Biogen is shifting to a more opportunistic mergers and acquisitions approach after spending $6.6 billion this year to acquire Apellis and RayThera, CEO Chris Viehbacher said on the company’s second quarter earnings call Wednesday morning, July 29. Viehbacher said, “I think we have what we need to grow near term. I think we’ll be less intentional about M&A and perhaps more opportunistic.”
Viehbacher explained that future dealmaking will focus on filling gaps in the early-stage pipeline, stating, “Ideally, we’d like to be bringing in assets between development candidate and IND [investigational new drug] stage.” The recent acquisition of Apellis has added two marketed therapies to Biogen’s portfolio, bringing its total high-profile medicines on the market to eight.
The company reported $2.74 billion in revenue for the second quarter, surpassing analysts’ consensus estimate of $2.46 billion, according to William Blair. Truist Securities wrote that “the outperformance was primarily driven by stronger-than-expected contributions from the acquired Apellis products following the earlier-than-anticipated May 14 transaction close.” Empaveli and Syfovre—two products from Apellis—generated a combined $127.8 million during the period.
Alisha Alaimo, president of Biogen’s North America operations, said this marks a 22% year-over-year increase for those products after what she described as support from the “Biogen machine” behind their marketing push. Despite raising full-year revenue guidance from an expected decline to an increase in mid-single digits due largely to these acquisitions, Biogen also revised its non-GAAP diluted earnings per share outlook downward by 15%, reflecting an 85-cent dilution related to the transaction.
Truist commented, “Overall, we view the quarter as better than expected, but not one that materially changes the investment narrative,” adding that while results offer incremental confidence in management’s execution and highlight strategic value in acquiring Apellis as a bridge for future growth, much of this quarter's success relied on acquisitions rather than organic business improvement.
Looking ahead, investors are focusing on upcoming Phase 3 readouts for litifilimab in systemic lupus erythematosus expected later this year and felzartamab data anticipated in early 2027.
