Spero Therapeutics’ Loss Widens to $44.3 Million as It Licenses SP001
Key Facts
Spero Therapeutics reported a net loss of $44.3 million for the third quarter ended September 30 on November 12, 2026, compared with a loss of $7.4 million in the same period of 2025. Diluted loss per share was $0.76, versus $0.13 a year earlier. The company attributed a major part of the wider loss to higher research and development expenses related to the licensing of SP001. In its statement, it said those expenses increased mainly because of an upfront payment of $35 million. The results put the cost of developing the new immunology program at the center of the company’s quarterly financial changes.
Research and development expenses totaled $38.2 million during the quarter, compared with $8.6 million in the third quarter of 2025. The company’s statement said the increase was mainly due to the $35 million upfront payment to license SP001 from Innovent. The company disclosed that it recorded $35.0 million as acquired in-process research and development expense after licensing the drug in July and paying the upfront amount in August 2026. Most of the increase in research and development was therefore tied to the specified licensing expense, rather than to a general description of operating spending. General and administrative expenses fell to $3.7 million from $4.2 million a year earlier, a decline the company attributed mainly to lower personnel costs.
The company recorded no grant revenue for the quarter and linked part of the absence of this source to the termination of its contract with the U.S. Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA). According to its disclosure, Spero and the agency agreed on July 6, 2026, to terminate the contract, and the remaining funding commitments under it were canceled. The company said it would receive no further funding from BARDA under that contract. In other expenses, net expense was $2.4 million and included $3.3 million in interest expense related to the sale of future milestone and royalty receivables. These items show that the quarter’s results were also affected by the end of government funding and the structure of a transaction monetizing future receivables.
Cash and cash equivalents totaled $107.9 million on September 30, 2026. Spero said the balance was sufficient to fund operating expenses and capital expenditures through the second half of 2029. That balance was available after the company closed a $105 million non-recourse financing in July, with no new shares issued, in exchange for a portion of future Utebzi payments from GSK. Spero retained a 35% share of GSK payments remaining after required obligations to bondholder HCRx were paid. The company said the royalty financing was intended primarily to support SP001 development, while its reported cash position gave it a time horizon for funding operations and capital investment, according to its estimate.
The company plans to begin a Phase 2 study of SP001 for IgG4-related disease in the second quarter of 2027. Spero describes the drug as a fully humanized, third-generation IgG1 monoclonal antibody designed to target CD40L with an Fc-silencing property. Innovent previously completed single- and multiple-ascending-dose Phase 1 studies in healthy volunteers, as well as a Phase 1b multiple-dose study in patients with primary Sjögren’s syndrome in China. Phase 1b results were presented at the 2026 EULAR Congress. The start of the IgG4-RD study is the next development milestone the company has set for the program.
Elsewhere in the company’s portfolio, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved Utebzi in June 2026 for certain adults with complicated urinary tract infections, including pyelonephritis, and Spero expects GSK to make it available to patients in the United States by the end of 2026. The company said in its disclosure that it has not yet marketed any of its drug candidates and may not generate revenue from sales of current or future candidates. In a governance change, William Ho joined the board and the Development Committee effective November 10, 2026. Patrick Vink left the board after 11 years of service. SPRO shares closed at $1 on November 12, 2026, the day the results were announced.