Absci Widens Loss as Revenue Halves, Secures Lilly Cash Infusion
The AI drug-design platform reported just $0.3 million in second-quarter revenue while its cash position swelled to $201 million following a $100 million offering anchored by Eli Lilly.
Absci (ABSI), the AI-powered drug-design platform, reported second-quarter revenue of $0.3 million, down 50% from $0.6 million a year earlier, as the company continued to shift its commercial weight toward internal pipeline development. The top-line contraction underscored a quarter defined less by near-term sales and more by clinical milestones and a balance-sheet overhaul that reshaped the company's capital structure.
The revenue decline extended a longer trend. First-half partner-program revenue totaled $533,000, down 70% from $1.77 million in the comparable 2024 period. Absci has been redirecting resources away from fee-for-service collaborations and toward its own therapeutic programs, a strategic pivot that has compressed recurring partner income even as operating costs climb.
Those costs continued to rise. Research-and-development spending increased 10.5% year over year to $22.6 million, driven by advancement of the company's lead asset, ABS-201, including clinical and preclinical costs, partially offset by lower personnel expenses. Selling, general and administrative expenses rose 7.5% to $9.2 million, lifted by stock-based compensation and administrative costs. Total operating expenses reached $34.5 million for the quarter, up 7.8% from a year ago.
The wider spending base pushed the net loss to $33.2 million, an 8.6% increase from $30.6 million in the year-earlier quarter. On a per-share basis, however, the loss narrowed to $0.21 from $0.24, a function of a 23.4% larger weighted-average share count of 157.5 million shares versus 127.6 million. For the first half, the net loss widened to $62.8 million from $56.9 million, while the per-share figure improved to $0.40 from $0.45 on the same dilutive dynamic.
The quarter's most consequential development was financial rather than operational. Absci completed a $100 million underwritten offering in June that included a $40 million strategic investment from Eli Lilly, establishing a new investor relationship. Cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities surged 59.8% sequentially to $201.1 million as of June 30, up from $125.7 million at the end of March, reflecting $93.6 million in net proceeds from the offering. The company now expects its cash to fund operations into the second half of 2028, extending a prior runway estimate of the first half of 2028.
On the clinical front, Absci reported positive interim Phase 1 data for ABS-201, its lead antibody program for pattern hair loss, showing an estimated half-life of at least 65 days. The trial completed all four single-ascending-dose cohorts after dosing its first three cohorts in the fourth quarter of 2023. Interim proof-of-concept data for the hair-loss indication remain on track for the second half of 2026, with a full 26-week readout expected in early 2027. The company also continued to advance ABS-202, an anti-PRLR antibody targeting an undisclosed immunology and inflammation indication, first disclosed in the first quarter.
Eli Lilly's involvement extended beyond the balance sheet. A Lilly representative joined Absci's Endometriosis Advisory Board, a new disclosure tied to the strategic investment. The partnership gives Absci a marquee pharmaceutical backer at a stage when the company's revenue base has largely evaporated and its valuation rests on the promise of its generative-AI platform converting into clinical-stage assets.