CHRS — Q2 2026 Financial Report Analysis

Overview

Coherus Oncology is now a one-product company. In 2025 it sold off its biosimilar business (UDENYCA, CIMERLI, YUSIMRY; biosimilars are near-copies of existing biologic drugs) and kept LOQTORZI, an immunotherapy approved in the US for nasopharyngeal carcinoma (a rare head-and-neck cancer). LOQTORZI sales rose 37% to $13.6 million in Q2 2026, and total revenue from continuing operations rose 39.5% to $14.3 million. Cost cuts after the biosimilar exit shrank R&D and overhead by about a fifth, and the loss from continuing operations narrowed to $33.3 million ($0.22 a share) from $44.9 million ($0.39).

Revenue still covers less than a third of operating costs, though. Cash fell to $105.3 million from $172.1 million at year-end, even after a $53.6 million share sale in Q1. After quarter-end the company refinanced its debt and set up a new program to sell shares.

At a glance

• LOQTORZI revenue of $13.6M, +37% year on year and +15% on Q1. The company reports its highest number of new patients since the 2024 launch.
• Operating loss of $32.3M on $14.3M of revenue. The business spends about $3.26 for every $1 it brings in, better than $5.44 a year ago.
• Cash of $105.3M, but $22.7M of it belongs to the buyers of the old biosimilar products and will be paid out to them. The company's own cash is closer to $83 million.

Q2 2026 vs Q2 2025

The figures strip uses continuing operations, i.e. the company as it now exists. Total GAAP net income includes the sold biosimilar businesses: a $339.1 million gain on the UDENYCA sale in 2025, and $12.7 million of mostly accounting true-ups in 2026.

What drove the quarter

LOQTORZI volume. The 10-Q attributes the revenue gain "primarily" to volume growth. Management's release cites the most new patient starts since launch, fewer patients stopping treatment after a seasonal Q1 dip, and longer average treatment duration. The drug is the only preferred first-line treatment in national cancer guidelines (NCCN) for advanced nasopharyngeal cancer. That is a small market, so growth here means taking a larger share of a fixed patient pool, not entering a big new one. Coherus also pays partner Junshi Biosciences a royalty "in the low twenty percent range" on net sales.

Costs came out with the biosimilar business. SG&A fell $5.1 million, which the 10-Q puts down to lower headcount and the exit from biosimilars: employee costs fell $2.3 million and professional fees $2.3 million. R&D fell $4.9 million. Internal costs dropped $2.2 million, and spending on LOQTORZI's own studies fell $1.3 million. Clinical spending on the two pipeline drugs slipped to $12.6 million from $13.8 million.

What the headline numbers hide

• Per-share improvement is partly dilution. The quarterly loss narrowed 25.7% in dollars, but the loss per share narrowed 44%. That is because the share count rose 33% after the Q1 offering of 32.9 million shares. Shareholders own a smaller slice of a smaller loss.
• The GAAP bottom line looks better than the business. Total net loss was only $20.6 million because $12.7 million of income came from discontinued operations, which the 10-Q says was "primarily driven by favorable adjustments to prior period estimates". In other words, reserves set aside for the old biosimilar products were released. This won't recur. The year-ago $297.8 million profit was almost entirely the one-time sale gain.
• Cash burn is heavier than the income statement suggests. First-half operating cash outflow was $120.0 million, against a continuing-operations net loss of $70.3 million. The gap is mainly $42.2 million paid out on transition-service arrangements: Coherus collected cash on the sold products' behalf and passed it to the buyers. The company says these payments are front-loaded over the rest of 2026, and $22.7 million of such collections were still in the June cash balance.
• The $75 million earnout is not yet earned. Coherus can receive two $37.5 million payments if UDENYCA's new owner reaches $300 million (then $350 million) of sales over four consecutive quarters. As of June 30, reported sales had not met either threshold. The first test window ends September 30, 2026.

Financing after quarter-end

Three filings after the 10-Q changed the balance sheet picture:

• August 12–14: Coherus took a $55 million term loan from Innovatus, maturing in 2031, with interest-only payments for 36 months. It used the loan to repay its prior facility (about $38.7 million of principal, due 2029). Interest is prime plus 4.15%, with a floor of 10.9% in total. The lender also requires a minimum level of cash.
• August 17: The board declared a dividend of contingent value rights (CVRs): rights to a share of any future proceeds from selling the remaining biosimilar assets. A bank has been hired to run that sale.
• August 28: Coherus signed a new agreement to sell up to $50 million of stock "at the market", meaning gradually through a broker at prevailing prices.

The 10-Q states that cash and product sales will fund the company for at least twelve months. Adding a share-sale program a few weeks later suggests management wants room beyond that.

Takeaway: LOQTORZI is growing fast (+37%) and the leaner cost base is visible. But at $14 million a quarter, the drug is far from covering a cost base of more than $40 million a quarter. The investment case now rests on two pipeline readouts due in the second half of 2026, funded by borrowing and new shares rather than by the business itself.

Outlook

Management guides qualitatively only: 2026 revenue above 2025 on LOQTORZI growth, R&D and SG&A below 2025, and interest expense flat. The near-term catalysts are clinical. First data are expected in 2H 2026 for tagmokitug (a CCR8 antibody that depletes immune-suppressing cells) in head-and-neck, upper-GI, esophageal and colorectal cancers, and for casdozokitug (an IL-27 blocker) with LOQTORZI and bevacizumab in first-line liver cancer, where enrollment is complete. The release said maturing data sets would be disclosed publicly in October. A prostate-cancer study with Janssen's pasritamig is due to start in the fall.

Our read: LOQTORZI's 15% sequential growth is encouraging, but the market is small. Even at that pace, the gap between revenue and spending won't close without a pipeline win or a partnership. The two numbers to watch in Q3 are whether the first UDENYCA earnout was triggered (the window closed September 30) and how much of the new $50 million share program has been used.