Lantheus Suspends Guidance as Curium Deal Overshadows Results
Lantheus Holdings reported revenue of $388.2 million for the quarter, but the figures took a back seat to an $8.0 billion acquisition agreement with Curium that led the company to pull its full-year forecast and cancel its earnings call.
Lantheus Holdings (LNTH) disclosed second-quarter results in a release rather than a call, after agreeing on 2026-08-03 to be acquired by Curium for up to $114.50 a share in a deal valued at roughly $8.0 billion. The radiopharmaceutical maker suspended its full-year 2026 guidance in connection with the transaction, reversing a forecast it had first issued at the end of 2025 and reaffirmed as recently as the prior quarter.
The timing put a pending sale in front of a business whose growth had already been slowing. Revenue rose 2.7% year-over-year to $388.2 million, an improvement from 1.2% growth in the first quarter of 2026 but a step down from the 4.0% pace posted in the fourth quarter of 2025. Growth has now stayed in the low single digits for four consecutive quarters, a trajectory that predates the takeover announcement and helps explain why Curium's offer landed when it did.
PYLARIFY, Lantheus's prostate-imaging agent, remained the company's largest product but continued to shrink on a year-over-year basis, falling 4.1% to $240.4 million even as its dollar sales held essentially flat near $240 million for five straight quarters. DEFINITY, the company's ultrasound contrast agent, offset some of that softness, growing 5.2% to $88.3 million and extending a growth streak broken only by a modest dip in the fourth quarter of 2025. Neuraceq, acquired with Life Molecular Imaging in July 2025, kept scaling, reaching $39.6 million after $35.4 million in the first quarter and $31.0 million in the fourth quarter of 2025. The legacy SPECT business, divested to SHINE Technologies effective January 1, 2026, contributed nothing against a $31.9 million prior-year comparison, a full drop-off built into the anchor quarter's year-over-year math.
Profitability told a mixed story depending on which measure investors favored. GAAP operating income climbed 13.9% to $100.2 million, ending four consecutive quarters of year-over-year declines. Adjusted operating income moved the other way, falling 6.9% to $142.0 million and compressing adjusted operating margin to 36.6% of revenue from 40.4% a year earlier, the fifth straight quarterly decline on that basis. Adjusted diluted earnings per share slipped 1.3% to $1.55, continuing a downturn that began in the first quarter of 2026 after growth in the fourth quarter of 2025. GAAP diluted EPS fell to $1.11 from $1.80 in the prior quarter, underscoring that the first-quarter figure had been lifted by a $59.5 million gain on the SPECT sale that did not recur.
Cost structure shifted alongside the acquisition integration. Sales and marketing expense more than doubled to $82.8 million from $41.0 million a year earlier, while general and administrative expense fell to $20.6 million from $66.5 million. Non-GAAP reconciliations also picked up a new $31.4 million contingent consideration fair-value gain and $16.7 million of amortization on acquired intangibles, up from $8.0 million a year earlier, both tied to the Life Molecular Imaging deal.
Cash built up sharply through the first half of the year. Cash and equivalents reached $593.3 million at June 30, 2026, up 65% from $359.1 million at year-end 2025, aided by free cash flow of $89.9 million in the quarter and SPECT divestiture proceeds. Free cash flow was down from $121.9 million in the first quarter but ahead of the $79.1 million generated a year earlier.
Lantheus also flagged leadership turnover as an ongoing risk factor, a disclosure that follows CEO Brian Markison's retirement announcement last year and the departure of the company's president, after which Mary Anne Heino was elevated to Executive Chair and CEO. With guidance suspended and the earnings call canceled, the Curium transaction now stands as the primary event shaping the company's near-term disclosures.