Vir Biotechnology Narrows Loss After Gilead Deal

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

Cash, cash equivalents and investments stood at about $901.3 million at September 30, excluding $90 million of Gilead consideration.

Vir Biotechnology, Inc. (VIR), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, reported a net loss of $96.3 million, or $0.57 a share, for the third quarter ended September 30, 2026, compared with a net loss of $163.1 million, or $1.17 a share, a year earlier.

The company said it is entering an important period with catalysts across hepatitis delta and oncology, as it awaits topline data from the pivotal Phase 3 ECLIPSE 1 trial in the fourth quarter of 2026. President and Chief Executive Officer Marianne De Backer said Vir Bio is well positioned to deliver value for patients and stakeholders.

Cash, cash equivalents and investments ended the quarter at approximately $901.3 million, down $106.5 million during the third quarter of 2026, excluding $90 million of upfront consideration from a new Gilead collaboration. That balance compared with more than $1.0 billion at June 30, 2026. The company continues to expect cash, cash equivalents and investments to fund operations into the second half of 2028.

Vir Biotechnology entered a collaboration and license agreement with Gilead to discover and engineer three novel PRO-XTEN dual-masked T-cell engager development candidates targeting selected solid tumor-associated antigens. Gilead will have an exclusive license to develop and commercialize the novel TCEs. The company received $90 million in cash consideration, including a $65 million upfront payment and a $25 million equity investment at a 30% premium, and is eligible to receive up to $45 million in potential near-term preclinical milestones. It also has the potential to receive up to $1.74 billion in further development, regulatory and commercial milestones, along with tiered royalties on net sales.

Research and development expenses were $80.0 million, including $4.4 million of non-cash stock-based compensation, compared with $151.5 million in the third quarter of 2025, which included $5.5 million of stock-based compensation. The company said the decrease was primarily driven by a non-recurring $75.0 million milestone expense in the third quarter of 2025 due upon VIR-5525 achieving first-in-human dosing, along with recognition of cost recoveries in connection with collaborations with Astellas and Norgine in the third quarter of 2026. The decrease was partially offset by higher manufacturing costs associated with oncology and chronic hepatitis delta programs.

Selling, general and administrative expenses were $24.4 million, including $6.0 million of stock-based compensation, compared with $22.2 million a year earlier. The company said the increase was primarily due to higher advisory and legal fees. License and collaboration revenue was a $200 thousand expense versus a $65 thousand expense a year earlier, and grant revenue fell to $12 thousand from $305 thousand, leaving total revenues of negative $188 thousand versus $240 thousand.

In oncology, the U.S. FDA granted Fast Track designation to VIR-5500, a PSMA-targeted PRO-XTEN dual-masked T-cell engager, for late-line metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer. The company said VIR-5500 has achieved proof of concept and that it expects multiple pivotal trials to begin in 2027 with Astellas. VIR-5500 is being evaluated in a Phase 1 trial as monotherapy and combination therapy across six dose expansion cohorts.

For chronic hepatitis delta, the company will present expanded Phase 2 SOLSTICE results at AASLD The Liver Meeting 2026 on November 8. Topline data from ECLIPSE 2 and ECLIPSE 3 are expected in the first quarter of 2027. Data from all three ECLIPSE trials will be part of a comprehensive global filing package. VIR-5818 and VIR-5525 Phase 1 trials continue, with VIR-5818 set to add backfill cohorts in a more homogeneous monotherapy population following FDA feedback. The company plans a virtual research investor event in the first quarter of 2027 covering its oncology strategy and preclinical pipeline.

The company appointed Aziz Sawaf as executive vice president and chief financial officer, David Liu as executive vice president and chief medical officer, and Suzanne Topalian to its board and Science and Technology Committee.