WAVE Life Sciences (NASDAQ:WVE) reported higher third-quarter revenue and a wider net loss as it increased investment in clinical programs spanning obesity, alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency and liver disease.
Revenue for the third quarter of 2026 totaled $13.2 million, up from $7.6 million a year earlier, primarily reflecting the company’s collaboration with GSK. Research and development expense rose to $53.8 million from $45.9 million, while general and administrative expense increased to $25.4 million from $18.1 million. Wave reported a net loss of $61.9 million, compared with a $53.9 million loss in the prior-year quarter.
The company ended the quarter with $431 million in cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities, which Chief Financial Officer Kyle Moran said is expected to fund operations into the third quarter of 2028. Wave also expects to receive a $12 million milestone payment from GSK in the fourth quarter after GSK selected an siRNA development candidate to move into its pipeline.
Obesity Program Advances Into Multiple Settings
Wave is developing WVE-007, an siRNA therapy designed to silence the INHBE gene and reduce activin E, for obesity. Chief Executive Officer Paul Bolno said the company believes the approach could reduce fat while preserving muscle, differentiating it from incretin therapies that may result in losses of both fat and lean mass.
The company is running a Phase 2a monotherapy trial in participants with body mass indexes between 35 and 50 and comorbidities. The study includes up to 40 participants in each of four cohorts, evaluating 240-milligram and 400-milligram doses in people with and without type 2 diabetes. Participants receive doses on day one and day 85 and are followed for up to 12 months.
Chief Medical Officer Chris Wright said enrolled participants have shown baseline adiposity levels substantially higher than those in the Phase 1 portion of the program and more consistent with participants in later-stage obesity studies. The trial will also measure liver fat using MRI proton density fat fraction imaging, intended to inform the therapy’s potential in metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis, or MASH.
Wave also initiated a Phase 2a combination study during the third quarter. That trial is evaluating WVE-007 at 240 mg and 400 mg alongside weekly tirzepatide, compared with tirzepatide alone, in participants with obesity, type 2 diabetes and BMIs between 35 and 50.
The company said it remains on track to start a separate post-incretin maintenance study in the fourth quarter. That study is intended to examine whether WVE-007 can help prevent fat regain after patients discontinue incretin therapies. Bolno said the company will provide more details on the study design once it is initiated.
Wave expects to report 600-mg data from the single-ascending-dose Phase 1 portion of the INLIGHT study in the fourth quarter. Management said the results are expected to provide additional information on potency, durability, safety and tolerability. The company has not yet decided whether to disclose an earlier three-month Phase 2a data cut or wait for six-month data, which would provide an opportunity to assess weight loss.
FDA Discussion Supports Single WVE-006 Registrational Trial
Wave said it held a productive meeting with the Food and Drug Administration regarding WVE-006, its RNA-editing candidate for alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency, or AATD. The company is planning a single, two-year registrational study with a one-year interim analysis that could support accelerated approval based on biomarkers, followed by potential full approval from the same study.
WVE-006 is designed to address both lung and liver manifestations of AATD by reducing the disease-associated Z-AAT protein while restoring functional M-AAT protein. Wright said the company’s discussions with the FDA centered on restoring an “MZ-like phenotype,” including increased M-AAT, reduced Z-AAT and a dynamic response during inflammatory events.
Wave said the FDA supported using its liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry assay to measure M-AAT and Z-AAT proteins in its development program. Management did not disclose the specific endpoints planned for the registrational study, citing competitive considerations. Wright said forced expiratory volume, or FEV1, is not viewed as a feasible endpoint for a reasonably sized and timed AATD study, while measures such as exacerbations, respiratory symptom questionnaires and CT densitometry could be relevant.
Enrollment and dosing have been completed in the 200-mg, 400-mg and 600-mg cohorts of the ongoing RestorAATion-2 trial. Wave expects to provide data from the 600-mg monthly-dosing cohort in the fourth quarter, which management said will help determine the dose and dose interval for the pivotal study.
The company said it is working with patient foundations and societies that maintain Alpha-1 registries to support enrollment in its future registrational trial. Wright said Wave intends to include people with lung disease and liver disease in its program.
RNA Editing Pipeline and GSK Collaboration
Wave’s second RNA-editing candidate, WVE-008, targets homozygous carriers of the PNPLA3 I148M variant, which the company said is associated with increased risk of MASH and other liver disease. The company is developing WVE-008 to correct the variant and restore normal PNPLA3 function rather than silence the gene.
Wright said Wave plans to use previously genotyped populations in its first-in-human study to identify eligible carriers and potentially speed enrollment. The company remains on track for a clinical trial application submission in 2026.
Separately, GSK selected an siRNA development candidate from its collaboration with Wave during the quarter. Bolno said the collaboration was designed to provide access to Wave’s platform capabilities and enable work across cell types, targets and modalities. GSK has three additional programs advancing toward development-candidate selection, though Wave said potential future milestones from those programs are not included in its cash-runway forecast.
Wave also appointed Monika Vnuk as chief business officer. Vnuk, who joined from Sanofi, said she plans to focus immediately on ongoing partnering discussions and longer-term business development opportunities involving Wave’s clinical programs, preclinical portfolio and platform.
About WAVE Life Sciences (NASDAQ:WVE)
WAVE Life Sciences Ltd. (NASDAQ: WVE) is a biotechnology company focused on developing medicines that act on RNA, a molecule involved in translating genetic information into proteins. The company uses its proprietary chemistry and drug-design technologies to create oligonucleotide therapeutics intended to selectively modify RNA and address the underlying causes of genetic diseases.
Its research programs have included RNA editing and RNA-targeting approaches for conditions such as alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency, Duchenne muscular dystrophy and other serious genetic disorders.
