What Management Said
Read the full Q3 2025 transcript ↗Our presentation today, our earnings press release, and our SEC filings are available on our Investor Relations website. The information we provide about our pipeline is intended for the investment community and is not promotional. You can expect Sarah to join future earnings calls to provide updates on our clinical pipeline. As we have stated previously, we view the overall progress of molecules in the clinic as a potential source of near and mid-term revenue.
Turning to revenue and expenses, revenue for the quarter was $9 million, predominantly from research fees relating to work on partnered programs. This compares to revenue of approximately $7 million in the same quarter of last year. With respect to research fee revenue, as we have mentioned in the past, we expect these to continue to trend lower as we increasingly focus on our internal pipeline. The increase over the recent run-rate expense levels in Q3 is largely due to specific investments of $15 million on two internal programs.
Looking at earnings, we're reporting a net loss of roughly $57 million for the quarter, compared to a loss of about $51 million in the same quarter of last year. In terms of earnings per share, this result works out to a loss of $0.19 per share on a basic and diluted basis. As a reminder, we have received commitments for funding for the advancement of our internal pipeline from the Government of Canada's Strategic Innovation Fund and the Government of British Columbia. The operating cash usage for the remainder of 2025 will continue to prioritize advancing our two lead programs through their phase I clinical studies and building a strong pre-clinical pipeline.
- Kept both lead Phase 1 trials (ABCL635 and ABCL575) on track for 2026 readouts and started activities at the new clinical manufacturing facility, with platform investments substantially complete.
- Appointed Dr. Sarah Noonberg - a physician-scientist with 20+ years of clinical drug-development experience - as Chief Medical Officer to lead the maturing clinical pipeline.
- Ended the quarter with ~$520 million in cash and equivalents and ~$680 million in total available liquidity (including ~$160 million of committed government funding).
- Advanced one additional partner-initiated program, reaching a cumulative 103 programs with downstream participation.
- Reaffirmed confidence in achieving all 2025 corporate priorities, including advancing at least one more development candidate into IND-enabling studies before year-end.
- R&D expense jumped to ~$55 million (up ~$14 million year over year), driven largely by ~$15 million of specific investment in two internal programs.
- Net loss widened to ~$57 million (from ~$51 million a year earlier), or -$0.19 per share, and nine-month operating cash use reached ~$97 million.
- Revenue fell to ~$9 million as research fees continued to decline with the shift away from partner-funded work.
- Partner-initiated molecules in the clinic looked stagnant since 2024; management acknowledged these programs can take much longer than expected (sometimes six years) to reach clinical development.
- Dr. Jeff Nickel stepped down as SVP of Development in connection with the CMO appointment.
Guidance Changes
| Metric | Period | Current guidance |
|---|---|---|
| ABCL635 proof-of-concept (Phase 2) readout | Mid-2026 (~Q3 2026) | Single disclosure after the double-blind, placebo-controlled POC portion, expected around mid-2026 (give or take a couple of months) |
| Fourth AbCellera-led development candidate | By end of 2025 | On track to nominate a fourth development candidate before year-end |
| Clinical manufacturing | End of 2025 | Activities started; investments substantially complete |
| Liquidity runway | Multi-year | Sufficient liquidity to fund well beyond the next three years of increasing pipeline investment |
Performance Breakdown
| Metric | YoY | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Total revenue | ~$9M (vs ~$7M) | Predominantly research fees on partner programs; research-fee revenue trending lower |
| R&D expense | +$14M to ~$55M | ~$15M of specific investment in two internal programs |
| G&A expense | ~$22M (vs ~$19M) | Includes ongoing IP-defense (Bruker litigation) costs |
| Net loss | ~$57M (vs ~$51M); EPS -$0.19 | Higher internal-program R&D spend |
| Total available liquidity | ~$680M | ~$520M cash/securities plus ~$160M committed government funding, with additional off-balance-sheet real-estate liquidity |
Earnings Call Themes & Trends
| Topic | Previous mention | Current period | Trend |
|---|---|---|---|
| Clinical leadership build-out | No dedicated CMO | Sarah Noonberg appointed CMO; Jeff Nickel steps down as SVP of Development | — |
| Partner-program value realization | 100+ programs seeded | ~103 cumulative programs; management expects a fraction to reach the clinic over time, on longer-than-anticipated timelines | — |
| ABCL635 data strategy | POC data mid-2026 | Plans a single disclosure covering SAD, MAD and the placebo-controlled POC; targeting efficacy competitive with approved products | — |
| ABCL575 positioning | Differentiation on less-frequent dosing | Positioned as second-line to Dupixent; key catalysts to come from external OX40L class readouts (amlitelimab/Sanofi and others) | — |
Q&A Summary
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