Cambridge biotech tracker · Waltham
Zenas BioPharma
Listed on Nasdaq as ZBIO, filed under SEC industry code 2834 (pharmaceutical preparations). Fiscal year ends in December. Numbers below are from the company’s own SEC filings through Q3 '26.
- Cash & investments
- $647M
- Q3 '26 · Sep 30, 2026
- Burn per quarter
- $60.7M
- avg. operating cash flow, 4 qtrs
- Runway
- 2.7 yrs
- 24 to 36 months
- Net loss
- $109M
- Q3 '26
- R&D expense
- $58.5M
- 52% of opex
- Raised, last 4 qtrs
- +$674M
- net financing cash flow
- FDA decision
- May 2027
- FDA decision · cash past the catalyst
Cash & investments
Quarter-end balance
Operating cash flow
Per quarter; below zero is burn
R&D expense
Per quarter
Two views of the runway
Compare across the clusterThe outside view
2.7 years
Cash at Q3 '26 divided by the average burn of the last four quarters, $20.2M a month.
Management’s own date
Into 2029
Jan–Dec 2029
That implies $16.6M to $23.9M a month, 0.8–1.2× the recent pace.
In line with the last year“We estimate that our existing cash, cash equivalents and investments will be sufficient to fund our projected operations and capital expenditure requirements into 2029.”
Cash against the calendar
What the runway has to reach.
May 27, 2027
FDA target action date (PDUFA)
Disclosed in the 8-K filed Nov 5, 2026Does the cash reach it?
Cash past the catalyst
- Runway
- 2.7 years
- Time to the date
- 7 months
It is about 7 months out. At the current burn there is roughly 25 months of cash left on the far side of it, which is enough room to raise on the result rather than ahead of it.
Catalysts ahead
- May 2027FDA decisionFDA target action date (PDUFA)
- Jun 2030Phase 3A Study of Orelabrutinib in Patients With Primary Progressive Multiple Sclerosis
- Jun 2030Phase 3A Study of Orelabrutinib in Patients With Secondary Progressive Multiple Sclerosis
FDA decision dates disclosed in filings
“…EX-99.1 2 tm2628936d1_ex99-1.htm EXHIBIT 99.1 Exhibit 99.1 Zenas BioPharma Reports Third Quarter 2026 Financial Results and Provides Corporate Update - PDUFA target action date of May 27, 2027, following FDA acceptance of Obexelimab BLA submission for the treatment of IgG4-RD in second quarter 2026 - - Obexelimab MAA submitted to…”
Pulled from the company’s own filing text. An approval decision is a financing event as much as a clinical one, since the commercial build-out has to be funded months before any revenue from it arrives.
Pipeline
6 active trials, through phase 3.
Phase 3 · 4Phase 2 · 2
Interventional studies where this company is the lead sponsor, from ClinicalTrials.gov. Primary completion is when the last patient is measured on the primary endpoint, which is when the data exists rather than when it is announced. Extension, rollover and healthy-volunteer studies are listed but marked as non-catalysts, because they finish long after the result that mattered. Sponsors revise these dates as enrollment moves, so an estimate is a plan rather than a promise.
The controller’s read
What the filings say.
Generated from the numbers above using the same questions I ask when I open a client’s books: how long the cash lasts, what is driving the gap between loss and burn, and where the accounting judgment sits.
Get this read on your companyThe cash clears the next catalyst
The next dated event is a FDA target action date in May 2027, about 7 months out. That leaves roughly 25 months of cash afterwards, which is the position you want: the raise can be negotiated on the data instead of on the calendar.
About 2.7 years of runway
Cash and investments of $647M at Q3 '26 against an average operating cash burn of $60.7M per quarter over the last four reported quarters runs out around April 2029. More than two years of runway means the finance conversation is about deployment, not survival.
Cash position up $296M since Q4 '24
Net financing inflows of $674M over the last four quarters, from equity, debt, or ATM sales, more than covered operating burn. The balance is the number the board watches; the trend is the number the auditors watch.
Net loss runs $50.9M above cash burn
The Q3 '26 net loss of $109M includes non-cash charges, including $17.3M of stock-based compensation, that do not consume cash. Burn, not net loss, is what runway is built on.
R&D is 52% of operating expenses
$58.5M of R&D against $113M of total operating expenses in Q3 '26, with G&A at $27.4M. For a clinical-stage company, the accounting questions live inside that R&D line: CRO and CMC accruals, milestone recognition, and what gets capitalized versus expensed under ASC 730.
Revenue of $10.0M in Q3 '26
The balance sheet carries $2.0M of deferred revenue, which is typically upfront collaboration or license payments being recognized over time. Collaboration and license revenue under ASC 606 and ASC 808 is the single most judgment-heavy area in biotech accounting: performance obligations, variable consideration on milestones, and the split between revenue and cost-sharing.
Accumulated deficit of $1.07B
Total losses since inception. It is also roughly the size of the net operating loss carryforward the tax provision has to track, subject to Section 382 limits after each ownership change.
Quarterly detail, eight quarters
| Quarter | Cash & inv. | Op. cash flow | Net income | R&D | G&A | Revenue | Stock comp | Financing |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Q4 '24 · Dec 31, 24 | $351M | −$38.6M | −$52.6M | $49.2M | $11.5M | $5.0M | $5.5M | $1.9M |
| Q1 '25 · Mar 31, 25 | $314M | −$37.1M | −$33.6M | $34.9M | $12.4M | $10.0M | $5.4M | $99K |
| Q2 '25 · Jun 30, 25 | $275M | −$41.7M | −$52.2M | $43.0M | $12.1M | $0 | $6.0M | $1.7M |
| Q3 '25 · Sep 30, 25 | $302M | −$41.1M | −$51.5M | $34.4M | $13.2M | $0 | $7.3M | $72.6M |
| Q4 '25 · Dec 31, 25 | $360M | −$52.4M | −$240M | $55.7M | $15.6M | $0 | $7.6M | $141M |
| Q1 '26 · Mar 31, 26 | $719M | −$75.2M | −$81.0M | $60.4M | $16.9M | — | $9.2M | $433M |
| Q2 '26 · Jun 30, 26 | $674M | −$57.2M | −$111M | $62.9M | $15.7M | $1.0M | $8.6M | $42.1M |
| Q3 '26 · Sep 30, 26 | $647M | −$58.0M | −$109M | $58.5M | $27.4M | $10.0M | $17.3M | $57.2M |
Source: SEC EDGAR XBRL company facts, latest filed value for each period. Fourth quarters are derived from annual less nine-month figures; quarterly cash flows are derived from year-to-date amounts. Not investment advice. If a figure disagrees with the filing, the filing is right.