Vir Biotech soars again after prostate cancer drug collaboration with Astellas

Astellas Pharma

25/02/2026 18:04

Corrects to say "over 1-yr high" in first bullet, not "over 2-yr high"

    ** Vir Biotechnology's VIR.O shares up 13% to over 1-yr high $10.72 on Weds, adding to 28% gain in prior session

    ** VIR shares closed at $9.49 on Tues after co posted Q4 rev beat and said it's collaborating to develop its prostate cancer experimental drug with Japan's Astellas 4503.T

    ** Subsequently, San Francisco, California-based firm announced $200 mln stock offering after the bell on Tues

    ** It intends to use net offering proceeds to fund its portion of global clinical development costs, and potential portion of commercial launch costs for the drug, VIR-5500, under the Astellas agreement, among other purposes, per the offering prospectus

    ** Goldman Sachs, Leerink, Evercore and Barclays joint bookrunners

** Co has ~139.5 mln shares outstanding for about $1.5 bln market cap

** With the move on Weds, stock up ~78% YTD

    ** All 10 analysts are bullish on VIR; median PT $18, per LSEG data

(Lance Tupper is a Reuters market analyst. The views expressed are his own)

((lance.tupper@tr.com 1-646-279-6380))