Vir Swings to Profit as Astellas Payment Lifts Revenue
Second-quarter revenue reached $238.9 million after Vir recognized an upfront collaboration payment.
Vir Biotechnology (VIR), a clinical-stage biotechnology company, swung to second-quarter net income of $80.1 million as its Astellas collaboration transformed the period’s results.
The agreement also extended Vir’s cash runway into the second half of 2028, compared with the mid-2027 horizon disclosed a year earlier. Cash, cash equivalents and investments rose about $198.5 million during the quarter to approximately $1.01 billion after Vir received a $240 million upfront payment and $75 million through an Astellas equity investment, partly offset by a $48 million payment to Sanofi.
Revenue rose from $1.2 million a year earlier, driven almost entirely by $238.9 million of license and collaboration revenue tied to Astellas’s upfront payment. Vir earned $0.48 a basic share and $0.47 diluted, reversing a year-earlier loss of $111.0 million, or $0.80 a share.
Operating income was $73.5 million, compared with an operating loss of $118.4 million a year earlier, even as total operating expenses climbed to $165.5 million from $119.6 million. Research-and-development expense rose 39% to $135.3 million, principally reflecting the Sanofi milestone and higher manufacturing costs for chronic hepatitis delta commercialization-preparation batches. Selling, general and administrative expense increased 36% to $30.2 million, mainly because of one-time advisory and legal fees associated with the Astellas closing.
Complete Week 96 SOLSTICE data showed undetectable hepatitis delta virus RNA in 88% of participants receiving the elebsiran-tobevibart combination, or 28 of 32, compared with 53% on antibody monotherapy. The prior quarter’s 88% result covered a 24-participant Week 96 subset, following a 77% rate at Week 72. Vir also reported a last-observation-carried-forward analysis in which 31 of 32 combination participants, or 97%, had undetectable virus levels at Week 96.
ECLIPSE 2 completed enrollment during the quarter, leaving Vir’s entire registrational chronic hepatitis delta program fully enrolled. In November 2025, ECLIPSE 2 was still enrolling and ECLIPSE 3 was progressing toward completion.
Vir continues to expect ECLIPSE 1 topline results in the fourth quarter of 2026, earlier than the first-quarter 2027 timing disclosed in November 2025. Readouts from ECLIPSE 2 and ECLIPSE 3 remain expected in the first quarter of 2027.
The company also expanded VIR-5500 development from one late-line prostate-cancer monotherapy cohort to three monotherapy cohorts and an enzalutamide combination cohort, with docetaxel and darolutamide combinations planned. Vir continues to target pivotal Phase 3 trials in 2027.