ADC Therapeutics (NYSE:ADCT) held its first-quarter earnings conference call on Monday. Below is the complete transcript from the call.

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Summary

ADC Therapeutics SA reported first quarter 2026 net product revenues of $20 million, reflecting a 15% increase from the previous year, primarily due to quarter-to-quarter variability in customer ordering.

The company is focused on advancing its strategic initiatives, particularly around its drug Zenlonta, with multiple clinical trials expected to yield data within 2026 and 2027, potentially expanding its market reach into earlier lines of therapy.

ADC Therapeutics SA reduced operating expenses by 13% compared to Q1 2025, maintaining a healthy cash balance of $231 million, which supports a cash runway into 2028.

The company anticipates significant revenue growth starting in 2027, contingent upon positive clinical trial outcomes and subsequent regulatory approvals and compendium listings.

Management expressed confidence in Zenlonta's potential to reach peak annual revenues of $600 million to $1 billion in the US, assuming successful trial outcomes and regulatory milestones.

Full Transcript

OPERATOR

Good morning ladies and gentlemen and welcome to The ADC Therapeutics Q1 2026 earnings conference call. At this time, all lines are in listen only mode. Following the presentation, we will conduct a question and answer session. If at any time during this call you require immediate assistance, please press star zero for the operator. This call is being recorded on Monday, May 4, 2026. I would now like to turn the conference over to Nicole Riley, Head of Investor Relations and Corporate Communications. Please go ahead.

Nicole Riley (Head of Investor Relations and Corporate Communications)

Thank you operator. Today we issued a press Release announcing our first quarter of 2026 financial results and business updates. This release and the slides we will use in today's presentation are available on the Investors section of the ADC Therapeutics website. I'm joined on today's call by our Chief Executive Officer Amit Malik. who will discuss our operational performance and recent business highlights, followed by our Chief Financial Officer Pepe Carmona. who will review our first quarter of 2026 financial results. We will then open the call to questions. Before we begin, I would like to remind listeners that some of the statements made during this conference call will contain forward looking statements within the meaning of the safe harbor provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward looking statements are subject to certain known and unknown risks and uncertainties and actual results, performance and achievements could differ materially. They are identified and described in the accompanying slide presentation and in the Company's filings with the SEC, including Form 10-K, 10-Q, and 8-K. ADC Therapeutics is providing this information as of today's date and does not undertake any obligation to update any forward looking statements contained in this conference call as a result of new information, future events or circumstances. Except as required by law, the Company cautions investors not to place undue reliance on these forward looking statements. Today's presentation also includes non-GAAP financial reporting. These non-GAAP measures should be considered in addition to and not in isolation or as a substitute for the information prepared in accordance with GAAP. You should refer to the company's first quarter of 2026 earnings release for information and reconciliation of historical non-GAAP measures to the comparable GAAP financial measures. I will now turn the call over to our CEO Amit Malik..

Amit Malik (Chief Executive Officer)

Amit thank you Nicole. We continue to make good Progress in the first quarter of 2026 as we advance towards multiple important milestones for Zinlanta over the remainder of the year, beginning with the expected Lotus 5 top line readout in the second quarter. From a commercial perspective, we continue to focus on execution and delivering on our commercial strategy maintaining Zinlanta as a differentiated treatment option for third line plus DLBCL patients. First quarter net product revenues were $20.0 million as compared to the prior year's first quarter net product revenues of $17.4 million. The increase was driven primarily by normal quarter to quarter variability in customer ordering, with underlying demand broadly stable. Looking toward the second line plus setting where we believe the largest growth opportunity lies for Lotus 5, our phase 3 confirmatory trial of Zinlanta plus Rituximab, we expect to share top line data before the end of June, potentially bringing us another step closer to providing this combination to significantly more patients. While this timeline is rapidly approaching, I do want to highlight that we are currently still blinded to the Data. Turning to Lotus 7, we expect to complete enrollment of approximately 100 patients at the selected dose level of Zinlanta plus Clocitumab in the second quarter with full data anticipated by year end in indolent lymphomas. We continue to anticipate data publication between the end of 2026 and mid-2027 from the multicenter investigator initiated trials of Zinlanta in combination with rituximab to treat relapsed or refractory follicular lymphoma and of Zinlanta as a monotherapy to treat relapsed or refractory marginal zone lymphoma, we continue to pay close attention in the quarter to managing our cost base and optimizing our balance sheet on a non GAAP basis. We reduced our total operating expenses by 13% versus Q1 2025 and we ended the first quarter of 2026 with a healthy cash balance of $231 million. This maintains our expected cash Runway at least into 2028, enabling us to deliver against our strategy. We are building off the well established role of Zinlanta as a single agent therapy in third line plus dlbcl.

Amit Malik (Chief Executive Officer)

Whereas Inlanta has a profile of rapid, deep and durable efficacy as well as manageable safety with simple and convenient administration, we believe the relative stability we've seen in net product revenues over multiple quarters demonstrates that Xenlanta has a clear place in this market. This is just a starting point as we believe in the potential for Xenlanta to reach significantly more patients by expanding use into earlier lines of therapy in DLBCL and into indolent lymphomas. The data we've seen across these settings so far have been consistently encouraging with the potential to be highly differentiating through expansion into these settings in DLBCL and into indolent lymphomas. We are confident that Zinlanta has the potential to reach peak annual revenues of $600 million to $1 billion in the US assuming both compendia listing and regulatory approval. The upcoming Lotus 5 trial readout, if positive, will begin to unlock the value of our life cycle management efforts within the company.

Amit Malik (Chief Executive Officer)

Taken together with the upcoming data expected from Lotus 7 and the indolent lymphoma studies, we expect to accelerate our revenue growth trajectory starting in 2027. Now I would like to turn the call over to Pepe Carmona, our cfo, who will discuss financial results for the first quarter. Pepe thank you Amit on the financial

Pepe Carmona (Chief Financial Officer)

front, Zinlanta net product revenues in the first quarter, of 2026 were $20 million as compared to $17.4 million in 2025. Licensing revenues and royalties were lowered this year due to $5 million milestones we received from our partner in the prior year period. Cost of sales increased by $1.6 million to $3.6 million for the three months ended March 31, 2026. This increase reflects a shift in the allocation of certain personnel costs due to a change in focus from research and development activities, manufacturing activities.

Pepe Carmona (Chief Financial Officer)

Total operating expenses were $46.1 million for the first quarter, on a non-GAAP basis,,,. Total adjusted operating expenses were $42.9 million for the quarter. Total adjusted operating expenses were down by 13% over the prior year period, primarily driven by lower R and D expenses. As Amit noted when managing our costs carefully and we remain disciplined in our capital allocation towards potential value creation while driving efficiency. On a GAAP basis,,,, we reported a net loss of $33 million for the first quarter, of 2026 or $0.21 per basic undiluted share, as compared to a net loss of $38.6 million or $0.36 per basic undiluted share, for

Pepe Carmona (Chief Financial Officer)

the same period in 2025. On a non-GAAP basis,,,, the adjusted net loss was $19.7 million for the first quarter, of 2026 as compared to a net loss of $24 million for the same period in 2025. The lower net loss on both GAAP and non-GAAP basis,,, was primarily due to reduced R and D expenses the year over year reductions on a per share basis were additionally impacted by the higher number of weighted average shares outstanding. You can find the reconciliation of GAAP to non-GAAP measures for the first quarter, in the accompanying financial tables of the press release issued earlier today and in the appendix of this presentation. At the end of the first quarter, we had cash and cash equivalents of $231 million as compared to $261.3 million as of December 31, 2025. This provides us with an expected cash Runway at least into 2028. Turning to upcoming milestones, we expect to have multiple data catalysts during the remainder of 2026 across the Zinlonta program. First, we expect to share the top line data for Lotus 5 before the end of June, with publication of full results anticipated by the year end. As Amit noted, we're currently blinded to the data. Until the top line data has been presented, we will remain in a blackout period, which means we may need to cancel our participation in any conferences as well as meetings with investors and analysts. Assuming the results are positive, we plan to submit a supplemental biologics license application to the FDA by year end, with potential publication and compendium inclusion in the first half of 2027 and confirmatory approval to follow thereafter. With Lotus 7, we are on track to complete enrollment in the second quarter. We plan to share the next update with full data at a medical meeting by the end of 2026. In addition, assuming positive results, we plan to pursue compendia inclusion as well as assess a regulatory strategy within the learning formas. We expect the lead investigator to share additional data at medical conferences between the end of 2026 and mid 2027 and we plan to assess regulatory and compendium strategies once sufficient data are available. I will now turn the call back over to Amit.

Amit Malik (Chief Executive Officer)

Thank you, Pepe. To close, I am pleased with our start to 2026. We have achieved solid commercial performance while maintaining our strict capital discipline as we look forward to multiple anticipated value-creating catalysts beginning with the expected Lotus 5 readout. We are excited about delivering on our strategy and confident we can drive significant potential long term growth starting in 2027. We can now open the line for questions. operator,

OPERATOR

thank you ladies and gentlemen. We will now begin the question and answer session. Should you have a question, please press star followed by the 1. On your touch tone phone you will hear a prompt that your hand has been raised. Should you wish to decline from the polling process, please press STAR followed by the two. If you are using a speakerphone, please lift the handset before pressing any keys. One moment please for your first question. Your first question comes from Maury Raycroft with Jeffries. Your line is now open.

Maury Raycroft (Equity Analyst)

Hi, good morning. Congrats on the progress and thanks for taking My question, you mentioned on the call that you remain blinded to the data. Can you clarify if the database is locked at this point and when you reach the 262 events? And from a process standpoint, can you say what's happening currently and what are the drivers that will allow you to unblind the data?

Amit Malik (Chief Executive Officer)

Yeah, thanks for the question. So what I can tell you is we're on track to read the data. So we're completely blinded to the data. So I don't know any information yet. But as soon as the database gets locked and we do the statistical analysis will then be able to disclose top line data. So we're not at that point yet. Got it. Understood. We are on track to basically to share the data this quarter. Got it. Okay. And for when you reach the 262 events, is there anything more on that you're saying from a timing perspective? Yeah, we're not commenting on exactly when we're hitting the events, but what I can tell you is we're on track to hit the, you know, to to get to the top-line results this quarter.

Maury Raycroft (Equity Analyst)

Okay. Okay, understood. Maybe one other quick question. Just following the site-level interventions you implemented to address the early dropout in censoring, do you have any perspective potentially from the IDMC to provide any indication that censoring rates improved after those changes? I guess any any more color on that could be helpful.

Amit Malik (Chief Executive Officer)

I can't comment further. What I can tell you is the last IDMC look, which was from a safety standpoint was last fall. And again that recommendation was to proceed as is. There's been any other looks from the IDMC at the data.

Maury Raycroft (Equity Analyst)

Understood. Okay. Thanks for taking my questions.

Amit Malik (Chief Executive Officer)

Yeah, thank you so much, Appreciate it.

OPERATOR

Your next question comes from Michael Schmidt with Guggenheim. Your line is now open.

Michael Schmidt (Equity Analyst)

Oh, hey guys, good morning. Thanks for taking my questions. I have a couple. Maybe first commercially the 20 million in 1Q, it's about 15% growth annually. I know you mentioned ordering pattern, but it just seems more growth than we've seen in recent quarters. And just curious if there's anything else going on in terms of driving more volume perhaps in the approved indication in the market. And then the other question I just had on Lotus five. So, you know, great to hear that the data is still on track for this quarter. Could you just comment on how much of the result you'll be able to disclose in the top line announcement? Will you be able to share things like median PFS or perhaps hazard ratios, et cetera in the top Line release. Thanks so much.

Amit Malik (Chief Executive Officer)

Yeah, thanks Michael. So first in sales, as you recall, Q3 was quite low, and Q4 was quite strong. So we had 15.8 million, then 22.3 million, and now we're at 20 million. I think it's too soon to call the change in trend to be honest right now, but I think what we're seeing is definitely very good execution. We're happy that we've been able to maintain our share despite very competitive environment. And there is quarter to quarter availability as we saw like Q3 was one of the lowest quarters and then Q4 was one of the higher quarters in the last couple years. But I think after two quarters in that 20 plus million dollar range, it's encouraging but it's too soon to call it a trend. So I think if this continues that may cause us to sort of change where we think the range is going to be. But I think at this point just given the variability we've seen in the last couple of years, I think we think it's, we're still in the range of, of normal demand within the, you know, patterns of customer ordering variability. With regards to Lotus 5, we plan to share all the relevant information on the primary endpoints. Of course that can be the PFS hazard ratio, any information that we have on key secondary endpoints as well as top line safety data. So we do want to make sure that the disclosure is clear with the information that we have and well understood what the result is. At the same time, you know, a lot of sub analyses and other things that are typically less relevant for a top on result but critical for, let's say a medical conference or publication. Those would be details that would come later in the year. Thank you. Yeah, thanks Michael.

OPERATOR

The next question comes from Eric Schmidt with Kantor. Your line is now open.

Eric Schmidt (Equity Analyst)

Thanks for a very efficient call. A couple of questions for me Also on Lotus 5. First with regard to procedures, do I take Pepe's comments to mean that you're now entering the quiet period? Is that starting after today?

Amit Malik (Chief Executive Officer)

We started actually at quiet period. We have to do earnings of course, but we haven't been engaging with analysts or investors since April 1st for the whole quarter until we disclosed the data.

Eric Schmidt (Equity Analyst)

Thank you. And then Amit, on the information that you'll be able to disclose with regard to the top line Data for Lotus 5 this quarter, will we get some thoughts on how survival is trending? I know the trial's primary endpoint is PFS and, and you're well powered there, but wondering if you'll be able to provide color on OS trends and then if you know at this point how many OS events or how mature the OS data might be at the time of the PFS top line look.

Amit Malik (Chief Executive Officer)

Yeah. So in addition to PFS, which obviously will be mature, we will give the information that we have on overall survival. So whether it's mature or it's a trend, we will provide the information that we have on overall survival, as well as the other key secondary endpoints, as well like response rate, duration, response. So we plan to share all the information we have. I can't comment right now on how many events we have with regards to overall survival, but what I can tell you is it will be with whatever information we have, we will make it

Pepe Carmona (Chief Financial Officer)

part of the disclosure and then maybe just one modeling for Pepe, the change that we saw from personnel, from R and D into cost of goods, is that an ongoing transition? Are we expecting cogs to be inflated in subsequent quarters as well? It is going to continue throughout all quarters from now on. So it's a reallocation of those expenses into cost of goods and we capitalize one time inventory. But. But the cost of goods are going to increase because of this fixed cost and now it's getting allocated.

OPERATOR

Yeah. Thank you very much ladies and gentlemen. As a reminder, should you have a question, please press star one. Your next question comes from Sudan, Logan Thanh with Stevens. Your line is now open.

Sudan Logan Thanh

Hi, good morning. Appreciate you taking the question. Right first one wanted to ask, you know what the, what you believe the immediate impacts post the Lotus 5 top line results in the second quarter. You know, could be, you know, as for instance if it is positive good PFS readout. You know how this may change how Zin Lanta is prescribed reviewed in the second half of this year even prior to compendia listing. And then secondly, just wanted to ask, even push over to the IITs, you know, how how does that add some incremental value over the next year or two.

Amit Malik (Chief Executive Officer)

Thanks. Sure. Yeah. So once we get to the top line readout, assuming it's positive, we then would work to kind of go down two paths. One is to prepare the SBLA submission that typically takes four to five months. We expect to have that certainly before the end of this year and then that could lead to an approval thereafter next year. And then in addition we plan to submit to a medical congress and publication by the end of this year to be able to share the full details result that would be the basis that we would submit to Compendia. So we expect that we could get companion inclusion sometime in the first part of next year and then an approval sometime thereafter in 2027. So we don't expect any revenue impact this year. We expect this year to be largely in line with what the previous years are and only see a revenue trajectory increase next year. As you know, we'll only start promoting the product once we have formal approval sometime around the middle of next year. And your second question was around the IITs, correct? Okay, so with the IITs, we have both marginal zone and the follicular lymphoma IITs, both of those, let's call it, The data on the full study will be disclosed sometime between the end of this year and the middle of next year. We expect publications to happen around that same time and then to be submitted for compendia inclusion after that. In addition, we're evaluating the regulatory approach for we would take in some as we move forward in parallel.

Sudan Logan Thanh

Great. I appreciate the details and looking forward to the readout.

OPERATOR

No further questions at this time. I will now turn the call over to Amit Milik for closing remarks.

Amit Malik (Chief Executive Officer)

Thank you all for joining the call today and for your continued support. We look forward to keeping you updated on our progress and look forward to speaking soon. So, Operator, you may now end the call. Thank you.

OPERATOR

Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes your conference call for today. We thank you for participating and ask that you please disconnect your lines.

Disclaimer: This transcript is provided for informational purposes only. While we strive for accuracy, there may be errors or omissions in this automated transcription. For official company statements and financial information, please refer to the company's SEC filings and official press releases. Corporate participants' and analysts' statements reflect their views as of the date of this call and are subject to change without notice.