Aardvark Therapeutics, Inc. Q1 2026 earnings summary — revenue, EPS & margin

What went well

Continued close engagement with the FDA to comprehensively evaluate the healthy-volunteer cardiac data and to establish a clear path forward for the Phase 3 HERO trial of ARD-101, its lead program, with an update targeted for the second quarter of 2026.
Reiterated the peer-reviewed Molecular Metabolism publication supporting ARD-101's effect on hunger (Control of Eating Questionnaire) and its engagement of gut-hormone pathways (increased PYY and GLP-1).
Held $91.2 million in cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments as of March 31, 2026, sufficient to fund operations into mid-2027.

What went wrong

Both clinical programs remained on voluntary pause through the quarter, with ARD-101 (HERO/OLE) and ARD-201 (obesity) not actively dosing and further guidance still pending until the second quarter of 2026.
Net loss widened to $21.6 million from $9.3 million a year earlier, with R&D rising to $16.6 million (from $7.8 million) and G&A to $5.9 million (from $2.7 million); cash, equivalents and short-term investments fell roughly $19 million sequentially to $91.2 million.

Guidance Changes

Metric	Period	Current guidance
Cash runway	As of March 31, 2026	$91.2M in cash, equivalents and short-term investments; funds projected operations into mid-2027
ARD-101 (PWS / HERO) program next steps	Q2 2026	Further guidance expected in the second quarter of 2026 after FDA engagement
ARD-201 (obesity) program next steps	Q2 2026	Program voluntarily paused; further guidance expected in the second quarter of 2026

Metric	YoY	Note
Research & development expense	$16.6M (vs $7.8M)	$8.8M increase, including $7.1M more external ARD-101 development spend and $1.7M more personnel costs.
General & administrative expense	$5.9M (vs $2.7M)	$3.2M increase from higher personnel, professional-services and facilities costs as a public company.
Net loss	$21.6M (vs $9.3M)	Driven by higher R&D and G&A spend.
Cash, equivalents & short-term investments	$91.2M	Down from $110.0M at year-end 2025; funds operations into mid-2027.
Diluted net loss per share	$(0.99)	Loss per share on 21.8M weighted-average shares outstanding.

Topic	Previous mention	Current period	Trend
ARD-101 in PWS (HERO)	Paused February 2026	Remains paused; FDA engagement to define the HERO path, with an update due Q2 2026	Steady
ARD-201 obesity program	Paused March 2026	Remains paused pending ARD-101 next steps	Steady
Cash runway	$110.0M into Q2 2027	$91.2M into mid-2027	Steady