Felzartamab

Biogen's business development team may have been busy in recent years, but CEO Christopher Viehbacher is easing off the acquisitions for a while. The company's ongoing attempts to expand beyond its legacy multiple sclerosis products and its blockbuster spinal muscular atrophy treatment Spinraza and into immunology, nephrology and ophthalmology have seen Biogen absorb the likes of Apellis Pharmaceuticals , Alcyone Therapeutics , HI-BIO and Reata Pharmaceuticals over the past three years. Only last month, Biogen brought anti-inflammatory biotech RayThera into the fold. But on a call with analysts to discuss the company’s second-quarter earnings on Wednesday, Viehbacher suggested he might slow the pace of M&A in the near term. “There's been a significant growth in the breadth of our portfolio,” the CEO said on the call. “That's exciting, but it also means that now we are shifting to not just growing the substrate of growth, but now executing on that growth story.” “We have what we need to grow near term,” he added. “I think we'll be less intentional about M&A and perhaps more opportunistic, but we'll certainly be intentional about early-stage development.” If opportunities do arise, they will likely involve assets between the development and IND stage, Viehbacher added. When it comes to drugs already in later-stage development, Biogen is expecting registrational data for its systemic lupus erythematosus drug litifilimab by end of this year, with a phase 3 readout in cutaneous lupus erythematosus to follow in 2027. Also pencilled in for next year are late-stage readouts for felzartamab for antibody-mediated rejection in kidney transplants, and zorevunersen in Dravet syndrome. “We believe these investments are building a durable innovation with the promise of delivering sustainable, long-term growth and value creation,” Biogen's Head of Development Priya Singhal, M.D., said on the call. The company also reaffirmed plans to take its Alzheimer’s treatment diranersen into late-stage studies on the back of phase 2 data earlier this month showing the tau-targeting candidate slowed cognitive decline across a suite of different clinical assessments. That same data dented Biogen's stock at the time, largely due to confusion surrounding the strong performance of the lowest dose. But Viehbacher told analysts on this morning's call that there is a “good chance” that diranersen makes it to the market because of its ability to move cognition. It won’t be the only candidate moving forward out of Biogen in Alzheimer’s, suggested the CEO. “If we're going to be in Alzheimer's, we are certainly looking to have a portfolio,” he said, noting that blood-brain barrier shuttles “would be the next generation of products to pursue.” But not every candidate in Biogen's pipeline is being rushed forward. Singhal said the company is “taking a pause” to consider its options for its elapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS) therapy BIIB091. Biogen previously discontinued an arm of a phase 2 trial looking at a combination of BIIB091 with its own MS drug Vumerity. “We see that it could have compelling efficacy in RRMS, but we are looking at what is the appropriate next step because we see RRMS as a very crowded, competitive market,” Singhal explained. “We haven't actually made a decision to specifically advance it into an indication, so we're not there yet.”

iStock, rawintanpin Biogen officially began reporting revenue from the $5.6 billion acquisition of Apellis in the second quarter, shaking up analysts’ consensus estimates and leading to a beat. Biogen is switching to a “less intentional” M&A approach after spending $6.6 billion this year so far to buy Apellis and RayThera . “I think we have what we need to grow near term,” CEO Chris Viehbacher said on the company’s second quarter earnings call Wednesday morning. “I think we’ll be less intentional about M&A and perhaps more opportunistic.” ezstandalone.cmd.push(function () { ezstandalone.showAds(129); }); With growth trending up, Viehbacher said the goal with any future dealmaking is to fill in a few gaps in the early-stage pipeline. “Ideally, we’d like to be bringing in assets between development candidate and IND [investigational new drug] stage,” he said. With the acquisition of Apellis and its two marketed therapies, Biogen now has eight high-pro on the market that are serving as current revenue drivers. Mergers & acquisitions Biogen Secures ‘Running Start’ in Kidney Disease With $5.6B Apellis Buy In addition to delivering two approved medicines to Biogen’s portfolio, the acquisition of Apellis Pharmaceuticals will support the future launch of the pharma’s own kidney disease asset, currently in multiple Phase 3 trials. March 31, 2026 · 4 min read · Annalee Armstrong Read more The company has been laying the groundwork to rebuild its pipeline under Viehbacher. Most prominent is the upcoming lupus portfolio, which is led by litifilimab. The CEO said that with two indications possible in cutaneous lupus erythematosus (CLE) and systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), the drug could target an $8 billion market. So far the industry is only reaching about $2-$3 billion of that market, according to the CEO. He likened lupus to multiple sclerosis, which holds about a $20 billion opportunity. Then in the 2030s, Biogen is looking to Alzheimer’s disease prospect diranersen—albeit cautiously given the difficult nature of the disease area—for growth. Within each of these three pillars, Viehbacher said there is the potential for opportunistic M&A. Confounding the analysts Meanwhile, Biogen’s recently acquired companies are beginning to play a meaningful role in growth. The company officially began reporting revenue from Apellis in the second quarter, shaking up analysts’ consensus estimates and leading to a beat. The company reported $2.74 billion for the period, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.46 billion, according to William Blair. “The outperformance was primarily driven by stronger-than-expected contributions from the acquired Apellis products following the earlier-than-anticipated May 14 transaction close,” Truist Securities wrote on Wednesday. Biogen had previously been expecting full-year revenue to fall by a mid-single digit percent this year but has revised that expectation to a mid-single digit percent increase. Driving this outlook is the performance of Apellis’ Empaveli and Syfovre, which combined for $127.8 million in the second quarter. This marks a 22% year-over-year increase for the products after the “Biogen machine” was able to get behind the marketing push, said Alisha Alaimo, president of Biogen’s North America operations. At the same time, expectations for the year’s earnings per share (EPS) fell 15% with Apellis in the mix, with Biogen now expecting non-GAAP diluted EPS of between $12-$13, BMO Capital Markets noted. This reflects an 85-cent dilution from the transaction. Biogen had previously expected a range of $14.25-$15.25. “Overall, we view the quarter as better than expected, but not one that materially changes the investment narrative,” Truist wrote. “The results provide incremental confidence in management’s near-term execution and highlight the strategic value of the Apellis acquisition as a bridge to future growth.” But Biogen will have to execute on the key pipeline programs to truly win over investors, since much of the success of the second quarter relied on an acquisition, the firm added. “We do not believe the beat meaningfully alters the key debates surrounding Biogen’s long-term earnings trajectory, particularly given that much of the upside was acquisition- and royalty-driven rather than indicative of a fundamental inflection in the underlying business. As a result, we expect investor focus to remain squarely on upcoming pipeline de-risking events,” Truist said. Key to investors will be upcoming Phase 3 readouts for litifilimab in SLE, which is expected in the fourth quarter, and felzartamab in antibody mediated rejection of organ transplant, with data expected in the first half of 2027. Earnings With growth curve trending up, Biogen looks to early-stage assets for ‘next generation’ Biogen’s growth was expected to stay flat through the 2030s. A key acquisition and busy late-stage pipeline have relieved the pressure and cleared the way for some early-stage bets, CEO Chris Viehbacher said Wednesday. April 29, 2026 · 3 min read · Annalee Armstrong Read more