in the amount of interest paid under a form er loan facility . non-operating income ( expense ) , net year ended december 31 , change 2017 2016 $ in thousands non-operating income ( expense ) , net $ 335 $ ( 2,675 ) $ ( 3,010 ) non-operating income ( expense ) , net was $ 335,000 of income for the year ended december 31 , 2017 compared with $ 2.7 million of expense for the year ended december 31 , 2016 , a difference of $ 3.0 million . the difference in non-operating income ( expense ) , net was principally attributable to adjustments for the 2016 period to fair value for derivative liabilities associated with outstanding convertible loan notes that were converted into equity in connection with the completion of the biodel transaction in november 2016 , a change in the mark-to-market adjustments on warrants between the periods , and the may 2017 exercise by our former lender of warrants valued at $ 617,000. income tax replace_table_token_3_th income tax expense was $ 212,000 for the year ended december 31 , 2017 compared to $ 62,000 for the year ended december 31 , 2016. years ended december 31 , 2016 and december 31 , 2015 revenue year ended december 31 , change 2016 2015 $ in thousands revenue $ 11,364 $ 5,099 $ 6,265 revenue was $ 11.4 million for the year ended december 31 , 2016 compared with revenue of $ 5.1 million for the year ended december 31 , 2015 , an increase of $ 6.3 million . the higher revenue was due to recognition in full of payments from ea pharma of $ 8.0 million received in april 2016 in connection with a renegotiated payment stream linked to know-how and intellectual property that we had delivered upon inception of the license agreement in 2012 and 3.225 million earned in the fourth quarter of 2016 upon the decision of ea pharma to proceed with the preparation of a new drug application for elobixibat in japan . for the year ended december 31 , 2015 , we recognized into revenue $ 5.1 million in payments received under our license agreement with ea pharma . research and development expenses year ended december 31 , change 2016 2015 $ in thousands research and development expenses $ 8,077 $ 5,634 $ 2,443 79 research and development expenses were $ 8.1 million for the year ended december 31 , 2016 compared with $ 5.6 million for the year ended december 31 , 2015 , an increase of $ 2.4 million . the increase was principally due to a $ 1.7 million increase in costs incurred to third parties for preclinical research services and clinical trials , primarily related to a4250 for which we initiated a phase 2 clinical trial in children with chronic cholestasis and pruritus in the second half of 2015 , as well as an in crease of $ 755,000 primarily in fees for contract r & d consulting services and also comprising facilities and personnel costs . the following table summarizes our principal product development programs and the out-of-pocket third-party expenses incurred with respect to each clinical-stage product candidate and our preclinical programs for the years ended december 31 , 2016 and 2015. replace_table_token_4_th ( 1 ) other project costs are leveraged across multiple programs . ( 2 ) other costs include facility , supply , consultant and overhead costs that support multiple programs . general and administrative expenses year ended december 31 , change 2016 2015 $ in thousands general and administrative expenses $ 15,786 $ 4,462 $ 11,324 general and administrative expenses were $ 15.8 million for the year ended december 31 , 2016 compared with $ 4.5 million for the year ended december 31 , 2015 , an increase of $ 11.3 million . the increase was principally attributable to professional fees incurred in connection with the negotiation and completion of the biodel transaction ( $ 3.9 million ) , higher personnel and stock-based compensation costs ( $ 2.2 million ) , severance costs ( $ 1.7 million ) , lease termination fees ( $ 1.2 million ) , accounting fees ( $ 500,000 ) , as well as costs associated with being a public company . other ( income ) expense , net replace_table_token_5_th other ( income ) expense , net totaled $ 205,000 of income for the year ended december 31 , 2016 compared with $ 271,000 of income for the year ended december 31 , 2015 , a difference of $ 66,000. the difference resulted from changes in currency exchange rates between the two periods . 80 interest expense , net year ended december 31 , change 2016 2015 $ in thousands interest expense , net $ ( 1,319 ) $ ( 1,722 ) $ ( 403 ) interest expense , net totaled $ 1.3 million for the year ended december 31 , 2016 compared with $ 1.7 million for 2015 , a decrease of $ 403,000. the decrease was attributable to lower interest on convertible loan notes issued in 2014 and 2015 due to their conversion into equity in connection with the completion of the biodel transaction . all accrued and unpaid interest on the convertible loan notes as of november 3 , 2016 was waived by the holders of the notes . non-operating expense year ended december 31 , change 2016 2015 $ in thousands non-operating expense $ ( 2,675 ) $ ( 320 ) $ 2,355 non-operating expense was $ 2.7 million for the year ended december 31 , 2016 compared with $ 320,000 for the year ended december 31 , 2015 , an increase of $ 2.4 million . the increase reflected adjustments

