Biogen Q2 2026 revenue rose 3.4% to $2.74B as newly acquired Apellis drugs offset a 53% TECFIDERA generic slump, but deal and restructuring charges cut diluted EPS 85% to $0.66.
Revenue
$2.7B
+3.4% YoY
Net income
$98M
-84.6% YoY
Diluted EPS
$0.66
-84.8% YoY
Operating margin
5.5%
Overview
Biogen's second quarter of 2026 (three months ended June 30, 2026) shows a company partway through replacing its old multiple sclerosis (MS) business with newer drugs, and paying heavily to do it. Total revenue rose 3.4% to $2,736.0 million, but net income fell 84.6% to $97.5 million and diluted earnings per share (EPS, profit divided by the number of shares) fell from $4.33 to $0.66.
The profit drop is mostly the cost of deals, not a collapse in the underlying business. The quarter absorbed:
$165.4 million of restructuring charges, of which about $153.2 million came from the integration plan for Apellis (bought on May 14, 2026) — mainly severance and bonuses that were accelerated by the change of control.
$164.0 million of acquired in-process R&D (IPR&D) expense — upfront and milestone payments for drug candidates bought or licensed from other companies, which are expensed immediately rather than spread over time. The largest was a $100.0 million payment to TJ Bio for the greater-China rights to felzartamab, plus $45.0 million to Ionis when a Phase 3 trial of salanersen started.
$69.7 million of inventory "step-up" cost for SYFOVRE and EMPAVELI. Under acquisition accounting, Apellis's inventory was revalued to near its selling price, so as those units are sold the cost of sales includes most of their profit. Biogen booked $567.5 million of this step-up and expects it to run through cost of sales until the end of 2029. A similar SKYCLARYS step-up from the 2023 Reata deal cost another $95.6 million in cost of sales and $37.5 million in R&D this quarter.
Apellis added $127.8 million of product revenue in its first 6.5 weeks. Without it, product revenue would have been $1,788.6 million, down 4.8% from $1,878.7 million, because falling MS sales outweighed growth everywhere else.
Key figures
Metric
Q2 2026
Q2 2025
YoY Change
Total revenue
$2,736.0M
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*Biogen does not report an operating income line. Operating margin here is income before tax plus "other (income) expense, net" (which holds interest and investment gains), divided by total revenue: $150.9 million in Q2 2026 vs. $792.7 million in Q2 2025. Cost of sales excludes amortization of acquired intangible assets, as Biogen presents it. Operating margin is the share of revenue left after running the business, before interest and tax.
First half of 2026: revenue $5,213.8 million (+2.7% from $5,076.5 million); net income $417.0 million (-52.4% from $875.3 million); diluted EPS $2.81 vs. $5.97 (-52.9%); operating margin on the same basis 10.5% vs. 23.1%.
On its own adjusted ("non-GAAP") basis, which strips out items such as acquired IPR&D and acquisition accounting, Biogen's July 29 earnings release (8-K Exhibit 99.1) reported Q2 EPS of $3.60, down 34% from $5.47. That adjusted number is Biogen's own definition and is not in the 10-Q.
Takeaway: Biogen's newer drugs now bring in more than its shrinking MS franchise — MS product revenue was $963.3 million this quarter, while the "Growth Portfolio" was $1.06 billion by the company's own count in its earnings release — but only because Apellis was added. Excluding Apellis, product revenue still fell 4.8%, and the Apellis purchase has left the balance sheet with about $6.8 billion of net debt. Whether the bet pays off depends on SYFOVRE and EMPAVELI continuing to grow while TECFIDERA generics shrink the MS base.
Revenue by franchise
Franchise / product
Q2 2026
Q2 2025
YoY Change
Multiple sclerosis (subtotal)
$963.3M
$1,107.2M
-13.0%
TYSABRI
$450.8M
$454.6M
-0.8%
VUMERITY
$196.5M
$212.3M
-7.4%
TECFIDERA
$90.9M
$193.6M
-53.0%
Interferons (AVONEX + PLEGRIDY)
$225.1M
$246.7M
-8.8%
Rare disease (subtotal)
$601.7M
$543.0M
+10.8%
SPINRAZA (SMA)
$401.9M
$392.7M
+2.3%
SKYCLARYS (Friedreich's ataxia)
$167.9M
$130.3M
+28.9%
QALSODY (ALS)
$31.9M
$20.0M
+59.5%
Specialized immunology (Apellis, from May 14)
$127.8M
—
new
SYFOVRE (geographic atrophy)
$97.4M
—
new
EMPAVELI (PNH, C3G, IC-MPGN)
$30.4M
—
new
Biosimilars
$152.8M
$181.7M
-15.9%
ZURZUVAE (postpartum depression)
$70.8M
$46.4M
+52.6%
Anti-CD20 programs (incl. OCREVUS royalty)
$513.5M
$467.3M
+9.9%
Alzheimer's collaboration (50% LEQEMBI share)
$63.7M
$54.9M
+16.0%
Contract manufacturing, royalty and other
$242.4M
$244.6M
-0.9%
MS: generic erosion. MS product revenue fell $143.9 million. Most of that was TECFIDERA, down $102.7 million (53.0%). The filing attributes this to lower demand "particularly in Europe, as a result of multiple TECFIDERA generic entrants" — after the European Patent Office revoked a key TECFIDERA patent in November 2025 and Biogen stopped enforcing it. Rest-of-world TECFIDERA sales fell from $146.4 million to $58.5 million. The interferons fell 8.8% as patients keep moving to pills and more effective drugs. TYSABRI held nearly flat: lower U.S. demand as a biosimilar (a cheaper near-copy of a biologic drug) competes, offset by a U.S. price increase and currency. VUMERITY's 7.4% quarterly drop was put down to "inventory dynamics" — distributors holding less stock — and it is up 6.9% for the first half. Management expects total MS revenue to decline in 2026.
Rare disease: growth, with timing noise. SPINRAZA's 2.3% total growth hides two opposite moves. U.S. sales rose 36.8% to $204.3 million on "demand and stocking for the high-dose regimen" (approved by the FDA in March 2026), while rest-of-world sales fell 18.8% to $197.6 million because of shipment timing in some international markets. Part of the U.S. increase is one-time stocking by distributors, so it should not be treated as the ongoing rate. Management still expects global SPINRAZA revenue to be "relatively flat" in 2026. SKYCLARYS grew 28.9%, mainly from its continued launch in Europe and other international markets; rest-of-world sales rose from $52.3 million to $85.6 million, while U.S. sales grew only 5.5%.
Apellis products. Biogen recognized $97.4 million of SYFOVRE and $30.4 million of EMPAVELI, all in the U.S., covering May 14 to June 30. The earnings release gives full-quarter figures, including the weeks before the deal closed: SYFOVRE $162 million (+8% year on year) and EMPAVELI $46 million (+123%). Those numbers are from Biogen's release, not the audited 10-Q.
Partner revenue. The OCREVUS royalty from Roche/Genentech rose to $381.4 million from $353.8 million on U.S. OCREVUS growth. Biogen's share of U.S. profits from RITUXAN, GAZYVA and LUNSUMIO rose to $125.7 million from $107.7 million. LEQEMBI revenue, recorded as Biogen's 50% share of the partnership with Eisai, rose 16.0% to $63.7 million. The prior-year quarter had been helped by shipment timing to China. The release puts LEQEMBI's global in-market sales at $184 million, including $97 million in the U.S.
Costs, R&D and the pipeline
R&D expense rose 32.7% to $529.6 million, or 19.4% of revenue (15.1% a year earlier). Beyond the $37.5 million SKYCLARYS step-up charge, the filing cites higher clinical-trial spending on felzartamab (antibody-mediated rejection, IgAN and PMN), salanersen (SMA) and litifilimab (lupus), plus Apellis's operating costs. Royalty Pharma paid $25.0 million toward litifilimab this quarter, down from $50.0 million, and that funding ended in Q2 2026. Management expects core R&D spending to rise in 2026. SG&A (selling, general and administrative expense) rose 21.6% to $709.7 million because Apellis's commercial operations were added and launch spending went up. That figure includes $27.0 million of deal fees.
There were no intangible-asset impairments (write-downs of acquired drug rights) this quarter; Q2 2025 had a $3.5 million impairment. Pipeline events disclosed in the 10-Q:
Positive: the Phase 2 part of litifilimab's AMETHYST study in cutaneous lupus met its primary endpoint, and the drug has FDA Breakthrough Therapy designation. Salanersen received Breakthrough Therapy designation for SMA in June and entered Phase 3. The FDA approved the LEQEMBI IQLIK subcutaneous autoinjector as a weekly starting dose in July. BIIB091 reached proof-of-concept in relapsing MS.
Mixed: diranersen (a tau-targeting drug for Alzheimer's) missed its Phase 2 primary endpoint on dose response. Biogen still plans to move it into registrational trials, citing reduced tau and clinical benefit.
Negative: BIIB122 (with Denali) missed its primary and secondary endpoints in early Parkinson's disease and is being discontinued in that indication.
Deals: Biogen agreed to buy RayThera for $225.0 million upfront plus up to $775.0 million in milestones, expected to close in Q3 2026. That upfront payment will also be expensed as acquired IPR&D.
The effective tax rate rose to 26.4% from 14.7%, mainly because some Apellis acquisition costs are not tax-deductible.
Balance sheet after Apellis
Apellis cost about $5.3 billion in cash, plus contingent value rights of up to $4.00 per share tied to SYFOVRE sales. Cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities fell to about $1.3 billion from about $4.2 billion at year-end. Biogen drew a $2.0 billion term loan, of which $1.8 billion was still outstanding at June 30, and $400.0 million from its revolving credit line. According to the earnings release, total debt was about $8.1 billion and net debt about $6.8 billion. Net interest expense rose to $57.0 million from $40.3 million, and management expects it to stay higher through 2026. Operating cash flow for the half was about $1.1 billion, up from $420.2 million, mainly because 2025 had higher tax payments.
Outlook
Biogen's guidance is in its July 29 earnings release, not the 10-Q:
2026 revenue: now expected to grow by a mid-single-digit percentage over 2025.
2026 non-GAAP EPS: "underlying" guidance raised by $0.60 to $15.85–$16.85. After about $3.00 of acquired-IPR&D and milestone charges and about $0.85 of Apellis dilution (mostly lower interest income and higher interest expense), reported guidance falls to $12.00–$13.00, from $14.25–$15.25 in April.
Apellis: expected to add to non-GAAP EPS in 2027, with at least $250 million of annual cost savings by the end of 2027.
Upcoming data: registrational litifilimab data in lupus (SLE) by the end of 2026, and Phase 3 readouts for litifilimab in cutaneous lupus, felzartamab in antibody-mediated rejection, and zorevunersen in Dravet syndrome expected next year.
Our read: The rest of 2026 depends on whether the newer drugs can outgrow the MS decline. TECFIDERA's European losses are still getting worse, and a TYSABRI biosimilar is now competing in the U.S. On the other side are SKYCLARYS's international launch, ZURZUVAE, the SPINRAZA high-dose switch, and now SYFOVRE and EMPAVELI. The Q2 SPINRAZA U.S. gain came partly from one-time stocking, so it may not repeat. The inventory step-up charges from Apellis and Reata will keep GAAP margins well below Biogen's historical ~30% level through at least 2028. Most of the pressure on GAAP earnings is non-cash or one-time, but the extra debt interest is a real cash cost until Biogen pays down the term loan.