Royalty Rift: Alexion Cuts Off US Royalty Payments To Xencor

On Wednesday, Xencor Inc. (NASDAQ: XNCR) said it is revising its revenue outlook for royalties tied to Ultomiris.

The company announced that its licensee, Alexion Pharmaceuticals, Inc., has stated it does not owe additional royalties for Ultomiris (ravulizumab-cwvz) sales in the U.S.

AstraZeneca Plc (NYSE: AZN) completed its acquisition of Alexion Pharmaceuticals in July 2021 for approximately $39 billion.

Company Seeks Resolution

"Xencor has reasonably assumed that the multiple licensees of our XmAb Fc domains and technologies remit payments in accordance with the terms of their respective agreements. One licensee has expressed disagreement regarding payments for net sales of Ultomiris in the United States, and we plan to work toward a resolution in this matter. Importantly, we have not observed a change in payments related to ex-U.S. sales," said Bassil Dahiyat, Ph.D., president and chief executive officer of Xencor.

Prior Royalty Expectations

Xencor previously said that following the issuance of U.S. Patent 12,492,253, it expected to receive an estimated $100 million to $120 million in aggregate through 2028 in low single-digit royalties on U.S. net sales of Ultomiris.

Updated Cash Outlook

Xencor lowered its 2026 cash outlook to $380 million–$400 million, down from its earlier $400 million–$430 million forecast, but still expects its cash runway to support operations into mid-2028.

Analyst View On Xencor

William Blair sees a slight negative, but ultimately expects clinical trial updates with the wholly owned pipeline in 2026 will be the more impactful catalysts for the company, and therefore reiterates an Outperform rating.

Xencor Technical Analysis

Currently, XNCR is trading 12.5% below its 20-day simple moving average (SMA) and 15.3% below its 100-day SMA, indicating some short-term weakness.

Over the past 12 months, shares have increased by 83%, and they are currently positioned closer to their 52-week highs than lows.

The RSI is at 50.00, which is considered neutral territory, suggesting that the stock is neither overbought nor oversold.

Meanwhile, MACD is at 0.10, below its signal line at 0.15, indicating bearish pressure on the stock.

The combination of neutral RSI and bearish MACD suggests mixed momentum for XNCR.

• Key Resistance: $15.00
• Key Support: $10.00

Analyst Consensus & Recent Actions: The stock carries a Buy Rating with an average price target of $30.44. Recent analyst moves include:

• Barclays: Overweight (Raises Target to $27.00) (Feb. 26)
• Truist Securities: Initiated with Buy (Target $29.00) (Nov. 24, 2025)

XNCR Price Action: Xencor shares were down 0.08% at $12.73 during premarket trading on Thursday, according to Benzinga Pro data.

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