What happened
Shares of Akebia Therapeutics (AKBA) were soaring 13.5% as of 3:32 p.m. EDT on Thursday. The big jump came after the company provided its second-quarter financial and operational update.
So what
Akebia reported Q2 revenue of $52.9 million. This result was down sharply from $90.1 million in the prior-year period due mainly to lower collaboration revenue but it was in line with the consensus estimate.
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The company posted a net loss of $83 million, or $0.51 per share. This reflected significant improvement from the year-ago period, although it was worse than analysts' average estimate of a net loss of $0.32 per share.
Akebia's financial results probably weren't the main reason behind the jump for the biotech stock today, though. Investors are likely more excited about the prospects for U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval for vadadustat in treating anemia due to chronic kidney disease (CKD) in both adult patients on dialysis and not on dialysis.
The company's management didn't reveal any new information. However, executives seemed to be confident about the prospects for vadadustat to win FDA approval.
Now what
The FDA set a PDUFA date of March 29, 2022, to make a decision on vadadustat. In the meantime, Akebia will focus on marketing Auryxia for CKD patients on dialysis. The company thinks that it has enough cash to fund operations at least through the next 12 months and potentially well beyond then if vadadustat wins FDA approval.
