SAB Biotherapeutics Q2 2026 Earnings Call Transcript

Key Takeaways

  • Positive Sentiment: SAFEGUARD enrollment is accelerating, with more than 60 sites actively recruiting and increased screening and randomization. Management remains on track to complete enrollment in Q4 2026, with top-line data expected in the second half of 2027.
  • Positive Sentiment: Breakthrough T1D awarded a grant supporting the PRISE-hATG Phase III study, which is expected to begin enrollment in the second half of 2026 across seven sites. If successful, the study could support a future SAB-142 label expansion for patients treated up to two years after diagnosis, with top-line data expected in Q1 2029.
  • Neutral Sentiment: SAB Bio ended the quarter with $208 million in cash, cash equivalents, and investments, providing an operating runway through 2028. However, higher clinical-development and headcount costs drove R&D expense to $16.2 million and the net loss to $22.5 million, versus $10.1 million a year earlier.
  • Positive Sentiment: Management views the recent FDA approval of Tzield in recently diagnosed Stage 3 Type 1 diabetes as validation that C-peptide can support an accelerated-approval pathway. SAB Bio also highlighted SAB-142’s potential competitive advantages, including two-day dosing and low to no immunogenicity that may enable redosing.
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Earnings Conference Call
SAB Biotherapeutics Q2 2026
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Operator

Good morning, and welcome to SAB Bio's conference call to discuss second quarter 2026 financial results and business updates. Listeners are invited to review the full text of the forward-looking statements from this morning's quarterly earnings press release. Company management may provide projections during this call, and actual results could differ materially due to several factors, including those outlined in the company's latest filings with the SEC. Currently, all participants are in a listen-only mode. Following management's remarks, we will open the call for questions. This call is being webcast live and can be accessed on the investors section of SAB Bio's website at ir.sab.bio, where a replay will be available. I'll now turn the call over to Samuel Reich, Chief Executive Officer of SAB Bio.

Samuel Reich
Samuel Reich
CEO at SAB Bio

Thank you, operator. Good morning, and thank you to everyone joining us for our second quarter 2026 earnings call. I'm joined today by Lucy To, our Chief Financial Officer, who will review the second quarter financial updates. I'm also joined by Eddie Sullivan, our Co-Founder and President, and Alexandra Kropotova, our Chief Medical Officer. We're pleased to have you with us today to share the progress we've made in the second quarter. We remain focused on execution, delivering meaningful progress in our SAFEGUARD study, and advancing key clinical and operational priorities. For those who may be new to the SAB Bio story, we are a clinical-Stage biopharmaceutical company focused on developing disease-modifying therapies for Type 1 diabetes and other autoimmune diseases. Our mission today is to redefine what it means to be diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes by developing a medicine to change the course of disease.

Samuel Reich
Samuel Reich
CEO at SAB Bio

With millions of people living with Type 1 diabetes worldwide, we are pursuing a multibillion-dollar market opportunity through the development of a disease-modifying therapy. Our lead product candidate, SAB-142, is a fully human anti-thymocyte immunoglobulin designed to preserve insulin-producing beta cells with the goal of slowing disease progression in autoimmune Type 1 diabetes. We produce SAB-142 using our proprietary Tc Bovine platform, which allows us to generate fully human multi-specific antibodies without the need for human donors. Phase I data for SAB-142 showed a favorable safety profile, further validated its mechanism of action, and demonstrated early signals of beta cell preservation. We are now focused on enrolling our registrational Phase II-B clinical trial, called SAFEGUARD, in patients with newly diagnosed Stage 3 Type 1 diabetes. With that context, let's move into key updates from the second quarter, starting with enrollment updates for SAFEGUARD.

Samuel Reich
Samuel Reich
CEO at SAB Bio

We are proud to report on the team's considerable progress with over 60 clinical sites actively recruiting. We are seeing increased engagement from investigators and patients, which is reflected in steady growth in both screening and randomization. As a reminder, Part A completed enrollment last quarter. Part B is actively enrolling, and the first step down to adolescent patients aged 12 and older was approved. We have seen an increase in enrollment driven by the activation of additional clinical sites. With this momentum, we remain on track to complete enrollment in Q4, with top-line data expected in the second half of 2027.

Samuel Reich
Samuel Reich
CEO at SAB Bio

Building on this progress, we were excited to announce that Breakthrough T1D awarded a grant to Dr. Michael Haller, Professor and Chief of Pediatric Endocrinology at the University of Florida, in support of PRISE-hATG, a clinical study evaluating SAB-142 in patients with recent and extended onset Stage 3 Type 1 diabetes. We believe this support is particularly meaningful because it represents external belief in our approach from an organization dedicated to advancing therapies for people living with Type 1 diabetes. We are happy to be co-funding this study and continuing our collaboration with Dr. Haller and Breakthrough T1D. PRISE is an investigator-led phase III study designed to assess the safety, efficacy, and tolerability of SAB-142 in patients with Stage 3 Type 1 diabetes who are 100 days to two years from diagnosis.

Samuel Reich
Samuel Reich
CEO at SAB Bio

This is an area of significant unmet need, as it represents a critical window where residual beta cell function may still be preserved. PRISE complements SAFEGUARD and extends the clinical evaluation of SAB-142 in a broader patient population. Importantly, if successful, PRISE has the potential to support a future label expansion that could extend eligibility to patients up to two years from a Stage 3 Type 1 diabetes diagnosis. Our top priority in 2026 is clinical trial execution and on-time delivery of our key clinical milestones. At SAB, 2026 is the year of trial maxing, putting clinical trial execution at the center of everything we do. That focus on execution is what we believe will unlock the full value of our pipeline for patients and shareholders alike. Beyond clinical development, we also continued investing in our TC Bovine platform.

Samuel Reich
Samuel Reich
CEO at SAB Bio

This quarter, we began construction of a second farm facility in South Dakota. This facility establishes a redundant herd in order to reduce operational risks and support long-term commercial supply for SAB-142. With that, I'll turn it over to Lucy to review our second quarter financial updates.

Lucy To
Lucy To
CFO at SAB Bio

Thanks, Sam. We ended the quarter with $208 million in cash equivalents, and investment securities as of June 30, 2026. We continue to have a strong cash position with operational runway through 2028. R&D expenses were $16.2 million for the second quarter of 2026, compared to $7 million for the same period in 2025. The increase is primarily driven by ongoing clinical trial costs and related headcount to support the advancement of SAB-142 through the registrational SAFEGUARD study. G&A expenses were $7.2 million for the second quarter of 2026, compared to $2.7 million for the same period in 2025. The increase is driven by higher headcount costs, including related stock-based compensation.

Lucy To
Lucy To
CFO at SAB Bio

Other income was $0.9 million for the second quarter of 2026, compared to an expense of $0.4 million for the same period in 2025. This change is driven by an increase in interest and dividend income as a result of higher average balances in our investment portfolios, partially offset by changes in fair value of warrant liability. As a result, net loss was $22.5 million for the second quarter of 2026, compared to $10.1 million for the same period in 2025. Overall, we are well capitalized to support SAFEGUARD and PRISE through key milestones while preparing for commercial readiness for SAB-142. With that, I can turn it back over to Sam for closing remarks before we open the call for questions.

Samuel Reich
Samuel Reich
CEO at SAB Bio

Thanks, Lucy. As we look ahead to the rest of the year, our focus remains on execution, completing enrollment of SAFEGUARD in Q4 this year and continuing to build the capabilities needed to support SAB-142 over the long term. The recent FDA approval of Tzield for children and adolescents recently diagnosed with Stage 3 Type 1 diabetes is an important milestone for the T1D community and for our field, reinforcing the value of early disease-modifying intervention and further establishing the regulatory path and commercial foundation for therapies like SAB-142. We're encouraged by the pace of enrollment in SAFEGUARD and the enthusiasm we're seeing from investigators and patients, which underscores both the interest in SAB-142 and the broader momentum behind disease-modifying approaches. Our goal is simple, to deliver a therapy that can change the course of Type 1 diabetes and make that benefit available to as many patients as possible.

Samuel Reich
Samuel Reich
CEO at SAB Bio

We are excited about what lies ahead and look forward to sharing our progress as we continue advancing our programs and executing on our strategy. With that, we're ready to take any questions.

Operator

Thank you. If you'd like to ask a question, press star one now on your telephone keypad. To leave the queue at any time, please press star two. Once again, that is star one to ask a question, and we'll pause for just a moment to allow everyone a chance to join the queue. Thank you. We'll take our first question from Michael Yee with UBS. Please go ahead, your line is open.

Analyst at UBS

Good morning. This is Roy on for Mike. Thanks for taking my question. As it pertains to the data from SAFEGUARD and then PRISE, could you maybe talk a little bit about the rationale behind the labeling strategy here and also the planned sequencing and timing of the filings? Thanks.

Samuel Reich
Samuel Reich
CEO at SAB Bio

Well, PRISE extends the patient population. The rationale is that patients with Type 1 diabetes still have C-peptide and still can make insulin even after 100 days, and that there's a tremendous unmet need and demand in the T1D community to be able to treat a patient after this window of diagnosis that's been created by clinical trial protocols. One of the reasons why Michael Haller applied for this grant and Breakthrough T1D granted it, is because this is a major unmet medical need, and this is an underserved market, and we should be able to treat as many patients as possible, regardless of when they were diagnosed, as long as they're still making their own insulin.

Samuel Reich
Samuel Reich
CEO at SAB Bio

The PRISE trial is, of course, staggered behind SAFEGUARD, and so the data from PRISE would come later in the form of an sBLA, to hopefully get that label expansion and treat patients up to two years after diagnosis.

Analyst at UBS

Great. Thanks so much.

Samuel Reich
Samuel Reich
CEO at SAB Bio

You're welcome.

Operator

Thank you. We'll move on now to Eli Merle with Barclays. Your line is now open. Please go ahead.

Analyst at Barclays

Hey, this is Tejas on for Eli. Thanks for taking our question, and congrats on all the progress. Could you just walk us through maybe the timeline to that PRISE study in this expanded population? Just relative to the opportunity in those patients under 100 days, how much larger could this expanded cohort be, and what would good data look like in this larger population relative to the initial population?

Samuel Reich
Samuel Reich
CEO at SAB Bio

We expect PRISE to start enrolling in the second half of this year. There are 64,000 new patients diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes every year. When they get diagnosed, they have a lot of decisions to make. It's a major life change, and they may right away feel overwhelmed by the new way they have to manage their life. 100 days is a very short time to make that decision, and if they're at 200 days or 400 days, and they still are making C-peptide, we want to be able to offer the medicine to them, and they want to be able to get it. It's the same 64,000 patients, but it's a bigger opportunity for those patients to have time to make decisions and to get the drug.

Samuel Reich
Samuel Reich
CEO at SAB Bio

We see patients also on a regular basis that are past 100 days that want to be enrolled in the trial, or if they're past eight weeks and want to get Tzield, there's no options for them. We expect the data to be quite similar, because it's somewhat arbitrary, right? It's the same disease, it's the point at which they start the drug, and we hope to preserve C-peptide. That's the goal, and it shouldn't look dramatically different. I think I forgot the second half of your question, Tejas. What was that?

Analyst at Barclays

I said thanks for all the color.

Samuel Reich
Samuel Reich
CEO at SAB Bio

You're welcome.

Operator

Thank you. We'll move on now to Cha Cha Yang with Jefferies. Your line is now open.

Cha Cha Yang
Cha Cha Yang
Analyst at Jefferies

Hi. Thanks for taking my question. It's Cha Cha on for Roger. Two questions from us. One is, can you tell us more about what drove the acceleration of recruitment for your phase II? The second one, also on PRISE for phase III, can you just speak to more about the package or the data that convinced the FDA to allow you to start the phase III study? Thanks.

Samuel Reich
Samuel Reich
CEO at SAB Bio

First question was on enrollment?

Cha Cha Yang
Cha Cha Yang
Analyst at Jefferies

Acceleration of recruitment.

Samuel Reich
Samuel Reich
CEO at SAB Bio

We now have over 60 clinical sites actively recruiting. We continue to build momentum and see great engagement and increased engagement from investigators and patients. That has led to a growth in both screening and randomizations. The major factor leading to the increased rate of enrollment is having more active clinical sites. There's the second part. Can you repeat the second part of your question?

Cha Cha Yang
Cha Cha Yang
Analyst at Jefferies

Yeah. Second part is just about your phase III study and what data or package convinced the FDA. Also what convinced your team to allow you to start the phase III.

Samuel Reich
Samuel Reich
CEO at SAB Bio

This is the PRISE study?

Cha Cha Yang
Cha Cha Yang
Analyst at Jefferies

That's right.

Samuel Reich
Samuel Reich
CEO at SAB Bio

All the data we've shared to date, it was primarily the phase I data results, and the excellent safety profile we have, redosability, and then you've seen that early evidence of efficacy from the patient cohort. That was what we submitted in the amended INDs. It led to opening that trial.

Operator

Thank you. We'll move on now to Thomas Smith with Leerink Partners. Your line is now open.

Thomas Smith
Thomas Smith
Analyst at Leerink Partners

Hey, guys. Good morning. Congrats on all the progress. Thanks for taking our questions. I was just wondering if you could elaborate a bit on your thoughts regarding the recent FDA approval for Tzield in the Stage 3 T1D population and specifically, wondering how you think this potentially impacts the regulatory bar for success from the SAFEGUARD program and how you're thinking about the potential competitive landscape. Just remind us how you view your competitive profile relative to the Tzield competitive profile. If I could ask just a follow-up on SAFEGUARD, wondering if you're able to comment at all on how the baseline characteristics of patients entering Part B are tracking versus your internal expectations. How should we think about the baseline characteristics of these patients relative to the subjects in the T1D cohort from the phase I study? Thanks so much.

Samuel Reich
Samuel Reich
CEO at SAB Bio

Well, Tzield's approval is great news for both the Type 1 diabetes community and for us. This approval will help drive market awareness and education for disease-modifying therapies in T1D. It further confirms C-peptide alone is sufficient for accelerated approval. In terms of the regulatory bar or the regulatory path, we now have precedent that the FDA is allowing C-peptide for accelerated approval in T1D. In terms of the second part of your question, I'm going to ask our Chief Medical Officer, Alexandra Kropotova, to answer that.

Alexandra Kropotova
Alexandra Kropotova
Chief Medical Officer at SAB Bio

As far as the baseline characteristics in the ongoing SAFEGUARD trial, as you know, our SAFEGUARD protocol requires at least 36 patients, five to 11 years of age, two-thirds of the population below 18 years of age. As far as the adult population, we are capping the adult population at 45 patients total. Therefore, with the protocol requirements, our in-common baseline characteristics are very much in line with our expectations as we designed the protocol. Your second part of the question, as far as the difference between the SAFEGUARD population and the phase I population, SAFEGUARD population involves new onset Stage 3 Type 1 diabetes with the up to 100 days from the disease onset. In the phase I population, the time from the onset was beyond 100 days.

Alexandra Kropotova
Alexandra Kropotova
Chief Medical Officer at SAB Bio

That phase I population is closer to the PRISE-hATG patient population as far as the time from the disease onset. The rest of it is very identical as far as the preserved C-peptide at or above 0.2 nanomoles per liter.

Samuel Reich
Samuel Reich
CEO at SAB Bio

In terms of advantages of SAB-142, I think the data shows we believe that SAB-142 offers fundamental efficacy, safety, and dosing advantages over Tzield. Because of low to no immunogenicity, SAB-142 is well-positioned for safe redosing over the lifetime of the disease, so long as C-peptide is preserved. It is a two day dosing versus a 12 day dosing. Just a reminder that in the PROTECT study, Tzield hits C-peptide but missed secondary endpoints, whereas in our reference molecule, rabbit ATG, or Thymoglobulin, HbA1c has been shown to be reduced in both the TN19 and the MELD-ATG study.

Thomas Smith
Thomas Smith
Analyst at Leerink Partners

Super helpful. Thanks so much.

Samuel Reich
Samuel Reich
CEO at SAB Bio

You're welcome.

Operator

Thank you. We'll move on now to Samantha Semenkow with Citi. Your line is open.

Analyst at Citi

Hi, good morning. This is Ben on for Samantha. Thank you so much for taking our question. Can you talk about the population you're enrolling in the PRISE study and how it compares to SAFEGUARD? Other than the time since diagnosis, how similar are these populations, and should we expect them to have less beta cell function, or is that not always the case? Thank you.

Samuel Reich
Samuel Reich
CEO at SAB Bio

All right. Alexandra?

Alexandra Kropotova
Alexandra Kropotova
Chief Medical Officer at SAB Bio

Great question. Outside of the time from the disease onset, the rest of the inclusion/exclusion criteria are identical between the SAFEGUARD and the PRISE study. As I mentioned earlier, the PRISE protocol has the inclusion criterion for the C-peptide at the baseline, identical to SAFEGUARD or many other trials in the new onset where the C-peptide is required to be at or above 0.2 nanomoles per liter. We don't expect that the PRISE patient population will have lower level of the baseline C-peptide, which is very much in line with the vast majority of the epidemiological data on natural history of the disease progression that shows that patients beyond 100 days have the preserved C-peptide for years and years after the disease onset.

Alexandra Kropotova
Alexandra Kropotova
Chief Medical Officer at SAB Bio

DCCT cohort, as an example, shows that the C-peptide can be preserved for up to 15 years from the disease onset in both pediatric and adult patient population.

Operator

Thank you. We'll move on now to Keay Nakae with Chardan. Please go ahead, your line is open.

Keay Nakae
Keay Nakae
Analyst at Chardan

Hi, it's Keay from Chardan. Sam, just kind of a follow-up on the FDA action on the expanded label for Tzield. Just wondering, since that's occurred, are you seeing maybe more inbound interest from investigators in your study? I know that the enrollment was accelerated due to the pure number of sites, just wondering about how the FDA action has possibly increased interest in what you're doing.

Samuel Reich
Samuel Reich
CEO at SAB Bio

I think that we probably haven't noted that to date because it's a similar community, but I think an important reminder is just that Tzield is only approved in the U.S. for Stage 3. The majority of our sites are in Europe. Tzield's approved label is limited to patients eight to 17 within eight weeks of diagnosis, and SAFEGUARD is evaluating patients ages five to 40 within 100 days of diagnosis. There are even patients in the U.S. who we've heard about that have elected to enroll in SAFEGUARD because of SAB-142's competitive dosing profile, even after Tzield has become available.

Keay Nakae
Keay Nakae
Analyst at Chardan

All right, great. Thanks.

Samuel Reich
Samuel Reich
CEO at SAB Bio

Thanks.

Operator

Thank you. We'll move on now to Seema Sheoran with Rodman & Renshaw. Your line is open.

Seema Sheoran
Seema Sheoran
Analyst at Rodman & Renshaw

Hi. Thank you for taking my question and congrats on the progress. Can you update us on the timing and status of the step-down to patients five and above? I have a follow-up.

Samuel Reich
Samuel Reich
CEO at SAB Bio

Sure. We anticipate the step-down to pediatric patients this quarter, and full enrollment of the SAFEGUARD remains on track to be completed in Q4. Want a follow-up?

Seema Sheoran
Seema Sheoran
Analyst at Rodman & Renshaw

Okay. Yeah. Considering that the Part B full enrollment will happen in fourth quarter, and then the site activation and last patient in will drive your ability to lock and clean the database, how confident are you in delivering the top-line data in second half, which I'm assuming is going to be fourth quarter?

Samuel Reich
Samuel Reich
CEO at SAB Bio

Well, our guidance doesn't change. As long as we are planning to complete enrollment in Q4 of this year, we should have top-line data in the second half of 2027.

Seema Sheoran
Seema Sheoran
Analyst at Rodman & Renshaw

Okay, that's helpful. One more question. How is the PRISE-hATG study powered? That's my last question. Thank you.

Samuel Reich
Samuel Reich
CEO at SAB Bio

I'll let Alexandra answer that.

Alexandra Kropotova
Alexandra Kropotova
Chief Medical Officer at SAB Bio

PRISE-hATG study is the registrational trial and therefore adequately powered to detect the difference between the active and placebo for the primary endpoint, which is the C-peptide at 12 months following the two hour MMTT. It's also powered for the key secondary point on the glycemic control in a similar manner as the SAFEGUARD trial.

Seema Sheoran
Seema Sheoran
Analyst at Rodman & Renshaw

I see. It's like 80% powered for at least 40% difference on C-peptide?

Alexandra Kropotova
Alexandra Kropotova
Chief Medical Officer at SAB Bio

Correct.

Seema Sheoran
Seema Sheoran
Analyst at Rodman & Renshaw

Okay, helpful. Thank you.

Operator

Thank you. We'll move on next to Emily Bodnar with H.C. Wainwright. Your line is open.

Emily Bodnar
Emily Bodnar
Analyst at H.C. Wainwright

Hi. Thanks for taking the questions. Have you commented how many sites you're expecting to be included in the PRISE study? Just kind of curious on if timing for enrollment cadence could be similar to SAFEGUARD. Secondly, with the Tzield approval now in Stage 3, are there any aspects of the Tzield launch that you're tracking to kind of help frame the SAB-142 opportunity? Thank you.

Samuel Reich
Samuel Reich
CEO at SAB Bio

Alexandra, for the first question, why not the first part, and I'll take the second?

Alexandra Kropotova
Alexandra Kropotova
Chief Medical Officer at SAB Bio

The PRISE-hATG study has seven sites. Four of them are in the U.S., and other sites are in Europe. The study starts staggered versus SAFEGUARD, the top-line results for the PRISE are expected in Q1 of 2029.

Samuel Reich
Samuel Reich
CEO at SAB Bio

For Tzield, we'll continue to monitor Tzield's launch and how it progresses, but it's too soon for us to draw conclusions. Their recent quarterly disclosure likely reflects the pediatric expansion and EU approval in Stage 2 rather than Stage 3, which was just approved mid-June. More importantly, Tzield's approval is good news for patients, the field, and for SAB. It helps drive awareness and education, and it further confirms C-peptide is sufficient for accelerated approval.

Operator

Thank you. We'll move next to Kumar Raja with Brookline Capital Markets. Your line is open.

Kumar Raja
Kumar Raja
Analyst at Brookline Capital Markets

Thanks for taking my questions. I just had one follow-up on the number of sites. Given that for the PRISE study, you're planning seven sites, how do you think you'll be able to enroll so quickly if the number of patients are much larger? Then I had a question on SAFEGUARD. What are you seeing there in terms of screening failure rate? Thank you.

Alexandra Kropotova
Alexandra Kropotova
Chief Medical Officer at SAB Bio

Excellent question on the enrollment. As we already mentioned, PRISE study is the only trial that allows enrollment of the patient population up to 730 days from the disease onset. There are no other ongoing trials targeting this, allowing this patient population to be treated. There is already a great demand from the patient community who are beyond 100 days, highly interested in this clinical trial, and that enables a very efficient enrollment over a smaller number of sites.

Samuel Reich
Samuel Reich
CEO at SAB Bio

We're not disclosing screen failure rates or other detailed information like that. We're just reminding that enrollment remains on track to be completed in Q4.

Kumar Raja
Kumar Raja
Analyst at Brookline Capital Markets

Okay. In terms of drug supply, where do you stand with regard to that? Thank you.

Samuel Reich
Samuel Reich
CEO at SAB Bio

We have sufficient supply to supply both trials.

Kumar Raja
Kumar Raja
Analyst at Brookline Capital Markets

Okay, great. Thanks so much.

Operator

Thank you. This brings us to the end of today's meeting. We appreciate your time and participation. You may now disconnect.

Analysts