Addex Therapeutics reported a second-quarter loss of $2.16 per share on essentially no revenue, an improvement that Earnings Whispers measures as 25.8% year-over-year earnings growth. There was no consensus estimate or Whisper number, so there was no beat or miss to judge. The company's own figures show the same direction. It reported a basic and diluted loss of CHF 0.01 per ordinary share, compared with CHF 0.02 a year earlier. Net loss narrowed to CHF 1.745 million from CHF 1.841 million. The difference between the two per-share figures reflects different reporting bases, not a conflict in the underlying trend. Still, the headline improvement is not the story. This quarter was a strategic reset. Addex regained full control of its GABA-B positive allosteric modulator (PAM) platform from Indivior. In the same move, it lost the partner-funded economics that had anchored the investment case, and it still has no funding for the clinical steps its pipeline now requires.
The quality of the narrower loss deserves scrutiny. The operating loss fell to CHF 645,000 from CHF 733,000, but almost all of that came from R&D, which collapsed to just CHF 38,000 from CHF 234,000. General and administrative costs rose to CHF 617,000 from CHF 535,000, roughly 16 times quarterly R&D spending. That spending mix belongs to a company conserving cash, not one advancing drug programs. The largest single line was Addex's CHF 1.1 million share of losses at spin-out Neurosterix, about 63% of the quarterly net loss. For the half year, that share rose to CHF 2.3 million from CHF 2.1 million. It continues to erode the stake's carrying value: non-current assets have fallen to CHF 2.4 million from CHF 3.5 million at the first quarter and CHF 4.6 million at year-end. Cash stood at only CHF 767,000 on June 30, and shareholders' equity had shrunk to CHF 1.9 million from CHF 7.2 million a year earlier.
The call explained the shift beneath these numbers. Indivior terminated the license as part of R&D rationalization following its merger with Supernus. Addex now owns an IND-ready substance use disorder (SUD) candidate that has already completed GLP toxicology studies, plus five newly filed compound patents expected to run to about 2044. Management plans an IND filing for the SUD program and IND-enabling work for its chronic cough candidate. It also floated partnering or a Neurosterix-style spin-out across narcolepsy, overactive bladder, dermatology and neurodevelopmental indications. The cough dataset is unchanged: roughly 70% cough reduction in guinea pigs, more than 60% in non-human primates, and a safety margin above 60-fold. What is gone matters just as much. Over the prior three calls, management cited eligibility for up to USD 330 million in Indivior milestones plus royalties. That path has disappeared, and SUD development costs now fall on Addex.
Financing is the swing factor. After the quarter ended, Addex sold nearly 53 million shares through its at-the-market (ATM) program at an average of CHF 0.043, raising USD 2.8 million. Management says this extends the cash runway into the fourth quarter of 2027. That compares with a fourth-quarter 2026 runway cited on the prior call and mid-2026 on the calls before that, so the runway is the clearest metric that moved up. However, the SUD IND, cough IND-enabling work and a Phase 2 stroke study all remain explicitly "subject to financing." ATM funding at these prices implies continued dilution. Timelines at Neurosterix have also slipped repeatedly. Phase 1 data for its schizophrenia candidate NTX-253 was first expected in Q1 2026, then Q3, and is now due in Q4 2026. That readout, along with Stalicla's progress toward Phase 3 of mavoglurant in cocaine use disorder, is the nearest external catalyst, and neither is under Addex's direct control.
Market context is thin. No current price, sentiment reading or trend data were available. For reference, the ADSs opened at $6.06 after the June report, below the current 200-day moving average of $6.78. That leaves no evidence the market was pricing in a recovery going into this update.
The bottom line is that Addex traded a partner-funded lottery ticket for full ownership of a more valuable but unfunded asset. The narrower loss mostly reflects halted R&D spending, not operating progress. The runway extension buys time, not clinical execution. Whether the reclaimed GABA-B portfolio creates value now depends on Addex securing a partner or non-dilutive capital before the ATM keeps shrinking shareholders' stake.