Sana Turns a Profit on a Cobalt Accounting Gain

The Tip Desk · November 11, 2026 · 3 min read

The cell-therapy company reported third-quarter net income of $20.4 million, or $0.07 a share, after a $63.4 million aggregate non-cash gain on success payment liabilities and contingent consideration.

Sana Biotechnology, Inc. (SANA), a company focused on creating and delivering engineered cells as medicines, reported net income of $20.4 million, or $0.07 a share, for the three months ended September 30, 2026, reversing a year-earlier net loss of $42.2 million, or $0.16 a share.

The swing was driven by a $63.4 million non-cash gain on research and development related success payments and contingent consideration, versus a $3.1 million non-cash expense a year earlier. Of that gain, $55.5 million related to changes in the estimated fair value of Cobalt contingent consideration, primarily reflecting an August 2026 amendment to the Cobalt acquisition agreement.

Income from operations was $18.5 million, compared with an operating loss of $43.5 million in the year-ago quarter.

The amendment restructured Cobalt contingent consideration to expand triggers to both specified development milestones and Sana’s receipt of payments from fusogen-technology business-development transactions, and to reduce or defer certain milestone payments until a change of control. The company said the fair value of those potential liabilities may fluctuate with the timing and probability of milestones, fusogen business-development payments, and Sana’s market capitalization and stock price.

On a non-GAAP basis that excludes those valuation changes, Sana posted a net loss of $43.0 million, or $0.14 a share, versus $39.0 million, or $0.15 a share, a year earlier.

Research and development expenses were $33.9 million, up $3.8 million from $30.1 million a year earlier. The company said the increase was primarily due to higher third-party manufacturing costs at contract development and manufacturing organizations for SC451 and SG293 and higher laboratory costs related to SC451, partly offset by non-recurrence of manufacturing and trial costs tied to suspended allogeneic CAR T programs. General and administrative expenses were $10.9 million, compared with $10.3 million a year earlier, primarily from higher facility and other allocated costs.

Cash, cash equivalents, and marketable securities were $121.7 million as of September 30, 2026, down from $160.5 million at June 30, 2026. The company still expects cash runway into mid-2027.

President and Chief Executive Officer Steve Harr said the company continues to make meaningful progress toward initiating clinical studies of SC451 later this year and SG293 in the first quarter of 2027, and that it aims to share data from both programs in 2027.

SC451, an O-negative, hypoimmune-modified, iPSC-derived pancreatic islet cell therapy, remains targeted for an investigational new drug application and Phase 1/2 trial start as early as this year. Harr said SC451 in type 1 diabetes may provide a rapid signal, similar to what was seen with UP421, on whether the therapy can evade immune detection and function in patients.

SG293 timing slipped. The company now has the potential to share first-in-human data in non-Hodgkin lymphoma as early as the first half of 2027, after previously saying it expected to generate first-in-human data as early as 2026. SG227, a CD8-targeted fusosome for multiple myeloma, is being prepared for clinical testing as early as 2027, contingent on the early clinical profile of SG293.

An investigator-sponsored UP421 study through 14 months showed circulating C-peptide, with fasting and mixed-meal-stimulated levels at month 14 comparable to those in the first six months, and PET-MRI at weeks 12 and 52 showed islet cells at the forearm transplant site. The company said the study has identified no safety issues and that the cells have evaded immune detection. The New England Journal of Medicine published a Letter to the Editor on the 14-month results.