Absci Q2 2026 Earnings Report

Absci EPS Results

• Actual EPS: -$0.21
• Consensus EPS: -$0.19
• Beat/Miss: Missed by -$0.02
• One Year Ago EPS: N/A

Absci Revenue Results

• Actual Revenue: $0.32 million
• Expected Revenue: $0.92 million
• Beat/Miss: Missed by -$602.00 thousand
• YoY Revenue Growth: N/A

Absci Announcement Details

• Quarter: Q2 2026
• Date: 8/11/2026
• Time: After Market Closes
• Conference Call Date: Tuesday, August 11, 2026
• Conference Call Time: 4:30PM ET

Absci (NASDAQ:ABSI) (NASDAQ: ABSI) is a biotechnology company that applies machine learning, synthetic biology and automation to accelerate the discovery and development of protein-based therapeutics. The company’s Integrated Drug Creation® (IDC®) platform is designed to identify and produce novel antibody and enzyme candidates at speeds and scales that traditional biopharma discovery methods cannot match. Absci works with pharmaceutical and biotechnology partners to generate, screen and optimize protein molecules for a wide range of therapeutic applications.

The core of Absci’s offering is its end-to-end discovery engine, which combines proprietary algorithms, high-throughput laboratory automation and a deep learning framework. By integrating AI-driven protein design with advanced screening processes, the company seeks to rapidly advance promising biologic candidates from concept through lead optimization. Absci’s platform supports research in areas such as oncology, immunology and metabolic disease, providing partners with drug-like protein candidates and data insights that can de-risk preclinical development.

Founded in 2018 and headquartered in Seattle, Washington, Absci maintains collaborative relationships with multiple global pharmaceutical organizations and operates additional research facilities in the United States. The company’s leadership team brings together experts in protein engineering, data science and drug development, aiming to transform biologics discovery through technological innovation. As Absci continues to expand its pipeline partnerships and platform capabilities, it remains focused on delivering scalable solutions for the next generation of protein therapeutics.

Absci Q2 2026 Earnings Call Transcript

Key Takeaways

• ABS-201 interim Phase 1 results were encouraging: Management reported favorable safety and tolerability, with an estimated half-life of at least 65 days and modeling suggesting two to three doses could maintain more than 90% prolactin-receptor occupancy over six months.
• Multiple upcoming clinical catalysts remain on schedule. The company expects interim 13-week proof-of-concept data for pattern hair loss later in 2026, full 26-week data in early 2027, and plans to initiate a Phase 2 endometriosis study in the fourth quarter of 2026.
• Eli Lilly partnership and new financing strengthen resources. Lilly invested $40 million and is collaborating on ABS-201’s clinical development, while Absci’s June financing generated approximately $93.6 million in net proceeds and extended projected funding into the second half of 2028.
• Absci is expanding its AI drug-discovery platform with Atlas, which integrates literature, genetics, and single-cell data to identify targets before feeding them into the Origin molecule-design platform; management said the technology has already suggested additional prolactin-related indications.
• The company remains dependent on unproven clinical and commercial assumptions: durability of hair regrowth will not be established by the 13- or 26-week readouts, and the cited market opportunities and product profile are based partly on modeling, consumer research, and hypothetical profiles rather than clinical efficacy results.

Presentation

[Operator]

Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded. I would now like to hand the conference over to your first speaker today, Alex Khan, Corporate Vice President in Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

[Alex Khan, Corporate VP in Investor Relations at Absci]

Thank you. Earlier today, Absci released financial and operating results for the quarter ended June 30, 2026. If you haven't received this news release or if you'd like to be added to the company's distribution list, please send an email to investors@absci.com.

[Alex Khan, Corporate VP in Investor Relations at Absci]

An archived webcast of this call will be available for replay on Absci's investor relations website at investors.absci.com for at least 90 days after this call. Joining me today are Sean McClain, Absci's Founder and CEO, Zach Jonasson, Chief Financial Officer and Chief Business Officer, and Ransi Somaratne, Chief Medical Officer, Head of R&D.

[Alex Khan, Corporate VP in Investor Relations at Absci]

Before we begin, I'd like to remind you that management will make statements during this call that are forward-looking within the meaning of the federal securities laws. These statements involve material risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results or events to materially differ from those anticipated. You should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements.

[Alex Khan, Corporate VP in Investor Relations at Absci]

These include statements regarding the development and clinical progress of our pipeline programs, including ABS-201, the design, enrollment, conduct, and timelines of our ongoing Phase 1/2a HEADLINE trial of ABS-201, the anticipated timing of an interim proof of concept data readout for ABS-201 in the second half of 2026 and full proof of concept data in early 2027, the potential events in ABS-201 into Phase 3 development,

[Alex Khan, Corporate VP in Investor Relations at Absci]

The anticipated initiation of a Phase 2 clinical trial of ABS-201 for endometriosis in the fourth quarter of 2026 and potential proof of concept readout in the second half of 2027, the anticipated characteristics and product profile of ABS-201 as a drug product, our target product profile and attributes, the potential for an expedited development pathway, including the possibility of advancing directly from Phase 1/2a into Phase 3,

[Alex Khan, Corporate VP in Investor Relations at Absci]

Our planned engagement with the FDA regarding development strategy, our partnership with Eli Lilly, including the anticipated benefits thereof, and Eli Lilly's participation on our Endometriosis Advisory Board, the capabilities and anticipated benefits of our platform technology such as Atlas, and potential market opportunity and commercial prospects for ABS-201.

[Alex Khan, Corporate VP in Investor Relations at Absci]

Certain statements may also include projections regarding potential market opportunity. These estimates are based on various assumptions, including potential regulatory approval, final approved label, and the evolving competitive landscape, any of which could cause our actual addressable market to differ materially from these projections. In addition, certain research findings discussed today reflect participant responses to a hypothetical product profile and do not represent clinical results for ABS-201.

[Alex Khan, Corporate VP in Investor Relations at Absci]

Additional information regarding the risks and uncertainties that could affect our forward-looking statements is set forth in the press release Absci issued today, our most recent annual report on Form 10-K and subsequent documents and reports filed by Absci from time to time with the SEC.

[Alex Khan, Corporate VP in Investor Relations at Absci]

Except as required by law, Absci disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any financial or product pipeline projections or other forward-looking statements, either because of new information, future events, or otherwise. This conference call contains time-sensitive information that is accurate only as of the live broadcast August 11, 2026. With that, I'll turn the call over to Sean.

[Sean McClain, CEO at Absci]

Thanks, Alex. Good afternoon, everyone. Thanks for joining us today. Absci continues to execute, and I'll walk you through recent highlights, including key progress on ongoing HEADLINE trial, our new partnership with Eli Lilly, and our $100 million financing completed at the end of June. Starting with HEADLINE. In June, we released positive interim phase I data.

[Sean McClain, CEO at Absci]

The data suggests the study drug was well-tolerated with favorable safety and tolerability. Based on interim PK data, ABS-201's half-life supports the potential for just two to three injections over six months. This is exactly why we built our AI platform, to design molecules that meet our target product profile we set out from day one.

[Sean McClain, CEO at Absci]

You've heard us say the prolactin mechanism is underappreciated. Everything we've learned has only strengthened that conviction, and we believe targeting the prolactin receptor has the potential across numerous diseases.

[Sean McClain, CEO at Absci]

We are also excited to have a partner who shares in that vision. As you saw in June, we announced that Eli Lilly made a $40 million strategic investment in Absci. Our partnership with Eli Lilly is tailored around the clinical development strategy for ABS-201. As a part of this collaboration, we are happy to be welcoming a representative from Lilly onto our Endometriosis Advisory Board.

[Sean McClain, CEO at Absci]

Zach will provide more details of this partnership later in the call. In addition to Lilly, we've seen elevated interest from the investment community in prolactin biology. In June, we completed a $100 million financing, including the $40 million investment from Lilly, from a group of blue-chip investors. We're grateful for this support, which enables the continued development of our existing programs as well as future expansion of our pipeline.

[Sean McClain, CEO at Absci]

ABS-201's progress is a testament to the platform and the team that created it. Building on that leadership in de novo antibody design with Origin, we've now extended the platform upstream with Atlas, Absci's target to lead autonomous scientist. Atlas is an agentic discovery engine built to remove the bottleneck ahead of design, rapidly identifying and validating the right targets.

[Sean McClain, CEO at Absci]

Atlas integrates literature, genetics, and single-cell sequencing data to surface and triage novel target hypothesis. These flow directly into Origin for epitope-specific de novo design and then into our in-house wet lab for characterization and pathway validation. This process closes a hypothesis to molecule loop and turns discovery into a high throughput fail fast engine by having more shots on goal and better ones. We're already seeing this at work.

[Sean McClain, CEO at Absci]

Atlas has surfaced potential new indications for our prolactin receptor franchise and independently recovered genetic evidence linking this pathway to pattern hair loss and endometriosis.

[Sean McClain, CEO at Absci]

This is a powerful new tool that every drug hunter at Absci can now leverage. We'll continue deploying this AI-native platform to create therapeutics like ABS-201 with the potential to change the treatment paradigm for patients. With that, I'll turn it over to Ransi to walk through the ABS-201 clinical program. Ransi.

[Ransi Somaratne, Chief Medical Officer at Absci]

Thanks, Sean, and good afternoon, everyone. in June, we released positive interim phase I data from the ongoing HEADLINE trial of ABS-201. We continue to be encouraged by the emerging safety, pharmacokinetic, and immunogenicity profile observed to date. As we said in June, blinded aggregate interim data suggests study drug was well-tolerated and exhibited a favorable safety and tolerability profile.

[Ransi Somaratne, Chief Medical Officer at Absci]

Additionally, based on available interim pharmacokinetic data across all four single ascending dose cohorts, half-life for ABS-201 is estimated to be at least 65 days. These results support the potential for dosing two or three times over a six-month period, pending confirmation through continued follow-up across all cohorts.

[Ransi Somaratne, Chief Medical Officer at Absci]

Additionally, new modeling continues to suggest that two to three doses of ABS-201 over six months would be able to achieve greater than 90% receptor occupancy, which we believe is a key driver of meaningful clinical efficacy for hair growth.

[Ransi Somaratne, Chief Medical Officer at Absci]

These new data are available in the updated corporate deck published on our website today. We are very eager to share our clinical data with you once it's available. Today, we are pleased to share that the multiple ascending dose portion of the study continues to enroll according to plan.

[Ransi Somaratne, Chief Medical Officer at Absci]

We continue to anticipate an interim proof of concept readout in the form of 13-week data later this year. Then, we anticipate our full proof of concept data in the form of 26-week data in early 2027. As a reminder, the HEADLINE trial is a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study.

[Ransi Somaratne, Chief Medical Officer at Absci]

The primary endpoints are safety and tolerability, while secondary endpoints include PK, PD, immunogenicity, target area hair count, target area hair width, and target area darkening pigmentation. We will also collect patient-reported outcomes data in this study. The prolactin receptor mechanism for hair growth is unique.

[Ransi Somaratne, Chief Medical Officer at Absci]

Unlike minoxidil, finasteride, or nutraceuticals, the mechanism underlying ABS-201 is regenerative for the hair follicle, protecting and promoting hair follicle stem cells, restoring CD34 progenitor cells, and stimulating key growth factors IGF-1 and FGF7, while decreasing the catagen-driving TGF-beta 2.

[Ransi Somaratne, Chief Medical Officer at Absci]

This regenerative mechanism is unique to the anti-prolactin receptor pathway and supports the significant durable effects with potential to grow new hair in dormant follicles. Our clinical study is designed to showcase this unique mechanism with our 13-week assessment, which is interim in nature, intended to provide a directionally positive signal. Has the mechanism begun to take hold, and is it building all the machinery and building blocks we see responsible for regenerating the hairs?

[Ransi Somaratne, Chief Medical Officer at Absci]

A directionally positive signal of hair growth at 13 weeks would give us even further confidence in seeing more robust hair growth at 26 weeks and beyond, as is supported by preclinical data in the stump-tailed macaque.

[Ransi Somaratne, Chief Medical Officer at Absci]

Altogether, the preclinical stump-tailed macaque data, as well as our human ex vivo data from skin biopsies of both male and female donors, provide robust support for this mechanism and its ability to provide durable hair growth.

[Ransi Somaratne, Chief Medical Officer at Absci]

We are also excited to be progressing our ABS-201 program for endometriosis. As Sean mentioned earlier, we are pleased to be welcoming Axel Haupt, M.D., Senior Vice President, Clinical Investigation at Eli Lilly and Company, onto our Endometriosis Advisory Board.

[Ransi Somaratne, Chief Medical Officer at Absci]

With the safety, tolerability, and PK data generated in the SAD portion of the HEADLINE trial, we anticipate initiating a phase II study for endometriosis in the fourth quarter of this year. With that, I'll pass it over to Zach to discuss our business strategy and to provide an update on our financials. Zach.

[Zach Jonasson, CFO and Chief Business Officer at Absci]

Thanks, Ransi. We continue to focus our strategy on creating and advancing high-value pipeline programs like ABS-201. Our primary objective today is the successful execution of our clinical trial for ABS-201 in male and female pattern hair loss and in endometriosis.

[Zach Jonasson, CFO and Chief Business Officer at Absci]

We are also advancing a preclinical pipeline focused on immunological and inflammatory indications that fit into our broader strategy, including programs that can ultimately be commercialized direct to consumer.

[Zach Jonasson, CFO and Chief Business Officer at Absci]

The clinical trial for ABS-201 continues to progress according to plan. We believe this program offers an outsized ROI based on its relatively capital-efficient clinical development plan and significant market opportunity.

[Zach Jonasson, CFO and Chief Business Officer at Absci]

Based on our market research, we estimate a potential total available market greater than $25 billion in the U.S. alone. In addition to pattern hair loss, we also see a significant multibillion-dollar market for endometriosis, with potential peak sales of over $4 billion.

[Zach Jonasson, CFO and Chief Business Officer at Absci]

These programs are emblematic of how we prioritize and allocate our resources to programs that offer high ROIs based on addressing large underserved patient populations. We are leveraging our leadership in prolactin biology by advancing ABS-201 towards proof of concept in both pattern hair loss and endometriosis, and by progressing our preclinical anti-prolactin receptor program, ABS-202, in an undisclosed I&I indication.

[Zach Jonasson, CFO and Chief Business Officer at Absci]

We are also actively exploring other potential underserved indications for which prolactin receptor inhibition could offer a differentiated therapeutic mechanism. We look forward to sharing our interim proof of concept data in pattern hair loss later this year and our full proof of concept data early next year.

[Zach Jonasson, CFO and Chief Business Officer at Absci]

As a reminder, our consumer research survey, as well as input from leading KOLs, inform our view that a 26-week increase in target area hair count of 30 to 35 hairs per centimeter squared, roughly on par with high-dose oral minoxidil, would enable a home-run product.

[Zach Jonasson, CFO and Chief Business Officer at Absci]

Our consumer and KOL research support an estimated $25 billion TAM associated with such a hair growth effect size, given ABS-201's expected unique durability and administration convenience.

[Zach Jonasson, CFO and Chief Business Officer at Absci]

We believe a target area hair count result above that level would expand the market further, and that a less robust result would still unlock a multibillion-dollar market opportunity. ABS-201, with its novel prolactin receptor mechanism, is positioned to become a new premium category of pattern hair loss therapy, offering consumers convenient, durable, regenerative hair growth. Continuing to execute the development of this program remains our top strategic priority.

[Zach Jonasson, CFO and Chief Business Officer at Absci]

Our platform continues to evolve and deliver new capabilities and efficiency gains. As you will recall, our first programs were advanced through IND-enabling studies in under 2 and a half years and under $15 million in total cost. Based on our current Origin model improvements in combination with our agentic Atlas platform, we believe we can significantly improve on these metrics.

[Zach Jonasson, CFO and Chief Business Officer at Absci]

For example, our latest Origin models allow for a 1,000x reduction in library size for identification of high-quality leads. We are also finding ways to reduce IND-enabling study timelines based on the quality of our AI-designed drug candidates, which, for example, are well-suited to high-concentration formulation development. We anticipate additional efficiency and capability improvements as we further advance our platform. We are grateful for our partners, new and existing, for their support.

[Zach Jonasson, CFO and Chief Business Officer at Absci]

As discussed, we are excited to be collaborating with Eli Lilly and to welcome a member of their leadership team onto our Endometriosis Advisory Board. Our partnership with Eli Lilly is tailored around the clinical development strategy for ABS-201 and does not confer rights to the program, which we plan to develop ourselves.

[Zach Jonasson, CFO and Chief Business Officer at Absci]

We appreciate Eli Lilly's support, as well as their interest in prolactin biology within pattern hair loss, women's health, and beyond. Turning now to our financials. Research and development expenses were $22.6 million for the 3 months ending June 30, 2026, as compared to $20.5 million for the prior year period.

[Zach Jonasson, CFO and Chief Business Officer at Absci]

This increase was primarily driven by advancement of Absci's internal programs, including direct costs associated with external preclinical and clinical development of ABS-201, offset by a decrease in personnel-related costs.

[Zach Jonasson, CFO and Chief Business Officer at Absci]

Selling, general, and administrative expenses were $9.2 million for the three months ending June 30, 2026, as compared to $8.5 million for the prior year period. This increase was primarily due to stock-based compensation and other administrative costs.

[Zach Jonasson, CFO and Chief Business Officer at Absci]

Cash, cash equivalents, and marketable securities as of June 30, 2026, were $201.1 million as compared to $125.7 million as of March 31, 2026. in June, we completed an underwritten offering of common stock.

[Zach Jonasson, CFO and Chief Business Officer at Absci]

The net proceeds from the offering were approximately $93.6 million. Our current balance sheet, including this additional capital, supports our execution of key upcoming catalysts and continued progress of our early-stage pipeline, as well as an expansion of our planned endometriosis clinical trial. As we finalize our clinical trial design, we anticipate sharing additional details of the endometriosis clinical development plan later in the third quarter.

[Zach Jonasson, CFO and Chief Business Officer at Absci]

Based on our current projections, we now believe our cash equivalents, and marketable securities will be sufficient to fund our operating plan into the second half of 2028. With that, I'll now turn it back to Sean.

[Sean McClain, CEO at Absci]

Thanks, Zach. As always, I want to thank the Absci team for making all this possible. I'd also like to thank Eli Lilly for their partnership and all of our investors, both new and existing, for their support. We're fast approaching pivotal moments for Absci. Our first look at interim POC data for pattern hair loss is anticipated later this year.

[Sean McClain, CEO at Absci]

Our full 26-week POC data should follow early next year, where we anticipate showing robust hair regrowth from our regenerative prolactin mechanism. I'm incredibly excited for both of these readouts. We're energized for what we're building in our early-stage pipeline.

[Sean McClain, CEO at Absci]

We see a huge opportunity to capitalize on the interest in total vitality, combined with consumer shift towards more direct-to-consumer and cash pay products. Our current and future pipeline focuses squarely on these emerging trends. We continue to fire on all cylinders, and I can't wait for everyone to see the results of our hard work in the coming months. Operator, let's open the call for questions.

[Operator]

Thank you. As a reminder, to ask a question, please press star one one on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced. To withdraw your question, please press star one one again. in the interest of time, we do ask that you please limit your questions to one question and one follow-up. Please stand by while we compile the Q&A roster. Our first question comes from Brian Cheng of JPMorgan. Your line is open.

[Brian Cheng, Analyst at JPMorgan]

Hey, guys. Thanks for taking our question this afternoon. Maybe just to start off, we noticed that your indication on your press release is now defined as pattern hair loss. I think in the prior communication, you have been indicating the lead indication as androgenetic alopecia. Is there any read, or in terms of how you're defining the target indication today, is there any change in terms of the lead indication for 201? We have a quick follow-up. Thank you.

[Sean McClain, CEO at Absci]

Yeah. Thanks, Brian. It's a great question. We decided to change the name for two reasons. First, if you think of androgenetic alopecia, it implies the androgen receptor, and we know that targeting the androgen receptor, such as finasteride or other androgen receptor antagonists, do not fully regrow hair. We do have evidence that does support that prolactin looks to sit upstream of the androgen receptor and actually drives androgen receptor expression.

[Sean McClain, CEO at Absci]

Based on the underlying biology and the importance of prolactin within pattern hair loss, we decided to switch the name from androgenetic alopecia to pattern hair loss. Additionally, we had gotten feedback from other KOLs that they thought that this was a more appropriate name.

[Sean McClain, CEO at Absci]

The last piece is on the consumer front. We think that pattern hair loss is much better understood amongst consumers than androgenetic alopecia. For all of these reasons, we have changed the name but not the indication itself. Ransi and Zach, please chime in if there's anything else I missed there.

[Ransi Somaratne, Chief Medical Officer at Absci]

Yeah. Thanks, Sean. I mean. Sorry, go ahead, Zach.

[Zach Jonasson, CFO and Chief Business Officer at Absci]

No, no, go ahead, Ransi.

[Ransi Somaratne, Chief Medical Officer at Absci]

I think the term pattern hair loss also encompasses the entire population. We are still studying the same population, or indication encompass the same population. But really, when you think about the disease state in the U.S., there is 80 million people, and 30 million of those are women. So we think the term pattern hair loss is more appropriate to describe who it is that we are targeting.

[Brian Cheng, Analyst at JPMorgan]

Thank you, Ransi. Just a follow-up.

[Zach Jonasson, CFO and Chief Business Officer at Absci]

I was just going to add, too, that the change in name does not have any impact on how we've assessed the market opportunity. It's still fundamentally the same market opportunity, number of patients, and our consumer surveys were focused on identifying that. This does not have any effect on those estimates.

[Brian Cheng, Analyst at JPMorgan]

Thank you. That's very helpful. As a follow-up, I think in our prior discussions, we all have a pretty good sense of what we want to see in terms of non-vellus hair count at week 13 and week 26 from your MAD portion.

[Brian Cheng, Analyst at JPMorgan]

Just looking at other metrics, I think you have mentioned that the terminal to vellus ratio metric is also super important in terms of giving you a directional insight of whether ABS-201 is giving you some benefits towards the goalpost.

[Brian Cheng, Analyst at JPMorgan]

Can you help us think about what is the magnitude that you want to see in terms of T to V ratio? I'm also curious if you have a sense of what some of the current standard of care can offer in terms of the ratio changes at around week 13. Thanks for your help.

[Sean McClain, CEO at Absci]

Yeah. Ransi, do you want to take that one?

[Ransi Somaratne, Chief Medical Officer at Absci]

Yeah. It's an interesting question. I think we're, at least for the interim, we're interested in a broad set of data. I'm particularly not focused on a specific V to T ratio. I honestly, Brian, I'm not sure I've seen specific V to T ratios from other programs, so can't really answer that one for you.

[Sean McClain, CEO at Absci]

Yeah.

[Brian Cheng, Analyst at JPMorgan]

Got it. Thank you.

[Sean McClain, CEO at Absci]

I think how we're thinking about the 13-week is really looking at not only the terminal, also V to T, but also the potential to regrow hair in dormant follicles, whether that comes up as a terminal hair, a vellus hair, or you have more V to T transition. I think the key point with this readout is being able to show potentially new mechanisms that other drugs do not show.

[Sean McClain, CEO at Absci]

I think regrowing that dormant follicle where you've been bald for many years, if we start to see changes there, again, whether it's on the vellus hair or the terminal hair, we think that that's really exciting and could be a big game changer for this particular mechanism, in addition to the regenerative aspect.

[Ransi Somaratne, Chief Medical Officer at Absci]

Brian, that's why we talked about total hair count in the past, and that encompasses what Sean was just talking about.

[Brian Cheng, Analyst at JPMorgan]

Thanks, guys.

[Operator]

Thank you. Our next question comes from Brendan Smith of TD Cowen. Your line is open.

[Brendan Smith, Analyst at TD Cowen]

Great. Thanks for taking the questions, guys. I wanted to just first clarify quickly on ABS-201. Is it maybe fair for us to assume you will get the interim data in hand, put it out before initiating endometriosis study, and then full POC hair loss data in Q1 thereafter?

[Brendan Smith, Analyst at TD Cowen]

Is that kind of just fair assumption on the order of events coming up there? To follow up on the platform itself, it sounds like the plan outside of prolactin receptor is still largely develop targets, out-license prior to entering the clinic on your own.

[Brendan Smith, Analyst at TD Cowen]

If that is the case, I guess just wondering on a strategy level how we should think about potential cadence of new assets coming out of the platform if you kind of have a target partner deal cadence in mind, just any color there on output that we should keep in mind over the next, I do not know, call it 18 months. Thanks, guys.

[Sean McClain, CEO at Absci]

Yeah, thanks, Brendan. To your first point, I think that that is a fair assumption. On the second point, we are planning on taking ABS-201 to market ourselves and everything that we have coming behind ABS-201, we are looking at it from the lens of what could we commercialize ourselves, what could potentially be a DTC that you could sell alongside ABS-201 and then make the determination, do we have the capital?

[Sean McClain, CEO at Absci]

Is the cost capital right to continue to develop this ourselves, or do we want to find a partner given the indication or the cash situation? Everything we are developing would be with that commercialization in mind, and then we have the optionality to partner. That is the current strategy we have. Zach, please chime in as well.

[Zach Jonasson, CFO and Chief Business Officer at Absci]

Yeah, I think you said it well, Sean. I think the only other point I would make is, Sean described some of the advances in our platform. We're becoming more and more efficient at generating new molecules and new programs, so I think we will be creating a lot of optionality for ourselves. But to Sean's point, we're very rigorous about providing a strategic and ROI-based perspective on which programs we will advance with our own balance sheet versus the ones we'll partner.

[Operator]

Thank you. Our next question comes from Vamil Divan of Guggenheim. Your line is open.

[Vamil Divan, Analyst at Guggenheim]

Great. Thanks for taking my question. Maybe one quick follow-up on the conversation around the partnerships. I think last year you guys had talked about likely signing a partnership by the end of the year, and I don't know if that's happened or not. So I'm curious, would all your partnerships be disclosed?

[Vamil Divan, Analyst at Guggenheim]

Is there any, or have you signed any since later last year that maybe just were not disclosed publicly? So maybe any sort of update on that side would be helpful. Then the other question I have is just around this 13-week data, which obviously everyone's eagerly waiting for, then just to maybe level set expectations, if you can share what you plan to disclose in the headline release so we all kind of know what to expect there.

[Vamil Divan, Analyst at Guggenheim]

Tied to that, I know one of the big potential selling points of 201 would be the durability of the hair that's regrown. We're not going to know that at 13 weeks, obviously. So I'm just trying to get a sense of how you think about how long the duration of follow-up would need to be before you start getting comfort that this dosing regimen, that your target profile is the right dosing regimen for the durable response. Thanks.

[Sean McClain, CEO at Absci]

Yeah, thanks, Vamil. So in terms of partnership, the partnership that we had inked with Eli Lilly, both the investment and the collaboration on ABS-201 on clinical development, we do see that as achieving that large pharma partnership. With regards to the top-line readout for the 13 and 26 week, I'll hand that over to Ransi.

[Ransi Somaratne, Chief Medical Officer at Absci]

Hey, Vamil. Thanks for the question. Yeah, so we're going to show the data that we think will give us that interim look, just a sort of a status check on what the drug is doing. We've talked about

[Ransi Somaratne, Chief Medical Officer at Absci]

total area hair count, so that'll be their target area hair count, which is the terminal hairs. We'll get a look at target area hair width to see how wide the hair caliber is. We'll be looking at darkness as well. I think those are the big things. In addition, we'll have a look at the updated safety and tolerability data as well.

[Ransi Somaratne, Chief Medical Officer at Absci]

Great question on the durability. We are actively working on trying to figure out how we can get that from this study. It's not going to be answered in the 13 or the 26 weeks. We do have a safety follow-up period after this trial. That's probably the first indication of durability of effect, and we'll get the same duration of safety follow-up on the cohorts. It's based on PK.

[Sean McClain, CEO at Absci]

We're looking at what to do thereafter in terms of describing the durability of effects. More to come on that.

[Operator]

Thank you.

[Vamil Divan, Analyst at Guggenheim]

Okay. Thank you.

[Operator]

Our next question comes from Kambiz Yazdi of BTIG. Your line is open.

[Kambiz Yazdi, Analyst at BTIG]

Hi, team. Thank you so much for the question. It appears from your modeling that you confirmed ABS-201 can maintain greater than 90% prolactin receptor occupancy without cycling. How should the greater, more sustained receptor occupancy impact efficacy compared to other prolactin receptor antibodies in pattern hair loss, and then secondarily, as in endometriosis? Thank you so much.

[Sean McClain, CEO at Absci]

Yeah, it is a great question, and we actually just put out some modeling on the website today with the updated corporate deck. I think it is a very clear illustration. If you look at HMI-115, the once every 2-week dosing at 240 milligrams, you saw this oscillation that occurred between 60% and 70% receptor occupancy. We know that the receptor occupancy for the prolactin receptor needs to be well above 90% to achieve the signal blocking that is necessary.

[Sean McClain, CEO at Absci]

Even a little bit of receptor left can cause quite a bit of signaling through the prolactin receptor. Essentially, the HMI-115 molecule, with that oscillation and not achieving the receptor occupancy, our belief is that they essentially were not able to achieve the efficacy because they were not able to get that prolonged anagen phase. That is what we believe that we are going to be able to achieve now.

[Sean McClain, CEO at Absci]

If you look at, again, the receptor occupancy, those 2 to 3 doses were well above 90%, and we can ensure that the follicle can stay in the prolonged anagen state in order to rebuild that stem cell niche. Hair growth does not happen overnight. You need that sustained period of blockade in order to get the regrowth.

[Sean McClain, CEO at Absci]

I think the really exciting part is if you look at the stump-tailed macaques when you got the greater than 90% receptor occupancy, you saw a really, really robust efficacy there. We are obviously targeting 30, but I do believe that if you hit the receptor appropriately to stay in the anagen state, I think you have the potential for even further upside than what we have been discussing. I think it is a really exciting opportunity with the PK profile that we have been able to achieve.

[Kambiz Yazdi, Analyst at BTIG]

Then a quick follow-up. How do you expect that to impact endometriosis?

[Sean McClain, CEO at Absci]

Ransi, do you want to take that one?

[Ransi Somaratne, Chief Medical Officer at Absci]

Yeah, happy to. I think it's the same philosophy, Kambiz. If you look at the other prolactin receptor antibody, they published their data in The Lancet, and you saw that there was an effect on dysmenorrhea at the highest dose.

[Ransi Somaratne, Chief Medical Officer at Absci]

We think the same principle applies, in that you have to really achieve that high level of receptor occupancy to see efficacy there. So even though it's a disease state that's quite different from pattern hair loss, we think the same principle is in play.

[Kambiz Yazdi, Analyst at BTIG]

Thank you so much.

[Operator]

Thank you. As a reminder, if you have a question, please press star 11. Our next question comes from Gil Blum of Needham. Your line is open.

[Gil Blum, Analyst at Needham]

Good afternoon, and thanks for squeezing me in. We saw some interesting data for the oral minoxidil extended-release from Veradermics in women. Do you think the data that they put out changes maybe where the bar is as it relates to hair regrowth, or it doesn't really matter as it relates to your own programs? Thank you.

[Sean McClain, CEO at Absci]

The data that they put out clearly shows that standard of care is really poor, even with what they have. There is so much more room to improve from a standard of care perspective, and that is something we're very excited about.

[Sean McClain, CEO at Absci]

We recently showed the female ex vivo data. It looked very similar to what we saw in the males. We're very excited to get this cohort kicked off in the study in female patients. I think that there is a real exciting opportunity just due to the really, really poor standard of care out there.

[Operator]

Thank you. This concludes the question and answer session and also today's conference call. Thank you for participating, and you may now disconnect.

Participants

Executives

• Alex Khan, Corporate VP in Investor Relations
• Sean McClain, CEO
• Ransi Somaratne, Chief Medical Officer
• Zach Jonasson, CFO and Chief Business Officer

Analysts

• Brian Cheng, Analyst at JPMorgan
• Brendan Smith, Analyst at TD Cowen
• Vamil Divan, Analyst at Guggenheim
• Kambiz Yazdi, Analyst at BTIG
• Gil Blum, Analyst at Needham