Biogen Inc. (BIIB) stock surged 8.47% in pre-market trading on Wednesday, despite the drugmaker forecasting 2025 profit below Wall Street expectations. The company's shares were bolstered by a new research and development (R&D) funding deal for its potential lupus treatment.

Biogen projected 2025 revenue to decline by a mid-single digit percentage from 2024 levels, excluding currency fluctuations. The company's adjusted 2025 profit outlook of $15.25 to $16.25 per share fell short of analysts' estimates of $16.34, weighed down by a strong dollar and fierce competition for its multiple sclerosis drugs.

However, Biogen's fortunes received a boost from its collaboration with Royalty Pharma, where the latter agreed to provide up to $250 million in R&D funding for Biogen's investigational drug litifilimab, a potential first-in-class biologic in Phase 3 development for the treatment of lupus. Litifilimab demonstrated proof-of-concept and a generally well-tolerated safety profile in systemic and cutaneous lupus erythematosus, with results published in the New England Journal of Medicine.