Earnings call transcript: BioInvent shares plunge on Q3 2026 financing fears

BioInvent International AB said its Q3 2026 sales rose year over year, but the market focused on the company’s financing needs and steep dilution risk, sending the stock down 71.5% to $5.90 from a previous close of $20.70. The Swedish biotech reported net sales of SEK 10.8 million for the quarter, up from SEK 3.3 million a year earlier, while operating costs eased to SEK 131 million from SEK 137 million. The company also said its cash balance of SEK 225 million would fund operations only into the latter part of Q1 2027 unless it completes a planned rights issue.

BioInvent remains a clinical-stage biotech company with limited product revenue and heavy research spending. The quarter showed a modest improvement in sales and a small decline in operating costs, but the broader nine-month picture was weaker because 2025 included a large one-time payment tied to mezagitamab rights.

For the January-September period, net sales fell to SEK 37 million from SEK 224 million a year earlier. The company said the decline mainly reflected the absence of a $20 million payment from XOMA Royalty in 2025, along with a $1 million milestone payment that year. In 2026, BioInvent received a €1 million milestone from Bayer.

The company is now narrowing its focus to two main programs: BI-1808 and BI-1206. That sharper focus may help control spending, but it also underscores how dependent the company remains on a small number of clinical assets.

BioInvent’s earnings-vs.-forecast data pointed to an expected loss of $1.98 a share and revenue of $8.1 million, but actual EPS and revenue figures were not provided in the available data. That makes a direct beat-or-miss comparison impossible.

Still, the company’s reported Q3 sales of SEK 10.8 million suggest the quarter was broadly in line with the idea of a small revenue base, while the nine-month decline in sales highlights how dependent BioInvent is on milestone and collaboration income. For investors, the more important issue was not the quarter’s sales trend, but the company’s financing outlook and the need to raise capital to keep advancing its pipeline.

BioInvent’s shares dropped to $5.90 from $20.70, a decline of 71.5% in the latest move. The stock is now near the bottom of its 52-week range of $5.62 to $34.85, leaving it only slightly above the low.

The size of the decline suggests investors reacted strongly to financing concerns and possible dilution from the planned rights issue. In biotech, especially at the clinical stage, capital raises can weigh heavily on the stock when the market believes they may be large or repeated. The move also indicates that traders gave more weight to the company’s funding needs than to its clinical progress.

BioInvent said the secured portion of its rights issue, worth SEK 350 million, would extend its cash runway through the end of 2027. The full offering could raise SEK 430 million gross before costs.

The company laid out several milestones for 2027:

Management said the minimum funding scenario would cover the start of BI-1808 Part C, the interim readout, completion of BI-1206 work in non-Hodgkin lymphoma, and the first readouts in NSCLC and uveal melanoma. It would not cover additional work in other solid-tumor settings. Despite current challenges, analysts see significant upside potential of 170% from current levels, with revenue over the last twelve months at $3.35 million. Investors seeking deeper analysis can access BioInvent’s comprehensive Pro Research Report on InvestingPro, one of 1,400+ reports transforming complex data into actionable intelligence.

Chief Executive Martin Welschof said BI-1808 is the company’s main value driver and described the asset as a new type of immunotherapy.

“We are actually the first one developing this mode of action,” he said, referring to TNFR2 targeting.

He also said, “We have the next version of pembrolizumab, the next new IO mechanism,” underscoring the company’s effort to position BI-1808 as a differentiated immuno-oncology therapy rather than a direct competitor to antibody-drug conjugates.

Welschof also pointed to the company’s financing and development plans, saying, “This is a very pivotal moment of the company, and obviously with the rights issue, we have the chance to turn the most important and next data point.”

Analysts focused on four main areas: how BI-1808 compares with competing ovarian cancer treatments, what the rights issue will fund, how bevacizumab will be handled in the next study, and when BI-1206 data will be ready.

Management said BI-1808 will be tested in a randomized three-arm study that mirrors the KEYNOTE-B96 population more closely, with bevacizumab used at investigator discretion. The company said it expects bevacizumab use to be similar to KEYNOTE-B96, where about 70% of patients received it.

Questions also centered on BI-1206 timing. Management said the delay in the NSCLC and uveal melanoma readouts was intentional, allowing more time for data maturation. Recruitment has been solid, with uveal melanoma fully enrolled and NSCLC about one-third enrolled.

Another topic was partnering. BioInvent said it is actively seeking a partner for BI-1206 and is beginning discussions around BI-1808 in CTCL. Management acknowledged that first-in-class assets often need more data before partners commit.

Moderator: Welcome to the BioInvent Q3 Report 2026 presentation. During the Q&A session, participants are able to ask questions by dialing pound key five on their telephone keypad. Now, I will hand the conference over to the speakers, CEO Martin Welschof and CFO Stefan Ericsson. Please go ahead.

Martin Welschof, CEO, BioInvent: Yes, thank you very much, and welcome everybody to BioInvent’s Q3 presentation and report. I will start the presentation. I’m Martin Welschof, the CEO, and I would like to start with the events in the third quarter. BI-1808, actually, which is our leading value driver, has gotten a lot of attention. We received FDA Fast Track designation for the treatment of recurring ovarian cancer. Then we had an abstract from modest to meaningful in platinum-resistant ovarian cancer that was accepted for poster presentation at ESMO, and I think we come back to the data a little bit more in detail. Then we also published two scientific papers in peer-reviewed journals. One was in Cancer Research that was highlighting the mode of action, and then we had another publication just a little bit more than a week ago, but I come back to that also later.

There was one presentation actually in the third quarter that was specifically highlighting FcγRIIB and our BI-1206 program. Then, events after the end of the period. The board of directors, as we have announced yesterday evening, have decided to carry out a rights issue of approximately SEK 430 million, which is gross before issue costs, of which SEK 350 million is covered by subscription commitments and guarantee undertakings. Of course, this is still subject to approval at the Extraordinary General Meeting, for which we also have called yesterday evening. We’ll adjust the organization to support the prioritized clinical program, so number one, BI-1808, number two, BI-1206, and I come back to that also later throughout my presentation. Then, BI-1808 and Keytruda, we have shown the latest data at ESMO. They used durable responses in heavily pretreated platinum-resistant ovarian cancer.

Actually, the poster was granted the best poster award in the investigational immunotherapy section. Basically, the data is repeating what we have shown at ASCO, but just in a higher number of patients. Then we had to announce that Stefan Ericsson, our CFO, will retire in 2027. Stefan has been with the company for roughly 30 years. He’s going in his well-deserved retirement, but we will do that in a very structured way, such that there will be no loose ends, and Stefan also has agreed to support and help us in this transition. That was what I mentioned on the first slide. We had first-in-human BI-1808 data published in Clinical Cancer Research. That was just a little bit more than a week ago, so basically two presentations, two publications covering BI-1808, which is a completely new and unique mode of action.

We are actually the first one developing this mode of action. A little bit more details regarding the financing and then the organization. As already mentioned, we have considered all options, and then at the end, had to land on this rights issue. We might discuss that also in more detail during the Q&A section that is targeting SEK 430 million. This is gross before issue costs. As I mentioned already, before SEK 350 million will be covered by subscription commitments and guarantee undertakings. Of course, this has to be approved during an EGM, which will happen on December 1. As I already mentioned in my introduction, the organization also will be adjusted. We are considering up to 20 FTEs in workforce reduction and keep the focus on 1808, number one, and BI-1206, number two.

I mentioned already Stefan Ericsson’s retirement, and then I think also something that is really interesting. Dharminder Chahal has been nominated to return as a board member. Of course, this is also subject to approval at EGM and clearly shows the very strong support that we have from Van Herk. Then a little bit more on the data. This slide summarizes the data that we have just shown at ESMO. As I said already earlier, it’s kind of a repeat of the ASCO data, but with a higher number of Ns. A very nice, strong, objective response with one complete response, seven partial responses, a nice disease control of 53%, and several patients are stable, more than 10 months. Six patients are still on treatment at the cutoff in September.

We had less than 5% treatment-related discontinuation out of 81 solid tumor patients, which I think is very important because with most of the other modern treatments, you have a much higher treatment-related discontinuation, which of co