any forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks , uncertainties , and other factors that may cause our actual results , performance , or achievements to be materially different from any future results , performance , or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements . such factors include , among others , potential tariffs , our ability to maintain liquidity , our maintenance of patent protection , the impact of current and future court decisions regarding current litigation , our ability to maintain favorable third party manufacturing and supplier arrangements and relationships , foreign trade risk , our ability to quickly increase capacity in response to an increase in demand , our ability to access the market , our ability to maintain or decrease production costs , our ability to continue to finance research and development as well as operations and expansion of production , the impact of larger market players , specifically bd , in providing devices to the safety market , and other factors referenced in item 1a . risk factors . given these uncertainties , undue reliance should not be placed on forward-looking statements . 10 overview we have been manufacturing and marketing our products since 1997. vanishpoint ® syringes comprised 84.9 % of our sales in 2018. we also manufacture and market the easypoint ® needle , blood collection tube holder , iv safety catheter , and vanishpoint ® blood collection set . we currently provide other safety medical products in addition to safety products utilizing retractable technology . one such product is the patient safe ® syringe , which is uniquely designed to reduce the risk of bloodstream infections associated with catheter hub contamination . in the second quarter of 2016 , we began selling the easypoint ® needle . easypoint ® needles made up 10.3 % of revenues in 2018. the easypoint ® is a retractable needle that can be used with luer lock syringes , luer slip syringes , and prefilled syringes to give injections . the easypoint ® needle can also be used to aspirate fluids and collect blood . based on industry-wide trends , we anticipate that demand may increase for the easypoint ® needle . historically , unit sales have increased in the latter part of the year due , in part , to the demand for syringes during the flu season . our products have been and continue to be distributed nationally and internationally through numerous distributors . although we have made limited progress in some areas , such as the alternate care market , our volumes are not as high as they should be given the nature and quality of our products and the federal and state legislation requiring the use of safe needle devices . the alternate care market is composed of facilities that provide long-term nursing and out-patient surgery , emergency care , physician services , health clinics , and retail pharmacies . we continue to pursue various strategies to have better access to the hospital market , as well as other markets , including attempting to gain access to the market through our sales efforts , our innovative technology , introduction of new products , and , when necessary , litigation . we have reported in the past that our progress is limited principally due to the practices engaged in by bd , the dominant maker and seller of disposable syringes . we initiated an antitrust and false advertising lawsuit in 2007 against bd . although a district court judgment in 2015 awarded us approximately $ 340 million in antitrust damages from bd and the fifth circuit affirmed a finding of false advertising liability against bd , we were ultimately awarded a take nothing judgment in august 2017 and the case was dismissed . we appealed that ruling and oral arguments occurred october 3 , 2018. on march 26 , 2019 , the u.s. court of appeals for the fifth circuit issued an opinion affirming the take nothing judgment . we are evaluating this ruling and conferring with legal counsel regarding possible future action . our litigation expenses were significantly less in 2017 and 2018 than previous years . 2017 costs related to additional compensation , bonuses to ms. larios and mr. cowan , and stock option expense related to options granted in 2016 affect comparability of 2018 results to 2017 results . in november 2018 , we terminated 19 employees earning total annual compensation of approximately $ 1.12 million . some of these positions may be filled in the future . severance costs associated with the 2018 terminations were $ 244 thousand . in january 2018 , congress imposed another two-year moratorium on the 2.3 % medical device excise tax imposed by internal revenue code section 4191. thus , the medical device excise tax is not expected to go into effect until january 1 , 2020. in 2016 , we granted a right to three of our executive officers to purchase shares directly from the company . thomas j. shaw was the only officer to exercise such right prior to expiration , buying a total of three million shares in two transactions in 2017 for an aggregate purchase price of $ 2.35 million . we received approximately $ 1 million from our insurance carrier in the second quarter of 2017 and used these funds to repair our buildings from earlier storm damage . the remaining proceeds of $ 261 thousand were recognized as insurance proceeds in the fourth quarter of 2018. product purchases from our chinese manufacturers have enabled us to increase manufacturing capacity with little capital outlay and have provided a competitive manufacturing cost . story_separator_special_tag in 2018 , our chinese manufacturers 11 produced approximately 85.3 % of our products . in the event that we become unable to purchase products from our chinese manufacturers , we would need to find an alternate manufacturer for the blood collection set , iv catheter , patient safe ® syringe , 0.5ml insulin syringe , 0.5ml autodisable syringe , and 2ml , 5ml , and 10ml syringes and we would increase domestic production for the 1ml and 3ml syringes . in 1995 , we entered into a license agreement with thomas j. shaw for the exclusive right to manufacture , market , and distribute products utilizing his patented automated retraction technology and other patented technology . this technology is the subject of various patents and patent applications owned by mr. shaw . the license agreement generally provides for quarterly payments of a 5 % royalty fee on gross sales . with increased volumes , our manufacturing unit costs have generally tended to decline . factors that could affect our unit costs include increases in costs by third party manufacturers , changing production volumes , costs of petroleum products , and transportation costs . increases in such costs may not be recoverable through price increases of our products . results of operations the following discussion contains trend information and other forward-looking statements that involve a number of risks and uncertainties . our actual future results could differ materially from our historical results of operations and those discussed in the forward-looking statements . all period references are to our fiscal years ended december 2018 , 2017 , or 2016. dollar amounts have been rounded for ease of reading . comparison of year ended december 31 , 2018 and year ended december 31 , 2017 domestic sales accounted for 86.1 % and 78.3 % of the revenues in 2018 and 2017 , respectively . domestic revenues increased 6.0 % principally due to increased volume mitigated by lower average price . domestic unit sales increased 12.0 % . domestic unit sales were 81.0 % of total unit sales for 2018. international revenues decreased from $ 7.5 million in 2017 to $ 4.6 million in 2018 , primarily due to lower volumes . overall unit sales decreased 3.8 % . our international orders may be subject to significant fluctuation over time . such orders may fluctuate due to health initiatives at various times as well as economic conditions . cost of manufactured product decreased $ 1.5 million principally due to lower volumes and lower unit cost of manufacture . royalty expense increased $ 80 thousand due to increased gross sales . gross profit margins increased from 28.9 % in 2017 to 30.7 % in 2018 principally due to lower cost of manufacturing . operating expenses decreased 14.2 % from the prior year due to lower legal expense , no bonuses paid in 2018 , lower travel and entertainment cost , decreased costs of engineering samples , and no stock option expense in 2018. these decreases were mitigated by severance costs . recognition of insurance proceeds of $ 261 thousand is due to actual building repairs being less than the insurance payment . the loss from operations was $ 1.3 million in 2018 compared to a loss from operations of $ 3.8 million in 2017. we recorded $ 188 thousand in tax benefits in connection with the enactment of the tax cut and jobs act ( the act ) on december 22 , 2017. the act established new tax provisions that affect us including the elimination of the corporate alternative minimum tax and changing rules related to uses and limitations of net operating loss carry forwards created after december 31 , 2017. carry forward credits from alternative minimum taxes paid in prior years became refundable in tax years beginning january 1 , 2018. such credits were , however , subject to sequestration . however , in january 2019 , the irs had a ruling that provided that alternative minimum tax payments are not subject to sequestration , bringing the total benefit to $ 202 thousand , an increase of $ 13 thousand from last year . 12 cash flow from operations was negative $ 1.2 million in 2018 due to our net loss , increased inventory , and use of insurance proceeds for repairs . the decrease in cash was mitigated by a decrease in accounts receivable and an increase in liabilities . in 2018 , we transferred $ 3 million from our cash accounts into securities with maturities of one to three years . this transfer significantly affects our net decrease in cash in 2018. however , the securities may increase investment income in the future . comparison of year ended december 31 , 2017 and year ended december 31 , 2016 domestic sales accounted for 78.3 % and 88.2 % of the revenues in 2017 and 2016 , respectively . domestic revenues increased 2.7 % principally due to increased sales of easypoint ® and the blood collection set . domestic unit sales increased 7.1 % . domestic unit sales were 69.5 % of total unit sales for 2017. international revenues increased from $ 3.5 million in 2016 to $ 7.5 million in 2017 , primarily due to increased volumes mitigated by lower average prices . overall unit sales increased 28.3 % . our international orders may be subject to significant fluctuation over time . such orders may fluctuate due to health initiatives at various times as well as economic conditions . cost of manufactured product increased $ 4.7 million principally due to higher volumes . royalty expense increased $ 337 thousand due to increased gross sales . gross profit margins decreased from 34.7 % in 2016 to 28.9 % in 2017 principally due to a larger portion of international sales which bear a lower average sales price . operating expenses decreased 0.7 % from the prior year due to decreased legal expenses and no impairment costs incurred in 2017 , offset by increased

liquidity and capital resources at the present time , management does not intend to publicly raise equity capital . due to the funds received from prior litigation and direct purchase of stock , we have sufficient cash reserves and intend to rely on operations , cash reserves , and debt financing , when available , as the primary ongoing sources of cash . our ability to obtain additional funds through loans is uncertain . in 2018 , we transferred $ 3 million from our cash accounts into securities with maturities of one to three years . this transfer significantly affects our net decrease in cash in 2018. however , the securities may increase investment income in the future . historical sources of liquidity we have historically funded operations primarily from the proceeds from revenues , private placements , litigation settlements , and loans . 13 internal sources of liquidity margins and market access to routinely achieve positive or break even quarters , we need increased access to hospital markets which has been difficult to obtain . we will continue to attempt to gain access to the market through our sales efforts , innovative technology , the introduction of new products , and , when necessary , litigation . we continue to focus on methods of upgrading our manufacturing capability and efficiency in order to reduce costs .


 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.
     ```liquidity and capital resources at the present time , management does not intend to publicly raise equity capital . due to the funds received from prior litigation and direct purchase of stock , we have sufficient cash reserves and intend to rely on operations , cash reserves , and debt financing , when available , as the primary ongoing sources of cash . our ability to obtain additional funds through loans is uncertain . in 2018 , we transferred $ 3 million from our cash accounts into securities with maturities of one to three years . this transfer significantly affects our net decrease in cash in 2018. however , the securities may increase investment income in the future . historical sources of liquidity we have historically funded operations primarily from the proceeds from revenues , private placements , litigation settlements , and loans . 13 internal sources of liquidity margins and market access to routinely achieve positive or break even quarters , we need increased access to hospital markets which has been difficult to obtain . we will continue to attempt to gain access to the market through our sales efforts , innovative technology , the introduction of new products , and , when necessary , litigation . we continue to focus on methods of upgrading our manufacturing capability and efficiency in order to reduce costs .
```    
 Suspicious Activity Report : any forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks , uncertainties , and other factors that may cause our actual results , performance , or achievements to be materially different from any future results , performance , or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements . such factors include , among others , potential tariffs , our ability to maintain liquidity , our maintenance of patent protection , the impact of current and future court decisions regarding current litigation , our ability to maintain favorable third party manufacturing and supplier arrangements and relationships , foreign trade risk , our ability to quickly increase capacity in response to an increase in demand , our ability to access the market , our ability to maintain or decrease production costs , our ability to continue to finance research and development as well as operations and expansion of production , the impact of larger market players , specifically bd , in providing devices to the safety market , and other factors referenced in item 1a . risk factors . given these uncertainties , undue reliance should not be placed on forward-looking statements . 10 overview we have been manufacturing and marketing our products since 1997. vanishpoint ® syringes comprised 84.9 % of our sales in 2018. we also manufacture and market the easypoint ® needle , blood collection tube holder , iv safety catheter , and vanishpoint ® blood collection set . we currently provide other safety medical products in addition to safety products utilizing retractable technology . one such product is the patient safe ® syringe , which is uniquely designed to reduce the risk of bloodstream infections associated with catheter hub contamination . in the second quarter of 2016 , we began selling the easypoint ® needle . easypoint ® needles made up 10.3 % of revenues in 2018. the easypoint ® is a retractable needle that can be used with luer lock syringes , luer slip syringes , and prefilled syringes to give injections . the easypoint ® needle can also be used to aspirate fluids and collect blood . based on industry-wide trends , we anticipate that demand may increase for the easypoint ® needle . historically , unit sales have increased in the latter part of the year due , in part , to the demand for syringes during the flu season . our products have been and continue to be distributed nationally and internationally through numerous distributors . although we have made limited progress in some areas , such as the alternate care market , our volumes are not as high as they should be given the nature and quality of our products and the federal and state legislation requiring the use of safe needle devices . the alternate care market is composed of facilities that provide long-term nursing and out-patient surgery , emergency care , physician services , health clinics , and retail pharmacies . we continue to pursue various strategies to have better access to the hospital market , as well as other markets , including attempting to gain access to the market through our sales efforts , our innovative technology , introduction of new products , and , when necessary , litigation . we have reported in the past that our progress is limited principally due to the practices engaged in by bd , the dominant maker and seller of disposable syringes . we initiated an antitrust and false advertising lawsuit in 2007 against bd . although a district court judgment in 2015 awarded us approximately $ 340 million in antitrust damages from bd and the fifth circuit affirmed a finding of false advertising liability against bd , we were ultimately awarded a take nothing judgment in august 2017 and the case was dismissed . we appealed that ruling and oral arguments occurred october 3 , 2018. on march 26 , 2019 , the u.s. court of appeals for the fifth circuit issued an opinion affirming the take nothing judgment . we are evaluating this ruling and conferring with legal counsel regarding possible future action . our litigation expenses were significantly less in 2017 and 2018 than previous years . 2017 costs related to additional compensation , bonuses to ms. larios and mr. cowan , and stock option expense related to options granted in 2016 affect comparability of 2018 results to 2017 results . in november 2018 , we terminated 19 employees earning total annual compensation of approximately $ 1.12 million . some of these positions may be filled in the future . severance costs associated with the 2018 terminations were $ 244 thousand . in january 2018 , congress imposed another two-year moratorium on the 2.3 % medical device excise tax imposed by internal revenue code section 4191. thus , the medical device excise tax is not expected to go into effect until january 1 , 2020. in 2016 , we granted a right to three of our executive officers to purchase shares directly from the company . thomas j. shaw was the only officer to exercise such right prior to expiration , buying a total of three million shares in two transactions in 2017 for an aggregate purchase price of $ 2.35 million . we received approximately $ 1 million from our insurance carrier in the second quarter of 2017 and used these funds to repair our buildings from earlier storm damage . the remaining proceeds of $ 261 thousand were recognized as insurance proceeds in the fourth quarter of 2018. product purchases from our chinese manufacturers have enabled us to increase manufacturing capacity with little capital outlay and have provided a competitive manufacturing cost . story_separator_special_tag in 2018 , our chinese manufacturers 11 produced approximately 85.3 % of our products . in the event that we become unable to purchase products from our chinese manufacturers , we would need to find an alternate manufacturer for the blood collection set , iv catheter , patient safe ® syringe , 0.5ml insulin syringe , 0.5ml autodisable syringe , and 2ml , 5ml , and 10ml syringes and we would increase domestic production for the 1ml and 3ml syringes . in 1995 , we entered into a license agreement with thomas j. shaw for the exclusive right to manufacture , market , and distribute products utilizing his patented automated retraction technology and other patented technology . this technology is the subject of various patents and patent applications owned by mr. shaw . the license agreement generally provides for quarterly payments of a 5 % royalty fee on gross sales . with increased volumes , our manufacturing unit costs have generally tended to decline . factors that could affect our unit costs include increases in costs by third party manufacturers , changing production volumes , costs of petroleum products , and transportation costs . increases in such costs may not be recoverable through price increases of our products . results of operations the following discussion contains trend information and other forward-looking statements that involve a number of risks and uncertainties . our actual future results could differ materially from our historical results of operations and those discussed in the forward-looking statements . all period references are to our fiscal years ended december 2018 , 2017 , or 2016. dollar amounts have been rounded for ease of reading . comparison of year ended december 31 , 2018 and year ended december 31 , 2017 domestic sales accounted for 86.1 % and 78.3 % of the revenues in 2018 and 2017 , respectively . domestic revenues increased 6.0 % principally due to increased volume mitigated by lower average price . domestic unit sales increased 12.0 % . domestic unit sales were 81.0 % of total unit sales for 2018. international revenues decreased from $ 7.5 million in 2017 to $ 4.6 million in 2018 , primarily due to lower volumes . overall unit sales decreased 3.8 % . our international orders may be subject to significant fluctuation over time . such orders may fluctuate due to health initiatives at various times as well as economic conditions . cost of manufactured product decreased $ 1.5 million principally due to lower volumes and lower unit cost of manufacture . royalty expense increased $ 80 thousand due to increased gross sales . gross profit margins increased from 28.9 % in 2017 to 30.7 % in 2018 principally due to lower cost of manufacturing . operating expenses decreased 14.2 % from the prior year due to lower legal expense , no bonuses paid in 2018 , lower travel and entertainment cost , decreased costs of engineering samples , and no stock option expense in 2018. these decreases were mitigated by severance costs . recognition of insurance proceeds of $ 261 thousand is due to actual building repairs being less than the insurance payment . the loss from operations was $ 1.3 million in 2018 compared to a loss from operations of $ 3.8 million in 2017. we recorded $ 188 thousand in tax benefits in connection with the enactment of the tax cut and jobs act ( the act ) on december 22 , 2017. the act established new tax provisions that affect us including the elimination of the corporate alternative minimum tax and changing rules related to uses and limitations of net operating loss carry forwards created after december 31 , 2017. carry forward credits from alternative minimum taxes paid in prior years became refundable in tax years beginning january 1 , 2018. such credits were , however , subject to sequestration . however , in january 2019 , the irs had a ruling that provided that alternative minimum tax payments are not subject to sequestration , bringing the total benefit to $ 202 thousand , an increase of $ 13 thousand from last year . 12 cash flow from operations was negative $ 1.2 million in 2018 due to our net loss , increased inventory , and use of insurance proceeds for repairs . the decrease in cash was mitigated by a decrease in accounts receivable and an increase in liabilities . in 2018 , we transferred $ 3 million from our cash accounts into securities with maturities of one to three years . this transfer significantly affects our net decrease in cash in 2018. however , the securities may increase investment income in the future . comparison of year ended december 31 , 2017 and year ended december 31 , 2016 domestic sales accounted for 78.3 % and 88.2 % of the revenues in 2017 and 2016 , respectively . domestic revenues increased 2.7 % principally due to increased sales of easypoint ® and the blood collection set . domestic unit sales increased 7.1 % . domestic unit sales were 69.5 % of total unit sales for 2017. international revenues increased from $ 3.5 million in 2016 to $ 7.5 million in 2017 , primarily due to increased volumes mitigated by lower average prices . overall unit sales increased 28.3 % . our international orders may be subject to significant fluctuation over time . such orders may fluctuate due to health initiatives at various times as well as economic conditions . cost of manufactured product increased $ 4.7 million principally due to higher volumes . royalty expense increased $ 337 thousand due to increased gross sales . gross profit margins decreased from 34.7 % in 2016 to 28.9 % in 2017 principally due to a larger portion of international sales which bear a lower average sales price . operating expenses decreased 0.7 % from the prior year due to decreased legal expenses and no impairment costs incurred in 2017 , offset by increased

