CLLS — Q2 2026 Financial Report Analysis

Overview

Cellectis, a Paris-based gene-editing company developing "off-the-shelf" CAR-T cancer therapies, posted a smaller net loss in the second quarter of 2026, $21.8 million versus $23.7 million a year earlier. That improvement isn't real operating progress. Revenue from its AstraZeneca research partnership fell 69% to $5.2 million and research spending rose, so the operating loss (the loss from running the business, before financing items) more than doubled to $23.5 million. A $15.9 million swing in financial items, mostly smaller currency losses, covered the gap. Cellectis reports in US dollars under IFRS, the international accounting standards, rather than US GAAP.

What matters most for a company with no product on sale is cash. Cellectis held $169 million in cash, cash equivalents and fixed-term deposits at June 30, 2026, down from $188 million at March 31 and $211 million at the end of 2025. Management still says that covers operations into Q4 2027, the same guidance it gave in May.

At a glance

• $169 million in cash and deposits, runway "into Q4 2027": about five quarters of funding after the pivotal trial's first readout, due in Q4 2026. A new raise or partner deal in 2027 looks likely.
• Operating loss of $23.5 million, up from $9.6 million: partnership revenue shrank while trial costs grew. This number is the real cost of running the company, not the headline net loss.
• Lasme-cel's target population had a 100% response rate (7/7 patients) in Phase 1: a very small sample, but strong enough for the FDA to grant RMAT status. RMAT (Regenerative Medicine Advanced Therapy) brings closer FDA guidance and can speed up a review.

Key figures

All figures in US$ millions except per-share amounts. Q2 = three months to June 30.

First half of 2026 versus the first half of 2025: revenues $11.0 million vs $27.4 million, R&D $52.2 million vs $45.0 million, operating loss $48.7 million vs $23.8 million, net loss $39.6 million vs $41.9 million ($0.39 vs $0.42 per share).

Takeaway: The smaller net loss is a currency and accounting effect. The business itself cost roughly twice as much to run as a year ago, because AstraZeneca-funded work slowed while Cellectis's own pivotal trial picked up. The number to watch is the $169 million cash pile against a runway that ends in late 2027. The Q4 2026 interim read of the BALLI-01 trial will largely decide how Cellectis funds itself after that.

Why revenue fell: the AstraZeneca partnership slowed

Almost all of Cellectis's revenue comes from its 2023 research collaboration with AstraZeneca. AstraZeneca is also a major shareholder. Under the deal, Cellectis does gene-editing research and manufacturing work on up to 10 candidate therapies, and AstraZeneca pays for that work. The filing attributes a $16.4 million drop in first-half revenue "mainly" to "the level of activities performed under the Research Plans" with AstraZeneca. In other words, less work was billed, not less money per unit of work.

Accounting adds a wrinkle. When AstraZeneca signed, it paid upfront money and bought shares at a premium. Cellectis counts $109.1 million of that as advance payment for future research and books it as revenue gradually, as the work gets done. $90.6 million of that "deferred revenue" was still on the balance sheet at June 30 ($96.8 million at year-end). Future revenue from this deal will therefore mostly be cash Cellectis already received years ago. That is why revenue and cash coming in can diverge sharply from one quarter to the next.

The upside is still contractual: a November 2025 amendment raised potential milestone payments to up to $80–253 million per candidate product, across up to 10 products. None of that is assured, and the filing gives no timing.

Why costs rose: the pivotal trial

R&D spending rose $7.2 million (+16%) in the first half. The filing names two drivers: $4.5 million more in personnel costs, from R&D headcount changes and higher stock-based pay (new 2026 option grants were valued higher because the share price had risen), and $3.7 million more in purchases and external expenses, "primarily attributable to higher clinical development costs" for the BALLI-01 and NATHALI-01 trials. Lower depreciation offset $1.0 million. SG&A rose $1.5 million, mostly from the same stock-based pay effect.

Pipeline: what the money is buying

Lasme-cel (lymphoblastic leukemia, BALLI-01 trial). Lasme-cel is an "allogeneic" CAR-T. That means immune cells from healthy donors are edited to attack cancer, so patients don't have to wait while their own cells are engineered. The full Phase 1 data was presented at EHA 2026 in June. In the 7 patients matching the planned Phase 2 population (heavily treated, with a median of 5 earlier therapies), all 7 responded and 4 of 7 (57%) reached complete remission, and 3 of those 4 had no detectable leukemia (MRD-negative). All responders then went on to a stem cell transplant. Severe immune side effects (grade 3 or higher CRS and ICANS) each occurred in 4% of the 45 patients treated. The FDA granted RMAT designation in June. The pivotal Phase 2 has been authorized to enroll in the UK, France, Italy and Spain, and its first interim analysis is expected in Q4 2026.

Eti-cel (non-Hodgkin lymphoma, NATHALI-01 trial). As of February 2026, 14 patients had been treated. In the 8-patient best-dose group, 88% responded and 63% had a complete response. Notably, 93% of these patients had already failed a CD19 CAR-T. Cellectis is now testing weight-based dosing of alemtuzumab (a drug used to suppress the patient's immune system before infusion) and low-dose IL-2 to improve results. The full Phase 1 dataset is due in Q4 2026.

Partner programs. Cema-cel, a Cellectis-derived CAR-T licensed to Servier and sublicensed to Allogene, passed an interim futility analysis in Allogene's pivotal ALPHA3 trial in April: 58.3% of patients cleared detectable disease vs 16.7% in the observation arm. In July it received FDA RMAT and Fast Track designations. Cellectis would benefit only through its Servier agreement. The filing gives no figure for that.

What the headline numbers hide

• The narrower net loss comes entirely from below the operating line. In the first half, foreign-exchange losses fell by $22.8 million as the dollar strengthened against the euro, and Cellectis booked an $8.7 million non-cash gain from revaluing warrants it issued to the European Investment Bank (EIB) as part of a loan. Without those, the operating loss doubled ($48.7 million vs $23.8 million). These items can reverse in any quarter.
• Adjusted loss excludes stock-based pay, which nearly doubled. The adjusted net loss of $35.6 million for the half leaves out $4.0 million of stock-based compensation (vs $2.3 million a year earlier). That expense is real dilution for shareholders, even though no cash leaves the company.
• Cash burn looked lighter than the loss, partly thanks to a one-off. Operating activities used $29.7 million in the first half, well below the $48.7 million operating loss. Part of the gap came from collecting receivables: trade receivables fell from $14.4 million to $5.1 million, a cash inflow that can't repeat. Total cash and deposits fell $42 million in six months, including $5.4 million of lease payments and $2.7 million of state-guaranteed loan repayments.
• The runway math depends on spending rising. At the first half's pace (about $21 million a quarter), $169 million would last roughly two years, into mid-2028. Management guides only "into Q4 2027". The gap suggests it expects spending to climb as the pivotal trial enrolls in Europe. Treat late 2027 as the real limit.
• The balance sheet is getting thinner. Shareholders' equity fell from $75.9 million to $41.1 million in six months. Cellectis also carries $48.4 million of EIB loans (effective interest rates of 8.85–13.4%) plus a $12.9 million warrant liability. The EIB can require Cellectis to buy back those warrants in certain events, including a change of control.
• Two legal disputes over the technology base. In April 2026, a Thermo Fisher subsidiary claimed to terminate 2014 patent licenses it had granted to Cellectis and started arbitration over allegedly underpaid sublicense royalties. Separately, Factor Bioscience is suing Cellectis and AstraZeneca for alleged patent infringement by Cellectis's TALEN gene-editing technology. Cellectis calls both claims without merit and has booked no liability for either.

Outlook

Management's guidance is limited to timelines: the first interim analysis of the pivotal BALLI-01 Phase 2 in Q4 2026, the full eti-cel Phase 1 dataset in Q4 2026, and cash runway into Q4 2027. The company gives no revenue guidance. AstraZeneca revenue depends on how much research work AstraZeneca chooses to fund.

Our read: the next two quarters are about data, not financials. Expect the operating loss to stay around $23–25 million a quarter. A strong interim readout for lasme-cel would give Cellectis room to raise equity or sign a partnership on better terms well before its runway ends. A weak one would shrink the window, and the thinning equity base plus the EIB debt add pressure. Separately, watch whether AstraZeneca-funded activity picks up again, and whether the Thermo Fisher arbitration moves forward.