Ardelyx Targets $500M Revenue This Year, Profitability by 2027

Ardelyx expects nearly $500 million in revenue this year and is targeting profitability by 2027, driven by growth in IBSRELA and XPHOZAH.

IBSRELA revenue guidance is $350 million–$370 million, reflecting about 31% growth, but payer prior-authorization hurdles may delay the company’s longer-term $1 billion revenue opportunity. XPHOZAH is expected to generate $110 million–$120 million in revenue as Ardelyx focuses on commercially insured and Medicaid patients rather than participating in Medicare’s dialysis drug bundle.

Ardelyx NASDAQ: ARDX expects to generate close to $500 million in revenue this year and reach profitability in 2027, supported by continued growth of its IBS-C treatment IBSRELA and hyperphosphatemia treatment XPHOZAH, executives said at a Morgan Stanley event. Chief Executive Officer Mike Raab said the company has transitioned into a commercial-stage business with two marketed products. IBSRELA is used for irritable bowel syndrome with constipation, or IBS-C, while XPHOZAH is for hyperphosphatemia in patients on dialysis.

“We are on a path right now to generate this year close to half a billion dollars of revenue,” Raab said. “As we have said in our last earnings, we are on a path to be profitable in 2027.” Raab said Ardelyx intends to use future cash generation to support lifecycle management, including a chronic idiopathic constipation, or CIC, study for IBSRELA, as well as potential in-licensing and business-development transactions. The company’s intellectual-property runway extends to 2042, according to Raab.

Chief Financial Officer Sue Hohenleitner said the company’s revised IBSRELA revenue guidance of $350 million to $370 million for the year represents roughly 31% growth at the midpoint. Ardelyx had previously discussed a path to more than $1 billion in peak IBSRELA revenue, initially targeting 2029. However, Hohenleitner said the company separated the timing of that target from the revenue opportunity itself because reaching $1 billion by 2029 would have required about a 38% compound annual growth rate. Ardelyx still believes in the $1 billion opportunity, she said, but expects it could take longer to reach.

Raab attributed the revised outlook in part to payer requirements, including prior authorizations that can create obstacles for patients seeking prescriptions. He said Ardelyx began discussions with payers but that its current guidance does not assume those pressures will ease during the year. “We know that these talks take a little time, and we will look to do something in 2027 likely,” Hohenleitner said.

Ardelyx is also expanding its IBSRELA Pharmacy Network, or IPN, to route more prescriptions through specialty pharmacies rather than retail pharmacies. Raab said retail pharmacies are generally not structured to handle the prior-authorization demands associated with newer branded therapies, contributing to prescription abandonment. According to Raab, the company’s data indicate that prescriptions processed through the IPN result in at least one to two additional filled prescriptions, including refills, compared with retail channels.

Raab said the IBS-C market includes approximately 13 million people in the U.S. and about 8 million prescriptions annually. He said Ardelyx would need less than roughly 10% market share to reach $1 billion in IBSRELA revenue. The company is positioning IBSRELA for patients who have not been adequately served by other treatments, including secretagogues. Raab said IBSRELA has a different mechanis...