Gubra A/S (GUBRA) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Markus.

After your first few months as CEO at Gubra, can you share some of your reflections and ambitions for the company?

Over the past few months, I've come to appreciate how unique Gubra really is, great Science, strong execution and a financial foundation, which is really solid. Something you rarely see in biotech. At the core of our strategy, there is a dual business model. On the one side, the Biotech unit, our core value driver; and on the other side, our CRO, a powerful enabler, which is setting us apart. Looking ahead, we will expand our pipeline and explore new high-value therapeutic areas also beyond obesity and metabolics and strengthen our technology and preclinical entities to support this growth. My ambition for the company is clear. We will advance multiple programs into the clinic and expand our partnerships also with the blueprint we have from our recent deal with AbbVie on Amylin. We will further strengthen our leading position as a peptide-centric, disease-agnostic techbio company.

On the biotech business and the internal R&D pipeline, is there a particular asset you would like to highlight?

Yes. UCN2 is our next major project. It's a selective, a long-acting urocortin-2 analog designed for what we call healthy weight loss, reducing fat and at the same time, maintain or even increase lean muscle mass. In preclinical studies, UCN2 has shown impressive results. It prevents lean mass loss typically seen in GLP-1 treated patients. It also improves cardiorenal markers. So it's a great candidate for a potential combination therapy. In the third quarter, we also confirmed that UCN2 can promote muscle growth using our advanced 3D imaging technology. So as the next step, we will enter first-in-human trials with UCN2, and we remain firmly on track to do that in the first half of 2026.

How did the business perform in Q3? And what's the outlook for the CRO?

Our CRO had enjoyed remarkable long-term growth, over 70% since 2022. In the first 9 months of this year, we have seen a small decline, about 5% compared to the same period last year. That's driven by the market environment, macroeconomic trends, less biotech funding. It's just creating longer decision cycles at our customers. Having said this, we will continue to drive best-in-class quality and speed, stay close to our customers and let our CRO be a key enabler for our biotech and partnering strategy.

Do you have any final thoughts you would like to share with us today on Gubra's performance and outlook?

I'd like to emphasize the great value potential across our businesses and also, of course, the record year-end results we will deliver as a group in 2025. Over the first 9 months, we have delivered earnings of more than EUR 270 million, driven by an exceptional deal with AbbVie where we licensed our Amylin. Looking ahead, I think Gubra is well positioned for the next wave of growth. I'm very excited to work with my great and passionate team to unlock the full potential of the company.