The decrease was due to the 52% decrease in overall unit sales offset by $172,000 of costs related to the write-off or reserves on old inventory and components, primarily related to our ClearUP 1.0 unit, as the ClearUP 2.0 unit began shipping in December of 2023. We do not expect to incur similar costs in 2024. Therefore, gross profit for the year ended December 31, 2023 was $287,000 compared to a gross profit of $299,000 for the year ended December 31, 2022. Research and development expenses were $1.7 million for the year ended December 31, 2023, and December 31, 2022. The emphasis of our research and development activities in 2023 was primarily related to our work with The Feinstein Institute. Activities in 2022 were primarily focused on product research and design in the migraine therapeutic area, initiation of a double-blind randomized controlled trial for postoperative pain relief following sinus surgery, and enhancement of our intellectual property protection.
Sales and marketing expenses decreased to $2.1 million for the year ended December 31, 2023, compared to $2.8 million for the year ended December 31, 2022. The decrease was primarily due to the reduction of advertising and agency expenses. General and administrative expenses decreased to $4.8 million for the year ended December 31, 2023, compared to $5.9 million for the year ended December 31, ’22. The decrease is primarily due to a reduction in legal and professional fees and other corporate expenses as the company worked to reduce overhead costs. As a result, our 2023 full year net loss was $8.2 million compared to $10.1 million in 2022. Regarding financing activity, on February 13, 2023, we sold shares of common stock, resulting in net proceeds of approximately $3.6 million.
Further, from July 11, 2023 to August 9, we sold shares of common stock, resulting in a further aggregate net proceeds to the company of approximately $4.3 million. As of December 31, 2023, the company had $3.4 million of cash and cash equivalents, and we continue to maintain a no-debt balance sheet. Further, on August 23, as Jennifer mentioned, we implemented a 1 for 100 reverse stock split. And on September 15, we received confirmation from NASDAQ on our regaining compliance with the minimum bid price requirement. I will now hand the call back to Jennifer for ending remarks.
Jennifer Ernst: Thank you, Kim, thank you, Blake, both for sharing your insights with our investor community. So, this year, I think everyone is hearing, is one of resetting, rebuilding and recovery. As part of our commitment to fiscal responsibility, we’ve decreased our expenses, we’ve reduced internal headcount, we focused the team on profitably building the ClearUP product line, and at the same time, enhancing our R&D efforts to build new value for our shareholders. We revamped the administrative cost structure of the business. We reduced our overhead expenses. We’ve undertaken a more focused marketing strategy, and we continue to see improvements in both gross and contribution margins. And as you’ve heard from me before, we continue to evaluate business combinations, licensing opportunities, both inbound/outbound and M&A, that may help to enrich our product portfolio with complementary offerings.
We recognize though that those type of initiatives must be taken — must be the right opportunities at the right time. So, we remain vigilant in assessing the opportunities that may provide significant disproportionate benefit to our shareholders. Our research pipeline is beginning to mature, and it’s becoming an even more important part of our strategy to build shareholder value. We believe that the VNS opportunity as well as the medical extensions of our trigeminal nerve stimulation have the potential to be of great significance to the company. So, 2023 involves hard decisions and very strict prioritization of spending. I am appreciative of our team and of the measures they have undertaken to control costs, while continuing to improve the business performance.
And with that, I thank all of you for taking the time with us today. Look forward to speaking with you more as we make progress through the year and continue to report out on both the financial and research programs that you heard about today. Thank you to everyone, and we look forward to speaking with you at the next quarterly earnings call.
Operator: This concludes today’s conference, and you may disconnect your lines at this time. Thank you for your participation.
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