Scholar Rock Widens Cash Pile as Apitegromab Review Advances, EMA Timeline Slips
Scholar Rock Holding (SRRK) ended the second quarter with $492.1 million in cash even as its net loss widened to $215.4 million for the first half of 2026.
Scholar Rock Holding (SRRK) reported a second-quarter net loss of $109.9 million, or $0.84 a share, compared with a loss of $110.0 million, or $0.98 a share, a year earlier, as the clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company advanced its lead drug candidate apitegromab toward a September 30 regulatory decision.
The per-share improvement came largely from dilution rather than operating leverage, with the weighted-average share count rising to 130.6 million from 112.7 million. Total operating expenses fell to $108.9 million from $112.1 million, with research and development spending down 6.7% to $58.2 million even as R&D-related stock-based compensation rose to $7.5 million from $5.8 million. General and administrative expense edged up to $50.7 million from $49.7 million despite a sharp drop in G&A stock-based compensation, to $12.2 million from $18.6 million.
The six-month picture told a different story than the quarter alone. Net loss for the first half of 2026 widened to $215.4 million from $184.8 million a year earlier, driven by G&A expense that nearly doubled to $100.9 million from $78.1 million, while R&D spending held roughly flat at $110.0 million.
Scholar Rock's cash position grew through the period even as losses mounted. Cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities rose to $492.1 million at June 30 from $480 million at the end of the first quarter and $367.6 million at the end of 2025, a buildup of roughly 34% over two quarters. The company funded the increase through at-the-market share issuance, which brought in $62.8 million in net proceeds in the second quarter after $98 million in the first, alongside a $100 million draw earlier in the year against its non-dilutive debt facility. That borrowing pushed total liabilities to $269.8 million at quarter-end from $158.8 million at the end of 2025, with long-term liabilities nearly doubling to $197.5 million.
The regulatory path for apitegromab, Scholar Rock's antibody candidate for spinal muscular atrophy, continued to firm up. The drug moved from an anticipated 2026 launch in the fourth-quarter 2025 report to FDA acceptance of its resubmitted application with a September 30, 2026 PDUFA date in the first quarter, and a second fill-finish facility has submitted its data package and is under active FDA review. Supply timing for that second facility also resolved: after citing "accelerated timelines" and supply expected "early Q3 2026" in the prior quarter, ample supply is available for commercialization upon FDA approval.
Not every regulatory thread closed as cleanly. A Catalent Indiana manufacturing facility's FDA inspection classification remained pending following an April 2026 general site inspection, after the prior quarter had described its classification as "anticipated within 90 days". And Scholar Rock's European timeline moved backward: after consistently citing a mid-2026 CHMP opinion and an H2 2026 launch beginning in Germany across the prior two quarters, the company plans to provide updated guidance pending EMA alignment.
On the pipeline side, Scholar Rock disclosed that its Phase 2 FORGE trial testing a treatment for facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy had been initiated, enrolling roughly 60 patients with lean muscle volume at 12 months as the primary endpoint. The trial had been described as on track to begin in mid-2026 as recently as the fourth-quarter 2025 report.
With apitegromab's U.S. decision now weeks away and a cash balance built substantially through debt and equity issuance, Scholar Rock's near-term results will hinge on whether the FDA review concludes on schedule and whether the company delivers the updated European timeline it has so far withheld.