Earnings

Arbutus Returns $230 Million After Moderna Cash

The Tip Desk · November 12, 2026 · 3 min read

Cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities stood at $337.5 million as of September 30, 2026, after a $178.4 million settlement share and a $67.3 million Genevant dividend.

Arbutus Biopharma Corporation (ABUS), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on infectious disease, reported net income of $59.1 million, or $0.30 a share, for the quarter ended September 30, 2026, reversing a year-earlier net loss of $7.7 million, or $0.04 a share.

The profit swing came from a $67.3 million cash dividend from Genevant Sciences, its exclusive licensee, recorded as dividend income in the quarter. Interest income was $2.4 million. In September 2026 the company received the Genevant dividend, which it said represented a distribution of Genevant’s earnings in connection with the $950 million Noncontingent Settlement Payment Moderna made in July 2026.

On July 8, 2026, Arbutus received $178.4 million as its share of that settlement, including reimbursement of litigation costs. An additional $1.3 billion remains contingent on an appellate ruling that 28 U.S.C. §1498 does not bar Arbutus’ and Genevant’s claims against Moderna, except as to doses the district court characterized as having gone to U.S. government employees. Expedited oral argument on that appeal was held November 5, 2026, and a decision is forthcoming.

Cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities were $337.5 million as of September 30, 2026, compared with $91.5 million as of December 31, 2025. In the nine months ended September 30, 2026, the company received $225.7 million of net cash from operating activities and $19.3 million from stock-option exercises.

In early October 2026, after quarter-end, Arbutus completed a modified Dutch Auction tender offer, returning $230 million of capital and purchasing 46 million common shares for cancellation at $5.00 a share, about 23% of issued and outstanding common shares as of September 29, 2026. In the second-quarter release it had said it expected to return up to approximately $230 million of capital commencing in the third quarter.

Total revenue was $0.3 million for the quarter, compared with $0.5 million a year earlier. The company said the $0.2 million decrease was due primarily to lower license royalty revenues, primarily from a decline in Alnylam’s sales of ONPATTRO. License revenue from Genevant was zero in the quarter, after $179.1 million of such revenue in the quarter ended March 31, 2026 related to the Moderna settlement.

Research and development expenses were $2.6 million, compared with $5.8 million a year earlier. The company attributed the $3.2 million decrease primarily to cost savings from workforce reductions and discontinuing in-house scientific research, as well as lower clinical trial costs as studies neared completion. General and administrative expenses were $8.0 million, compared with $3.0 million a year earlier, due primarily to one-time cash bonuses paid to executives in consideration of the Moderna settlement. There were no restructuring costs in the quarter.

Arbutus and Genevant filed new lawsuits in Japan against Pfizer Japan Inc. and amended a previously filed Canadian case to add infringement of a newly issued LNP patent, expanding international patent enforcement against Pfizer and BioNTech. The company is seeking monetary relief and injunctions against mRNA-LNP COVID-19 vaccines and other products that infringe the asserted patents.

In October 2026 the FDA lifted the clinical hold on the IND application for AB-101, an oral PD-L1 inhibitor, allowing additional U.S. clinical development. Arbutus said it is evaluating next steps for continued development of AB-101. In May 2026 it had reached alignment with the FDA on the design and safety parameters of a proposed Phase 2b trial of imdusiran for chronic hepatitis B.

As of September 30, 2026, the company had 199.3 million common shares issued and outstanding, as well as 6.4 million stock options and unvested restricted stock units outstanding.

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