Vaxcyte's Quarterly Loss Widens To $297.1 Million As It Raises $1.15 Billion After Trial Win
The vaccine developer's spending on manufacturing and trials climbed, and October financing lifted pro forma cash to about $3.4 billion.
Vaxcyte, a clinical-stage company developing vaccines against bacterial diseases, lost $297.1 million in the third quarter, up from $212.8 million a year earlier, as it spent to ready its VAX-31 pneumococcal vaccine for a possible launch. The company said in an 8-K filed Wednesday that October financing pushed pro forma cash to about $3.4 billion.
Spending on manufacturing and trials
The loss for the quarter ended September 30 came to $1.99 a share, against $1.56 a year earlier. Research and development spending reached $270.3 million, versus $209.9 million, driven by manufacturing to support potential commercial launches, VAX-31 Phase 3 trial costs and more R&D staff.
General and administrative expenses rose to $37.9 million from $32.4 million. For the first nine months, the net loss was $901,986 thousand, compared with $520,121 thousand a year earlier.
Vaxcyte has no approved products. It uses a cell-free protein synthesis platform, XpressCF, to make vaccines that are hard to produce with conventional methods, and its main focus is pneumococcal conjugate vaccines.
$1.15 billion raised after OPUS-1
Cash, equivalents and investments stood at $2,264.4 million on September 30, down from $2,442.6 million at December 31, 2025. That excludes about $1.1 billion in net proceeds from October offerings.
The offerings raised $1.15 billion gross: $575 million of common stock and pre-funded warrants, and $575 million of 1.50% convertible senior notes due October 2032. Both included full exercise of the underwriters' options.
The raise followed positive topline results from OPUS-1, the pivotal adult trial, which enrolled 4,047 healthy U.S. adults, including 3,572 aged 50 and older. VAX-31 met all prespecified primary endpoints and showed a safety profile similar to PCV20 and PCV21, the company said.
The PCV21 comparison
Against Capvaxive (PCV21), VAX-31 met the stricter noninferiority bar for 17 of 19 shared serotypes. Serotypes 3 and 12F missed it but cleared a looser historical threshold. The company expects the PCV21 comparison to be a particular focus of FDA review.
CEO Grant Pickering said the trial "inaugurated a more stringent noninferiority standard."
OPUS-2 and OPUS-3 results are expected in the first half of 2027, with a biologics license application planned for the first half of 2028.
Sources
- 8-K Filing — Vaxcyte, Inc. (PCVX) — SEC EDGAR
- Exhibit pcvx-20261104xexx991.htm — Vaxcyte, Inc. 8-K exhibit — SEC EDGAR
