Wave Life Sciences Reports First Quarter 2026 Financial Results and Provides Business Update
With recent FDA acceptance of the Phase 2a multidose portion of INLIGHT trial of WVE-007 (INHBE GalNAc-siRNA) in individuals with higher BMI, with and without type 2 diabetes, this portion of the trial remains on track to initiate in 2Q 2026
Combination and maintenance trials of WVE-007 on track to initiate in 2026
Data from RestorAATion-2 trial of WVE-006 (GalNAc-RNA editing) in AATD (including 400 mg monthly dose and 600 mg single dose cohorts) to be presented at an investor webcast during the ATS International Conference in May 2026
Regulatory feedback on accelerated approval pathway for WVE-006 continues to be expected mid-2026
CTA submission for WVE-008 (GalNAc-RNA editing for PNPLA3 I148M liver disease) on track for 2026
Well capitalized with cash and cash equivalents of $544.6 million as of March 31, 2026 and expected cash runway into 3Q 2028
Investor conference call and webcast at 8:30 a.m. ET today
CAMBRIDGE, Mass., April 28, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Wave Life Sciences Ltd. (Nasdaq: WVE), a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on unlocking the broad potential of RNA medicines to transform human health, today announced financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2026, and provided a business update.
“We’re accelerating WVE-007 to the next stages of development following the improvements in body composition already observed in the Phase 1 portion of our INLIGHT trial, including profound reductions in harmful visceral fat, along with favorable safety and potential for once to twice yearly dosing,” said Paul Bolno, MD, MBA, President and Chief Executive Officer at Wave Life Sciences. “This quarter, we expect to initiate the Phase 2a portion of INLIGHT in individuals with higher BMI and excess fat. Given WVE-007’s mechanism of targeted lipolysis, we believe this portion of the study can deliver even more pronounced improvements in body composition. Importantly, we’ve designed the Phase 2a study to assess additional biomarkers of cardiometabolic health, which will inform WVE-007’s broad potential across obesity and multiple indications, including MASH, type 2 diabetes, and cardiovascular disease. We also plan to rapidly initiate investigation of WVE-007 in both the combination and maintenance settings soon thereafter.”
Dr. Bolno added, “We continue to make significant progress advancing our RNA editing pipeline led by WVE-006 for AATD. Clinical data from our ongoing RestorAATion-2 trial of WVE-006 has already demonstrated the potential to provide a much-needed new therapeutic option. By correcting the root cause of disease, WVE-006 restores dynamic AAT production to address lung manifestations and lowers harmful Z-AAT to address liver manifestations of the disease, with a therapy that is well-tolerated, non-permanent, and highly specific. WVE-006 also avoids delivery with LNPs and collateral bystander edits and indels associated with DNA base editing. In May, we expect to highlight data from our RestorAATion-2 trial, including results from our less frequent, 400 mg monthly dose and 600 mg single dose cohorts. We remain on track to receive regulatory feedback on a potential accelerated approval pathway for WVE-006 mid-year. Building on our clinical success in RNAi and RNA editing, we are advancing WVE-008, as well as a pipeline of additional hepatic and extra-hepatic siRNAs and AIMers.”
Recent Business Highlights and Expected Milestones
Obesity
AATD (Alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency)
PNPLA3 I148M liver disease
DMD (exon 53)
Bifunctional modality
Financial Highlights
Investor Conference Call and Webcast
Wave will host an investor conference call today at 8:30 a.m. ET to review the first quarter 2026 financial results and pipeline updates. A webcast of the conference call can be accessed by visiting “Investor Events” on the investor relations section of the Wave Life Sciences website: https://ir.wavelifesciences.com/events-publications/events. Analysts planning to participate during the Q&A portion of the live call can join the conference call at the audio-conferencing link here. Following the live event, an archived version of the webcast will be available on the Wave Life Sciences website.
About Wave Life Sciences
Wave Life Sciences (Nasdaq: WVE) is a biotechnology company focused on unlocking the broad potential of RNA medicines to transform human health. Wave’s RNA medicines platform, PRISM ®, combines multiple modalities, chemistry innovation and deep insights in human genetics to deliver scientific breakthroughs that treat both rare and common disorders. Its toolkit of RNA-targeting modalities, including RNAi (SpiNA) and RNA editing (AIMers), provides Wave with unmatched capabilities for designing and sustainably delivering candidates that optimally address disease biology. Wave’s pipeline is focused on its obesity (WVE-007), alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency (WVE-006) and PNPLA3 I148M liver disease (WVE-008) programs, and also includes clinical programs in Duchenne muscular dystrophy and Huntington’s disease, as well as several preclinical programs utilizing the company’s versatile RNA medicines platform. Driven by the calling to “Reimagine Possible,” Wave is leading the charge toward a world in which human potential is no longer hindered by the burden of disease. Wave is headquartered in Cambridge, MA. For more information on Wave’s science, pipeline and people, please visit www.wavelifesciences.com and follow Wave on X and LinkedIn.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, as amended, concerning our goals, beliefs, expectations, strategies, objectives and plans, and other statements that are not necessarily based on historical facts, including statements regarding the following, among others: the anticipated initiation, timing, design, progress, data and announcements related to our clinical trials, including interactions with and feedback from regulators and any potential registrational submissions based on these data; the future performance and results of our programs in clinical trials, including the anticipated therapeutic benefits of such programs, and our expectations with respect to how our clinical data may predict success for our future therapeutic candidates and data readouts; the potential commercialization of our programs the potential size of the markets that our therapeutics may address; preclinical activities and programs and their potential to transition into clinical-stage programs, and the timing, progress and announcement of such events; the progress and potential benefits, including the potential achievement of milestones, of collaborations and strategic partnerships; the expected benefits of our stereopure oligonucleotides compared with stereorandom oligonucleotides; the breadth and versatility of our PRISM ® drug discovery and development platform; the potential benefits of our RNA-targeting modalities, including RNAi (SpiNA), RNA editing (AIMers), and our bifunctional modalities; the potential for certain of our programs to be best-in-class or first-in-class, or to change the existing treatment paradigm or show substantial benefits over existing standards of care; our financial performance, including the anticipated duration of our cash runway and our ability to fund future operations; our intended uses of capital; and our expectations regarding the impact of any potential global macro events on our business. The words “may,” “will,” “could,” “would,” “should,” “expect,” “plan,” “anticipate,” “intend,” “believe,” “estimate,” “predict,” “project,” “potential,” “continue,” “target” and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements, although not all forward-looking statements contain these identifying words. Any forward-looking statements in this press release are based on management's current expectations and beliefs and are subject to a number of risks, uncertainties and important factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from those indicated by these forward-looking statements as a result of these risks, uncertainties and important factors, including, without limitation, the clinical results and timing of our programs, which may not support further development of our product candidates; actions of regulatory agencies, which may affect the initiation, timing and progress of clinical trials; our effectiveness in managing current and future clinical trials and regulatory processes; the continued development and acceptance of nucleic acid therapeutics as a class of drugs; our ability to demonstrate the therapeutic benefits of our stereopure candidates in clinical trials, including our ability to develop candidates across multiple therapeutic modalities; our ability to obtain, maintain and protect intellectual property; our ability to fund our operations and to raise additional capital as needed; competition from others developing therapies for similar uses; and any impacts on our business as a result of or related to any global economic uncertainty or market disruptions, as well as the other risks and uncertainties described in the section entitled “Risk Factors” in our most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), as amended, and in other filings we make with the SEC from time to time. In addition, any forward-looking statements represent our views only as of today and should not be relied upon as representing our views as of any subsequent date. We undertake no obligation, except to the extent required by law, to update the information contained in this press release to reflect subsequently occurring events or circumstances.
Contact:
Kate Rausch
VP, Corporate Affairs and Investor Relations
+1 617-949-4827
Investors:
James Salierno
Director, Investor Relations
+1 617-949-4043
InvestorRelations@wavelifesci.com
Media:
Katie Sullivan
Senior Director, Corporate Communications
+1 617-949-2936
MediaRelations@wavelifesci.com
1 Gabriely et al., Diabetes 2002; Campos et al., Diabetes & Vascular Disease Research 2019; Huang et al., Front Endocrinol 2023.; Cesaro et al., Front Cardiovasc Med 2023; Khawaja et, al., Curr Cardiol Rep 2024; Hiuge-Shimizu et al., J Atheroscler Thromb 2011.; Liao et al., PLoS ONE 2023; Jung et al., Endocrinol Metab 2020; Hanlon & Yuan, Clin Liver Dis 2021.; Liao et al., PLoS ONE 2023; Jung et al., Endocrinol Metab 2020