NATURE OF BUSINESS

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2024

Organization, Consolidation and Presentation of Financial Statements [Abstract]

NATURE OF BUSINESS

NATURE OF BUSINESS

Organization

Akebia Therapeutics, Inc., referred to as Akebia or the Company, was incorporated in the State of Delaware in 2007 and became a public company in 2014. Akebia is a fully integrated commercial-stage biopharmaceutical company committed to addressing patients' unmet needs. The Company's purpose is to better the life of each person impacted by kidney disease.

The Company has two products approved by the Food and Drug Administration, or FDA, in the United States, or U.S., Vafseo® (vadadustat) is an oral hypoxia-inducible factor prolyl hydroxylase, or HIF-PH, inhibitor. Vafseo (vadadustat) Tablets were approved in the U.S. on March 27, 2024 for the treatment of anemia due to chronic kidney disease, or CKD, in adults who have been receiving dialysis for at least three months. The Company is launching Vafseo in the U.S. Auryxia® (ferric citrate) is marketed for two indications: (i) the control of serum phosphorus levels in adult patients with dialysis dependent chronic kidney disease, or DD-CKD, and (ii) the treatment of iron deficiency anemia, or IDA, in adult patients with non-dialysis dependent chronic kidney disease, or NDD-CKD. Auryxia will lose exclusivity in the U.S. in March 2025.

Vafseo is also approved for the treatment of symptomatic anemia associated with CKD in the European Economic Area, or EEA, the United Kingdom, or the UK, Switzerland, Australia, South Korea and Taiwan in adult patients on chronic maintenance dialysis and in Japan for adult dialysis-dependent and non-dialysis patients. Vafseo is marketed and sold by the Company's collaboration partners in certain countries.

Ferric citrate is also approved in Japan, and is marketed and sold by the Company's collaboration partner, as an oral treatment for the improvement of hyperphosphatemia in patients with CKD, including DD-CKD and NDD-CKD, and for the treatment of adult patients with IDA under the trade name Riona (ferric citrate hydrate).

Since its inception, the Company has devoted most of its resources to research and development, or R&D, including its preclinical and clinical development activities, commercializing Auryxia and providing general and administrative support for these operations. The Company began recording revenue from the U.S. sales of Auryxia and revenue from sublicensing rights to Auryxia in Japan from the Company’s Japanese partners, Japan Tobacco, Inc. and its subsidiary Torii Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., collectively, JT and Torii, in 2018. In addition, the Company continues to explore additional development opportunities to expand its pipeline and portfolio of novel therapeutics.

As of September 30, 2024, the Company had cash and cash equivalents of approximately $34.0 million. Based on its current operating plan, the Company believes that its cash resources and the cash the Company expects to generate from product, royalty, supply and license revenues will be sufficient to fund its current operating plan for at least twelve months from the filing of this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q, or Form 10-Q. However, if the Company’s operating performance deteriorates significantly from the levels expected in the Company’s operating plan, it would affect the Company’s liquidity and its ability to continue as a going concern in the future. The Company expects to finance future cash needs through product and license, collaboration and other revenue, including royalties and revenue from supply agreements. In addition, the Company may seek to sell public or private equity, enter into new debt transactions, explore potential strategic transactions, consider other cash-generating or saving measures or a combination of these approaches or other strategic alternatives. There can be no assurance that the current operating plan will be achieved in the time frame anticipated by the Company or that its cash resources will fund its operating plan for the period of time anticipated by the Company, or that additional funding will be available on terms acceptable to the Company, or at all.