Zymeworks, a clinical-stage biotech, finds itself at a familiar crossroads in the long arc of pharmaceutical development: spending faster than it earns, yet returning capital to shareholders, while staking its future on the judgment of regulators rather than the rhythms of the market. In the second quarter of 2026, the company posted a $45 million loss even as it completed a $49 million share buyback, a pairing that speaks less to contradiction than to conviction — the belief that a single approval, for its oncology asset zanidatamab, could unlock $250 million and rewrite the story entirely. T