Absci's Q2 2026 net loss widened 8.6% to $33.2 million as ABS-201 trial costs lifted R&D, but a $93.6 million June offering (including $40 million from Eli Lilly) raised cash to $201.1 million and the stated runway to the second half of 2028.
Revenue
$318K
-46.4% YoY
Net income
-$33M
-8.6% YoY
Diluted EPS
$-0.21
+12.5% YoY
This period vs a year ago
Same period last year
This period
Revenue▼-46.4%
≈$593K
$318K
Year-ago figures (≈) are worked out from the growth rate the company reported. Each row has its own scale.
A bigger loss, a much bigger bank balance
Absci is a clinical-stage drug developer: it uses AI models to design antibody drugs, then tests them in its own lab. It has no product on sale, so the second quarter of 2026 is best read as a question of spending and funding rather than sales. Partner fees (the only revenue) fell to $0.3 million, research spending rose 11% to $22.6 million as its lead drug ABS-201 moved through its first human trial, and the net loss widened to $33.2 million. The quarter's defining event came in June: a $93.6 million net stock offering, which included a $40 million investment from Eli Lilly and lifted cash and investments to $201.1 million, up from $125.7 million at the end of March.
At a glance
$201.1 million in cash and investments at June 30. Management now says that is enough to fund operations into the second half of 2028. Before the raise it could only commit to "at least 12 months" in its filings, and it still uses that formal wording.
$53.9 million of cash used by operations in the first half, up 39% from $38.7 million a year earlier. Cash burn is rising faster than the accounting loss (up 10% for the half).
Loss per share fell to $0.21 from $0.24, but only because there are about 23% more shares than a year ago. The loss itself grew 8.6%.
Results versus a year ago
All figures are in US dollars for the quarter ended June 30, from the company's 10-Q.
Metric
Q2 2026
Q2 2025
YoY Change
Partner program revenue
$0.3M ($318K)
$0.6M ($593K)
-46.4%
Read 0 community reports on Absci Corporation, or write your own.Write a report
Operating margin (the share of revenue left after running the business) is not shown: with $0.3 million of revenue against $34.5 million of operating costs, the figure would be about -10,700%, which tells a reader nothing useful. For a company at this stage, the numbers that matter are cash used and how long the cash lasts.
Where the money went
Research spending is going up because of the lead drug. R&D rose $2.2 million in the quarter. The filing breaks this down: +$1.5 million in outside costs for preclinical and clinical work, "primarily driven by an increase from ABS-201"; +$0.8 million in other drug-design and platform costs; +$0.5 million in other lab costs; and -$0.6 million in staff and stock-based pay. For the first half, R&D was up $5.1 million (14%) to $41.9 million. The mix has shifted: less money on people, more on outside trial work. That is what happens when a drug moves from the lab into human trials run by contract research organisations.
Overhead barely moved. Selling, general and administrative costs were up $0.6 million in the quarter, mostly staff and stock-based pay, and only $0.2 million (1%) for the half. Depreciation fell 10% "primarily due to disposals of lab equipment."
Revenue from partners is small and lumpy. Absci earns fees when it designs antibodies for other drug companies. These are paid upfront, on reaching project milestones, and during the work. Revenue fell 46% in the quarter and 70% for the half ($0.5 million vs $1.8 million). The filing puts this down to "the timing of achieving project-based milestones and the mix of ongoing program activity." Three partners made up 100% of first-half revenue, and substantially all of it came from partners outside the US. Only $1.4 million sits in deferred revenue (cash received for work not yet done), and it is expected to be recognised over one to two years. Partner fees are not a meaningful source of funding for Absci right now.
The pipeline: one drug, two diseases
ABS-201 is an antibody that blocks the prolactin receptor (PRLR). Absci is testing it in two conditions:
Pattern hair loss. The HEADLINE Phase 1/2a trial in Australia is expected to enrol up to 227 volunteers. In June, Absci reported interim blinded data. The drug appeared well tolerated across all single-dose groups, and its estimated half-life (how long it stays in the body) is at least 65 days. That would support the intended schedule of two or three injections over six months. These are safety and dosing results, not evidence that the drug regrows hair. That evidence is still to come.
Endometriosis. A Phase 2 trial is planned to start in Q4 2026, with possible proof-of-concept data in the second half of 2027. The filing adds a condition: "subject to review of available data, regulatory considerations and other factors."
A second PRLR antibody, ABS-202, is in preclinical work for an undisclosed immunology indication.
Eli Lilly's $40 million was an equity purchase within the $100 million offering. According to the earnings release, the partnership "does not confer any program rights to Eli Lilly". A Lilly representative joined Absci's endometriosis advisory board. So Lilly now owns part of the company but has no claim on the drug.
Takeaway: The June raise took Absci from under five quarters of cash at its first-half burn rate ($125.7 million at the end of March) to a stated runway into the second half of 2028. That covers both upcoming hair-loss readouts and the start of the endometriosis trial. The cost was dilution: about 20 million more shares since December, a 13% increase. The next funding question now depends on whether ABS-201 shows hair regrowth, not on the calendar.
What the headline numbers hide
Cash burn is growing faster than the loss. First-half operating cash use rose 39%, but the net loss rose only 10%. About $4.9 million of the gap came from working capital: Absci paid down $3.1 million of payables and accrued expenses and built up $1.7 million of prepaid expenses. A year ago the same items brought in about $4.0 million. Non-cash charges were steady: stock-based pay of $9.6 million (vs $9.7 million) and depreciation of $5.4 million (vs $6.1 million). The $53.9 million half-year burn works out to about $27 million a quarter. Absci says R&D will "continue to increase in absolute dollars", so that pace should not be treated as a ceiling.
The better loss per share comes entirely from dilution. The net loss grew by $2.6 million, yet loss per share improved from $0.24 to $0.21. Weighted-average shares rose from 127.6 million to 157.5 million. Shares outstanding went from 151.5 million at December 31 to 171.6 million at June 30. That came from the June offering (13.5 million shares at $7.41), 3.7 million shares sold through the at-the-market program (sales of new shares straight into the market, $12.5 million net in the half) and employee equity plans. Nothing in operations improved per share.
The cash increase is financing, not operations. The $87.8 million rise in cash in the half came from $110.3 million of financing inflows. The company also sold $31.4 million of marketable securities (short-term bonds), net, and moved the money into cash. That changes where the money sits, not how much there is.
No one-off items. Other income, mostly interest on cash, was steady at $1.0 million for the quarter. There were no impairments, restructuring charges or unusual gains in either year. Debt is tiny ($0.15 million left). On the accounting side, this was a clean quarter; the risk sits in the clinical results.
Did last time's read hold up?
This is our first published analysis of Absci, so there is no earlier outlook to check.
What to watch next
Interim proof-of-concept data for hair loss in the second half of 2026, including exploratory efficacy measures. Full data are due in early 2027. This is the main event: the safety and half-life data so far show that the drug can be dosed, not that it works.
Whether the endometriosis Phase 2 starts in Q4 2026 as planned. Management has made the start subject to data and regulatory review, so a slip would be worth noting.
Quarterly cash burn against the 2028 runway. At the first-half pace of about $27 million a quarter, $201.1 million covers about seven and a half quarters, which reaches roughly spring 2028, not the second half. For the guidance to hold, average burn needs to come in a little below that pace, or there has to be other money: roughly $1 million a quarter of interest income, further at-the-market share sales, or partner cash. Yet management also says R&D will keep rising. That gap is the main thing to check in each quarterly filing.
New partner deals. Revenue is too small to affect funding today. A licensing deal for a preclinical program (the filing says Absci will "seek partnerships or out-licenses for select programs") is the one route to non-dilutive cash, meaning money that does not require issuing new shares.
Source: Absci Corporation Form 10-Q for the quarter ended June 30, 2026 (filed August 11, 2026), with runway guidance and Eli Lilly partnership details from the same-day earnings release (Exhibit 99.1).