Zymeworks Raises 2026 Revenue Forecast to $351 Million After Third-Quarter Results
Key Facts
On November 9, Zymeworks reported results for the third quarter ended September 30, 2026, and raised its forecasts for full-year revenue and adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization. The company said annual revenue would range from $337 million to $351 million, compared with a previous range of $278 million to $292 million. It also raised its adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization forecast to between $176 million and $190 million, from $114 million to $128 million. The company tied the update to the execution of business development activities, while saying the forecasts exclude any future transactions. The higher ranges follow a quarter in which the company recorded revenue and earnings driven mainly by a large milestone payment from Jazz.
Third-quarter revenue was $256.5 million, compared with $27.6 million in the same period of 2025. The company attributed the increase mainly to a $250 million milestone payment due from Jazz after U.S. approval of Ziihera. Net income was $173.7 million, compared with a net loss of $19.6 million a year earlier, and the company said the change in results was driven mainly by the same payment. The comparison shows that the quarterly jump was tied to a specific contractual event, while not all revenue was recurring. The current quarter also did not include a $25 million development milestone payment from Johnson & Johnson Innovative Medicine that was recorded in the third quarter of 2025, creating a headwind in the year-over-year comparison.
In addition to the milestone payment, the company recorded $2.3 million in royalty revenue for the quarter from Jazz and BeOne, most of it from U.S. Ziihera sales marketed by Jazz. The company reported that collaboration revenue related to YUPELRI increased 4% year over year. U.S. net sales of the drug, according to figures reported by Viatris, were $71.5 million for the quarter, up just 0.2% year over year. The figures highlight the different sources of quarterly revenue: Jazz's large payment lifted the total, while U.S. YUPELRI sales were nearly flat. Zymeworks said it remained eligible for up to $190 million in potential global regulatory milestone payments tied to approvals outside the U.S. of Ziihera for HER2-positive gastric and esophageal cancer, from Jazz and BeOne.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved regimens including Ziihera on August 25, 2026, for eligible adults with advanced HER2-positive gastric or gastroesophageal junction adenocarcinoma in the first line of treatment. The Jazz payment that contributed to quarterly revenue was tied to this U.S. approval, while the potential regulatory payments cited depend on approvals outside the U.S. Zymeworks also closed its acquisition of Theravance Biopharma on September 23, adding only about $1.5 million to quarterly revenue, reflecting seven days of ownership. The timing of the closing meant the acquisition's impact on this quarter's figures was limited to a short period, despite Theravance becoming part of the company's portfolio. The new forecasts, meanwhile, exclude future transactions, according to the company.
The forecasts also remain subject to a regulatory condition in the Roche collaboration: Zymeworks said its ranges assume the expiration or termination of the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act waiting period for the collaboration, which it expected during the fourth quarter of 2026. The company did not disclose a financial impact from a future transaction in the forecasts and confirmed that future transactions were excluded from its adjusted earnings guidance. On investor communications, the company said it would not hold a conference call for its third-quarter results. It plans to hold a research and development day in New York on February 11, 2027, the next date it announced for presenting its research and development activities.
In trading before the results announcement, the company's shares closed at $29.63 on November 6, 2026. That price does not reflect the share movement after the announcement was released on November 9. Reading the quarterly figures still requires distinguishing among milestone payments, royalties and product sales: the Jazz payment was the main driver of revenue and income, while YUPELRI collaboration revenue increased 4% and its U.S. sales recorded only a marginal year-over-year increase. Theravance contributed only seven days of the quarter. These factors provide context for the company's wider annual forecast ranges, with the Roche waiting-period condition remaining among the assumptions it cited.