Basilea Pharmaceutica Ltd, Allschwil (SIX: BSLN) said on July 29, 2026 that the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority had released USD 30 million in additional funding after the company hit a prespecified enrollment milestone in the phase 3 program for its antifungal candidate fosmanogepix. The payment is not a new award. It is a tranche under an Other Transaction Agreement, agreement number 75A50124C00033, signed in September 2024.
The structure of the agreement
BARDA sits within the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Under the agreement it funds two Basilea antifungal programs, fosmanogepix and BAL2062, and its contribution covers about 60% of the total costs of those projects, including clinical and regulatory activities, across the term. The new tranche comes on top of the USD 93 million already committed by BARDA since signature. If BARDA exercises every option to extend, the agreement could provide total non-dilutive funding of up to approximately USD 268 million over up to 12 years.
Basilea has more than one line to the same agency. Its half-year release names contract 75A50123C00050 for the ceftibuten-ledaborbactam program and contract HHSO100201600002C for the earlier ceftobiprole phase 3 work, which drew approximately USD 111 million, about 75% of the costs of the Staphylococcus aureus bacteremia and acute bacterial skin and skin structure infection studies, regulatory activities and non-clinical work.
Chief executive David Veitch said the company was “very pleased to receive continued support from BARDA for the clinical development of fosmanogepix”.
What the milestone refers to
The enrollment milestone attaches to two registrational studies that are listed on the U.S. National Institutes of Health clinical trials registry. FAST, registered as NCT05421858, is a phase 3 efficacy and safety study of fosmanogepix in adult participants with candidemia and/or invasive candidiasis. The registry records a start date of 2024-12-11, a planned enrollment of 450 participants, a status of recruiting and a primary completion date of 2028-01-30. FORWARD, registered as NCT06925321, covers adult patients with invasive mold infections, with a start date of 2025-08-26, planned enrollment of 234 and a primary completion date of 2028-02.
Fosmanogepix is a first-in-class clinical-stage broad-spectrum antifungal whose active moiety has shown activity against common species of Candida and Aspergillus, including multi-drug-resistant strains such as Candida auris and Candida glabrata, and against rare molds including Fusarium and Scedosporium species. It carries Fast Track and Orphan Drug designations from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for a number of indications and is designated a Qualified Infectious Disease Product. BAL2062, the second funded asset, is a natural-product-derived antifungal with fungicidal activity against molds such as Aspergillus, including azole-resistant strains, and carries the same three FDA designations for invasive aspergillosis.
The money in the accounts
BARDA funding is already a visible revenue line. In its first-half 2026 results Basilea reported total revenue of CHF 119.0 million against CHF 104.0 million a year earlier, an increase of 14.4%. Other revenue rose to CHF 26.7 million from CHF 13.5 million, and within that CHF 22.3 million came from the BARDA contracts against CHF 11.1 million in the first half of 2025. Research and development spending rose to CHF 54.0 million from CHF 38.3 million, driven mainly by the two fosmanogepix phase 3 studies. Operating profit reached CHF 31.6 million from CHF 24.0 million and net profit CHF 27.9 million from CHF 15.8 million, giving basic earnings per share of CHF 2.26 and diluted earnings per share of CHF 2.13, against CHF 1.29 and CHF 1.26. Cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash stood at CHF 176.0 million on June 30, 2026, and the net cash position was CHF 105.3 million.
Analysis: what a milestone tranche does and does not tell you
The July announcement records a funding event rather than a clinical result. BARDA released the tranche because a prespecified enrollment target was reached, not because an efficacy or safety readout occurred. Neither registered study reaches primary completion before 2028. What the payment establishes is operational: a trial recruiting toward 450 participants in candidemia and invasive candidiasis, and a second toward 234 in invasive mold infections, are enrolling on the schedule the funder wrote into the agreement.
The accounting effect is the part with a measurable size. Because BARDA covers about 60% of the costs of the two supported projects, revenue and research spending move together. Research and development rose to CHF 54.0 million from CHF 38.3 million while BARDA-related revenue rose to CHF 22.3 million from CHF 11.1 million, so a large share of the incremental trial cost arrived on the revenue line in the same period. Reported operating profit of CHF 31.6 million therefore reflects a cost base that is partly reimbursed, which is not the case for a company running the same phase 3 work without a funding partner. The company itself frames the funding as non-dilutive, which is the relevant contrast: a company running two phase 3 antifungal programs on its own balance sheet would ordinarily be raising equity.
The ceiling matters too. USD 268 million over up to 12 years is a maximum contingent on BARDA exercising options, and the milestone structure means the agency pays as evidence of progress arrives. The USD 30 million tranche is confirmation that the first such test was passed, not that the remaining options will be exercised.
The designations attached to fosmanogepix have a specific statutory value that the announcement does not spell out. Under 21 U.S.C. 355f, a drug approved after designation as a qualified infectious disease product has its applicable exclusivity period extended by 5 years, on top of any pediatric extension, and the Secretary must decide a designation request within 60 days of submission. That extension applies to approval of the original application, not to supplements or to later applications for a new indication, route of administration, dosing schedule, dosage form, delivery system or strength. The economics of an approved fosmanogepix therefore depend on which application carries the designation, a detail no press release addresses.
Two things a careful reader would watch next are the recruitment status of both registry records, which currently read recruiting, and the BARDA revenue line in Basilea’s full-year accounts. The company guides to a total revenue increase of about 15% for 2026 against CHF 232.4 million in 2025 and to an operating profit increase of about 40%. Any change in the pace of BARDA reimbursement would show up in both.
The release was distributed as an ad hoc announcement pursuant to Art. 53 of the SIX listing rules. Under the Directive on Ad hoc Publicity in force since 1 December 2025, a price-sensitive fact must be disclosed as soon as the issuer knows its main points, and the announcement must go to SIX Exchange Regulation, to at least two electronic information systems widely used by professional market participants and to at least two Swiss media of national importance, with the text kept on the issuer’s own website for three years.
