Together with our marketing and distribution partners, we are looking forward to making Bentrio available as an effective and safe treatment option to help patients deal with the daily burden and this comfort associated with allergic rhinitis. With regards to our AM-125, on June 29, following a review of our IND application for AM-125 received from the FDA a study may proceed later. The IND clearance means that the proposed Phase II clinical trial was AM-125 in the treatment of benign paroxysmal positional vertigo, BPPV, which is the most common form of vertigo has been authorized and may be conducted in the U.S. This has been a major step in our development program. An earlier Phase II clinical trial conducted in Europe, the TRAVERS trial demonstrated that a four week treatment course with AM-125 in vertigo patients following surgical removal of a tumor behind the inner ear was well tolerated and helped to accelerate vestibular compensation, enabling patients to regain balance and recover faster.
The new Phase II trial is designed to demonstrate AM-125’s tolerability in clinical utility also in BPPV. As previously announced, we intend to divest or partner the AM-125 program for further development and commercialization in the context of our strategic pivot to RNA delivery. To this end, we have initiated discussions with a number of potential partners based on a structured approach. It is probably worth mentioning that vertigo balance problems are among the most frequent and increasing health issues in the general population. In 2016, 36.8 million adults or 15.5% reported a balance problem in the past year compared to 24.2 million or 11.1% in 2008. Betahistine, the active substance of AM-125 is a standard of care treatment in oral form for vertigo in dozens of countries worldwide, but it’s not marketed in the U.S. We believe that AM-125, which offers much better bioavailability than betahistine tablets with great potential, both in existing betahistine markets, but in particular also in the U.S. Turning next to our financial highlights for the first half of 2023.
Revenues for the first half of 2023 were CHF0.1 million compared to CHF0.3 million for the first half of 2022, reflecting the waning of SARS-CoV-2 infections and more importantly, the aforementioned strategic decision to temporarily reduce commercial activities around Bentrio in anticipation of a partnering transaction for key markets. Total operating loss for the first six months of 2023 was CHF4.6 million compared with CHF8.4 million for the first six months of 2022, a reduction of 45.5%. The improvement was primarily driven by lower expenditures for research and development as clinical trials went down and for marketing and sales as commercial activities were reduced. General and administrative expenses slightly increased in the first half of 2023 as higher costs related to capital market projects outweighed reductions in admin expenditures.
The net loss for the first half of 2023 was CHF5.4 million compared with CHF8.2 million for the first half of 2022. Financial liabilities decreased from CHF5.9 million at the end of 2022 to CHF3.1 million at June 30. Shareholders’ equity improved at the same time from a deficit of CHF8.3 million to a deficit of CHF1.8 million. Cash and cash equivalents on June 30, 2023, totaled CHF50,000 compared with CHF15,000 at December 31, 2022. In early July ’23, we raised $5 million in equity through the public offering of 11.1 million common shares or prefunded warrants at $0.45 each and the same number of warrants with an exercise price of CHF0.4 on a five year duration. The transaction yielded net proceeds of CHF3.7 million. As a result, we expect total cash need in 2023 to be in the range of CHF12 million to CHF14 million, and in the 12 months from the issuance date of our most recent financial statements here to be in the range of CHF12 million to CHF14 million.
I would now like to turn to answering the questions that were submitted to us for today.
