Biogen’s growth was expected to stay flat through the 2030s. A key acquisition and busy late-stage pipeline have relieved the pressure and cleared the way for some early-stage bets, CEO Chris Viehbacher said Wednesday.
With a late-stage pipeline set to deliver in the 2030 timeframe and new revenue expected from the acquisition of Apellis, Biogen will now look for early-stage assets to fill a pipeline that CEO Chris Viehbacher admitted is “quite thin.”
“We’re looking at really building the next generation of growth,” the CEO told analysts on the company’s first quarter earnings call on Wednesday.
Viehbacher has previously said that deals for early-stage assets were the goal, but analysts were looking for the company’s renewed strategy after the acquisition of kidney disease biotech Apellis last month, which fell firmly outside this goal.
After that deal, Viehbacher said his business development team would be “more opportunistic” in terms of M&A specifically.
“I don’t think there’s any particular need at [this] point to do that, but, you know, I guess we’ll keep an eye out, but we’re not going to be doing the search,” he said.
This contrasts with the company’s strategy over the past two to three years, when the team has been actively searching for M&A opportunities.
“We have had a very systematic search and felt that we wanted to do M&A. I would say, with the Apellis transaction and with the pipeline, we don’t see the same need to be as proactive on that front.”
Consensus estimates had Biogen’s growth staying relatively flat through the 2030s. In an effort to bend that curve upward, Biogen has built a major late-stage pipeline anchored in lupus, nephrology and neurology. Then last month, the company offered $5.6 billion to buy Apellis.
“If we execute well . . . and the pipeline does come through this, this should be a company that can grow well into the into the 2030s and what we need to really be thinking about is what comes after that,” Viehbacher said.
Now is the time to look at some earlier-stage research bets that could pay off further down the line, Viehbacher said.
“Most of what we’re going to be focusing on is early-stage development and research, because that’s that part of the pipeline is quite thin,” he said. In particular, the CEO pointed to research stage projects, pre-investigational new drug application or Phase 1 assets.
With that said, Biogen has bolstered the early pipeline with several licensing collaborations, particularly in immunology with Vanqua Bio and Dayra Therapeutics. Viehbacher also pointed to the $46 million deal with City Therapeutics inked last year to work on RNAi-based therapies for central nervous system diseases.
Taking a beat
Otherwise, Biogen’s earnings split analysts with revenues outpacing consensus estimates by 10% at $2.5 billion, a 2% year-over-year increase. Mizuho’s researchers called it a “solid beat,” while Truist Securities dubbed the quarter a “low quality” beat.
Revenue was led by a 12% increase across Biogen’s growth products, including Alzheimer’s disease therapy Leqembi, which rose 74% year-over-year to $168 million in sales globally, and Skyclarys, which took home $151 million for 22% growth. Sales of postpartum depression drug Zurzuvae, meanwhile, doubled to $55 million.
“Leqembi sales are starting to show real momentum, beating consensus estimates by +12% as barriers to Alzheimer’s therapy decline and patient awareness are slowly increasing,” BMO Capital Markets noted.
Biogen also enjoyed “continued durability” of its multiple sclerosis franchise, which has been in decline for several quarters as multiple products face loss of exclusivity, according to Truist. The firm was particularly pleased by sales of Tysabri, which took home $441 million worldwide in the quarter after earning just $381 million for all of 2025.
Altogether, the franchiser took home $958 million, which was flat from the year before but a beat nonetheless, William Blair commented. Analysts had been expecting $841 million instead.
“A lot of the work that we have done over the last two, three years, is now coming to fruition,” Viehbacher said. “Now we are very conscious of the fact that in business, 10% is strategy, 90% is execution, and so we need to now execute as a team.”
