Aclaris Therapeutics, Inc. (ACRS) Q2 2026 Earnings: Revenue $1.6M (-8.3%)
ACRS — Q2 2026 Financial Report Analysis
Q2 · Fiscal year 2026 · Published by Pham Hop
Aclaris's Q2 2026 net loss widened 39.4% to $21.5M as R&D jumped 57.8% on ATI-052 and ATI-9494, funded by share sales that left $170.6M in cash plus $40.2M raised in July ahead of H2 2026 trial read-outs.
Revenue
$1.6M
-8.3% YoY
Net income
-$22M
-39.4% YoY
Diluted EPS
$-0.15
-15.4% YoY
This period vs a year ago
Same period last year
This period
Revenue▼-8.3%
≈$1.8M
$1.6M
Year-ago figures (≈) are worked out from the growth rate the company reported. Each row has its own scale.
Aclaris Therapeutics' second quarter of 2026 was about spending, not sales. The company, which develops experimental drugs for immune and inflammatory diseases and has no product of its own on the market, grew research and development (R&D) spending 57.8% to $18.1 million as it moved several antibodies and pills into new trials. Its net loss widened 39.4% to $21.5 million, while revenue slipped 8.3% to $1.6 million. It paid for this by selling new shares: $59.8 million in March and another $40.2 million in July, after the quarter ended.
At a glance
R&D up $6.6 million (+57.8%) to $18.1 million — almost all of it from ATI-052, a two-target antibody, and ATI-9494, a pill heading toward human testing. This is where the company's money and its future now sit.
$170.6 million in cash and investments at June 30, plus $40.2 million of gross proceeds raised in July. Management says it has enough for more than 12 months; at the first half's pace of cash use, the June balance alone covers about two years.
Revenue of $1.6 million is almost entirely passed through to others. Of $1.3 million in licensing revenue, $1.2 million went straight back out as licensing expense, so revenue does not offset the losses in any meaningful way.
The numbers
Metric
Q2 2026
Q2 2025
YoY Change
Total revenue
$1.6M
$1.8M
-8.3%
– Licensing revenue
$1.3M
$1.3M
-4.6%
– Contract research revenue
$0.36M
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$0.44M
-19.5%
Research and development
$18.1M
$11.4M
+57.8%
General and administrative
$6.0M
$5.4M
+12.3%
Loss from operations
-$24.2M
-$18.4M
loss 31.7% wider
Net loss
-$21.5M
-$15.4M
-39.4% (loss 39.4% wider)
Net loss per share (diluted)
-$0.15
-$0.13
-15.4% (loss per share 15.4% wider)
Weighted average shares
142.7M
122.6M
+16.4%
Operating cash outflow (first half)
$38.0M
$23.1M
+64.8%
For the first six months, revenue rose 12.2% to $3.6 million (licensing was higher thanks to larger royalties from Eli Lilly and Sun Pharma), and the net loss grew from $30.5 million to $41.3 million. An operating margin — the share of revenue left after running the business — isn't a useful measure here: operating costs of $25.9 million were about 16 times revenue.
Where the money went
Aclaris breaks R&D down by drug, which makes it easy to see what drove the increase. Four lines rose by a combined $7.4 million, more than the total $6.6 million increase, because one program was winding down:
R&D program
Q2 2026
Q2 2025
Change
ATI-052 (antibody blocking TSLP and IL-4Rα)
$4.9M
$1.4M
+$3.5M
ATI-9494 (oral ITK inhibitor, pre-clinical)
$3.1M
$0.9M
+$2.2M
Discovery (early research)
$2.0M
$0.7M
+$1.2M
Bosakitug (anti-TSLP antibody)
$3.3M
$2.8M
+$0.5M
Modzatinib (oral ITK/JAK3 inhibitor)
$0.4M
$1.1M
-$0.7M
Personnel, stock pay and other
$4.4M
$4.4M
flat
ATI-052 is the biggest new cost. The filing attributes the rise to "product candidate manufacturing costs and clinical development expenses" for its first-in-human study and two new Phase 1b trials — small early tests of whether a drug works in patients — in atopic dermatitis (eczema) started in January and asthma started in February. In April the company reported that the healthy-volunteer study found the drug well tolerated, with an estimated half-life (the time it takes the body to clear half the dose) of about 45 days, which it says could allow dosing as rarely as every three months.
ATI-9494 costs rose on drug manufacturing and toxicity studies needed before the company can apply to the FDA to start human trials (an IND application), which it expects to file in the fourth quarter of 2026.
Discovery spending rose on "increased investment in JAK-sparing ITK inhibitors" — follow-on pills in the same family as ATI-9494.
Modzatinib spending fell because its Phase 2a eczema trial finished in July 2025. The company now plans a Phase 2b trial in lichen planus, a chronic inflammatory skin and mouth condition, starting in the fourth quarter of 2026.
General and administrative costs rose 12.3%, mostly from more staff and a 42% rise in professional and legal fees to $1.1 million, which the filing puts down to "compliance and business development-related expenses." Business development here means work on possible partnership deals — the company says it is looking for partners for its drugs.
What the headline numbers hide
Most revenue is a pass-through. All $1.1 million of Q2 licensing revenue from the Eli Lilly agreement (a royalty on Lilly's alopecia drug Olumiant) was "payable to third parties" under older contracts. Licensing revenue of $1.27 million was matched by licensing expense of $1.24 million, leaving about $38,000. The 8.3% revenue decline therefore barely matters; what matters is the cost base.
Some "income" is not cash. Aclaris booked $1.0 million of non-cash royalty income in Q2. This comes from selling part of its Olumiant royalty to the pension fund OMERS for $26.5 million up front in July 2024; the company now recognises that old payment bit by bit. It reduces the reported loss but brings in no new money.
Interest income is shrinking. It fell 12.7% to $1.8 million on lower interest rates and a smaller average cash balance, so less of the spending is cushioned by returns on savings.
A smaller accounting charge flattered the comparison. The company revalues what it may owe the former owners of Confluence, a company it bought in 2017, each quarter. That charge was $0.3 million this quarter against $1.5 million a year earlier. Leaving it out, operating costs grew 36.8% rather than 28.1%.
The cash burn is rising faster than the loss. Cash used by operations in the first half was $38.0 million, 64.8% more than a year earlier, while the net loss rose 35.4%. The filing says 2025's figure was also affected by the receipt and payment of a third-party milestone, so part of this gap is a comparison effect, but the direction is clear.
New shares hide part of the per-share damage. The net loss grew 39.4% but the loss per share only 15.4%, because the loss is spread over 16.4% more shares. Shares outstanding went from 120.5 million at the end of 2025 to 139.8 million at June 30, and the July sale of 7.3 million shares brings that to about 147 million — roughly 22% more than at the start of the year. A further 3.0 million shares can be issued to the licensor Biosion for almost nothing through outstanding warrants.
The share sales got better prices. The 18.4 million shares sold in March raised $59.8 million, about $3.25 a share; the 7.3 million sold in July raised $40.2 million, about $5.51 a share. Raising money at a higher price means less dilution for each dollar raised.
Takeaway: Aclaris is now a company that spends about $20 million a quarter, almost entirely on four drug programs, and pays for it by selling shares rather than from its tiny, mostly pass-through revenue. With roughly $210 million in hand after July (the June balance plus July's net proceeds — our sum, not a company figure), money isn't the near-term constraint; the trial results due in the second half of 2026 are what decide whether that spending turns into something a partner will pay for.
Cash runway
Cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities rose from $151.4 million at the end of 2025 to $170.6 million at June 30, because the $57.9 million net raised in March more than covered the $38.0 million of operating cash used. July's sale added $40.2 million gross, or $39.0 million after $1.2 million of fees.
Management's formal statement is that current funds cover "a period greater than 12 months" from the filing date, and that the company "will require additional capital" for its drugs. On our own arithmetic, the first half's cash use of about $19 million a quarter would give the June balance alone around nine quarters — but that rate is likely to rise, because several larger trials are scheduled to start in late 2026, and later-stage trials cost more.
What to watch
According to the 10-Q (filed August 6, 2026), the rest of 2026 is packed with results and trial starts:
Bosakitug Phase 2 in eczema — top-line data (the first headline results) expected in the fourth quarter of 2026 from a 109-patient placebo-controlled trial. This is the first placebo-controlled read-out for the antibody; the earlier 22-patient study conducted by Biosion had no placebo group.
ATI-052 Phase 1b results in eczema and asthma, both expected in the second half of 2026, followed by a planned Phase 2b asthma trial starting in the fourth quarter.
Modzatinib Phase 2b in lichen planus — first part expected to start in the fourth quarter of 2026.
ATI-9494 IND filing expected in the fourth quarter of 2026.
Partnering. The company says it is seeking partners for its drug candidates and a global partner for lepzacitinib, its topical eczema drug. A deal with an upfront payment would be the main alternative to selling more shares.
Our read: spending should keep climbing through the end of 2026 as Phase 2b trials begin, so quarterly losses are likely to widen further before any partnership income arrives. The bosakitug and ATI-052 data are the real test — positive placebo-controlled results would support the higher share price the company raised money at in July, while a miss would leave it with a growing cost base and fewer ways to fund it. Some of these catalysts may have reported after the 10-Q was filed; this analysis covers only what the filing states.