Ionis Pharmaceuticals recorded $188 million in quarterly revenue, a 40% increase year-over-year, according to its latest earnings report released Wednesday morning.

For the first half of 2023, Ionis generated $319 million in revenue, well above the $276 million in revenue reported this time last year. 

Ionis attributed the rise in revenue to “significant partner payments,” including $51 million in milestone payments and $20 million in license fees. Spinraza royalties also contributed $61 million to commercial revenue growth.

The company noted that its operating expenses also increased during the period and reflected investments to boost Ionis’ drug pipeline and go-to-market activities for eplontersen, olezarsen and donidalorsen. Ionis’ net loss also narrowed from $105 million in Q2 2022 to $85 million in Q2 2023.

Ionis has $2.4 billion in cash and short-term investments and reaffirmed its full-year financial guidance.

There were several notable updates from Ionis’ near-term commercial operations and partnered programs during the quarter.

The company reported positive results from a Phase 3 trial of eplontersen in patients with ATTRv-PN and completed enrollment of a Phase 3 trial of the drug in patients with ATTR cardiomyopathy. Ionis is still awaiting a potential decision by the Food and Drug Administration on eplontersen in December.

Meanwhile, several large pharma companies had meaningful developments on drugs in development with Ionis.

Roche advanced IONIS-FB-LRx into Phase 3 development for patients with immunoglobulin A nephropathy, GSK presented durable response data from a Phase 2 study of bepirovirsen and AstraZeneca initiated a Phase 2b study of ION839 (AZD2693) targeting PNPLA3 to treat patients with NASH.

Additionally, the company entered into a collaboration agreement with Novartis to advance a next-gen program targeting Lp(a) for cardiovascular disease.

“Ionis is creating significant value in 2023 as we successfully execute on our strategy to bring a steady cadence of transformational medicines to the market. Our growing late-stage pipeline now includes eight medicines for 10 indications, highlighted by eplontersen,” Ionis CEO Brett P. Monia, PhD said in a statement. “In the second half, we expect continued positive momentum including the Phase 3 readout for olezarsen in familial chylomicronemia syndrome and the potential approval of eplontersen for ATTRv-PN in December.”

To read a January 2024 article about Ionis’ long-term HAE drug lowering attack rates in topline Phase 3 results, click here.