IONIS PHARMACEUTICALS INC - Annual Report: 2022 (Form 10-K)

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SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, DC 20549

FORM 10-K

For the fiscal year ended December 31, 2022

For the transition period from ___________ to ___________

Commission file number 000-19125

Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

(Exact name of Registrant as specified in its charter)

760-931-9200

(Registrant’s telephone number, including area code)

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act: None

Indicate by check mark if the Registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act. Yes ☒  No ☐

Indicate by check if the Registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or Section 15(d) of the Act. Yes ☐  No ☒

Indicate by check mark whether the Registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the Registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days. Yes ☒  No ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically every Interactive Data File required to be submitted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T (§232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit such files). Yes ☒  No ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, a smaller reporting company, or an emerging growth company. See the definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer,” “smaller reporting company,” and “emerging growth company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has filed a report on and attestation to its management assessment of the effectiveness of its internal controls over financial reporting under Section 4049b) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (15 U.S.C. 7262(b)) by the registered public accounting firm that prepared or issued its audit report ☒

If securities are registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act, indicate by check mark whether the financial statements of the registrant included in the filing reflect the correction of an error to previously issued financial statements.  ☐

Indicate by check mark whether any of those error corrections are restatements that required a recovery analysis of incentive-based compensation received by any of the registrant’s executive officers during the relevant recovery period pursuant to §240.10D-1(b).  ☐

The approximate aggregate market value of the voting common stock held by non-affiliates of the Registrant, based upon the last sale price of the common stock reported on The Nasdaq Global Select Market was $3,804,704,734 as of June 30, 2022.*

The number of shares of voting common stock outstanding as of February 16, 2023 was 142,953,993.

DOCUMENTS INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE

Portions of the Registrant’s definitive Proxy Statement to be filed on or about April 20, 2023 with the Securities and Exchange Commission in connection with the Registrant’s annual meeting of stockholders to be held on June 1, 2023 are incorporated by reference into Part III of this Report.

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FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

This report on Form 10-K and the information incorporated herein by reference includes forward-looking statements regarding our business and the therapeutic and commercial potential of SPINRAZA (nusinersen), TEGSEDI (inotersen), WAYLIVRA (volanesorsen), eplontersen, olezarsen, donidalorsen, ION363, tofersen, pelacarsen, bepirovirsen and our technologies and products in development. Any statement describing our goals, expectations, financial or other projections, intentions or beliefs, is a forward-looking statement and should be considered an at-risk statement. Such statements are subject to certain risks and uncertainties and particularly those inherent in the process of discovering, developing and commercializing medicines that are safe and effective for use as human therapeutics, and in the endeavor of building a business around such medicines. Our forward-looking statements also involve assumptions that, if they never materialize or prove correct, could cause our results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause or contribute to such differences include, but are not limited to, those discussed in this report on Form 10-K, including those identified in Item 1A entitled “Risk Factors”. Although our forward-looking statements reflect the good faith judgment of our management, these statements are based only on facts and factors currently known by us. As a result, you are cautioned not to rely on these forward-looking statements.

In this report, unless the context requires otherwise, “Ionis,” “Company,” “we,” “our,” and “us” refers to Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and its subsidiaries.

Summary of Risk Factors

There are a number of risks related to our business and our securities. Below is a summary of material factors that make an investment in our securities speculative or risky. Importantly, this summary does not address all of the risks that we face. Additional discussion of the risks summarized in this risk factor summary, as well as other risks that we face, can be found in this report on Form 10-K in Item 1A entitled “Risk Factors”:

TRADEMARKS

 “Ionis,” the Ionis logo, and other trademarks or service marks of Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. appearing in this report are the property of Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. “Akcea,” the Akcea logo, and other trademarks or service marks of Akcea Therapeutics, Inc. appearing in this report are the property of Akcea Therapeutics, Inc., Ionis’ wholly owned subsidiary. This report contains additional trade names, trademarks and service marks of others, which are the property of their respective owners. Solely for convenience, trademarks and trade names referred to in this report may appear without the ® or TM symbols.

CORPORATE INFORMATION

We incorporated in California in 1989 and in January 1991 we changed our state of incorporation to Delaware. In December 2015, we changed our name to Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. from Isis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Our principal offices are in Carlsbad, California. In December 2014, we formed Akcea Therapeutics, Inc., as a Delaware corporation, with its principal office in Boston, Massachusetts. Prior to Akcea’s initial public offering, or IPO, in July 2017, we owned 100 percent of Akcea’s stock. In October 2020, we completed a merger transaction with Akcea such that following the completion of the merger, Akcea became our wholly owned subsidiary.

We make available, free of charge, on our website, www.ionispharma.com, our reports on Forms 10-K, 10-Q, 8-K and amendments thereto, as soon as reasonably practical after we file such materials with the Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC. Periodically, we provide updates about the company in the Newsroom section of the Investors & Media page of our website. Any information that we include on or link to our website is not a part of this report or any registration statement that incorporates this report by reference. The SEC maintains an internet site, www.sec.gov, that contains reports, proxy and information statements that we file electronically with the SEC.

IONIS PHARMACEUTICALS, INC.

FORM 10-K

For the Fiscal Year Ended December 31, 2022

Table of Contents

PART I

Item 1. Business

Overview

We were founded over 30 years ago to deliver innovative medicines for diseases with great medical need. Today, we are building on our advancements in RNA-targeted therapeutics to move us closer to achieving our vision to be the leader in genetic medicines. We believe our medicines have the potential to pioneer new markets, change standards of care and transform the lives of people with devastating diseases.

We currently have three marketed medicines: SPINRAZA, TEGSEDI and WAYLIVRA. Additionally, we have two medicines that will add to our commercial portfolio this year, assuming positive regulatory outcomes. These medicines are eplontersen to treat patients with polyneuropathy caused by hereditary transthyretin amyloidosis, or ATTRv-PN, and tofersen to treat patients with superoxide dismutase 1 amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or SOD1-ALS. We submitted the eplontersen New Drug Application, or NDA, to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, or FDA, in December 2022. Tofersen is currently under regulatory review in the United States, or U.S., and European Union, or EU. In the U.S., tofersen has a Prescription Drug User Fee Act, or PDUFA, date of April 25, 2023. We also have a rich innovative late- and mid-stage pipeline primarily focused on our leading cardiovascular and neurology franchises. We currently have seven medicines in Phase 3 development. Additionally, based on recent positive data from the Phase 2 study of IONIS-FB-L_Rx in patients with immunoglobulin A nephropathy, or IgAN, Roche plans to advance IONIS-FB-L_Rx into Phase 3 development, which would further expand our late-stage pipeline.

Over the past year, we made important progress advancing our strategic priorities: to deliver an abundance of new medicines to the market, establish an integrated commercial organization and expand and diversify our technology platform. Last year, we delivered nine positive data readouts from our mid- and late-stage pipeline, positioning us to add to our commercial portfolio and our late-stage pipeline. We advanced our go-to-market plans for our near-term commercial opportunities, eplontersen, olezarsen and donidalorsen. We also expanded and diversified our technology when we advanced new medicines targeting muscle and using our MsPA backbone into preclinical development. Additionally, in late 2022, we entered into a collaboration with Metagenomi to add next generation gene editing capabilities to our technologies.

We accomplished all of this while earning revenues of $587 million for 2022 and ending the year with a cash and short-term investment balance of $2.0 billion. We strengthened our balance sheet with our recent sale and leaseback and royalty monetization transactions in late 2022 and January 2023, respectively. Under the sale and leaseback transaction, we received net proceeds of approximately $200 million, with the potential to receive additional payments of up to $40 million plus funding to expand our research and development, or R&D campus. Under our agreement with Royalty Pharma Investments, or Royalty Pharma, we received an upfront payment of $500 million in January 2023 when Royalty Pharma acquired a minority interest in our future SPINRAZA and pelacarsen royalties. Additionally, we have the potential to earn up to $625 million in pelacarsen milestone payments from Royalty Pharma.

Our multiple sources of revenue and strong balance sheet enable us to continue investing in our commercial readiness efforts for multiple late-stage programs and our innovative pipeline. By continuing to focus on these priorities, we believe we are well positioned to drive future growth and to deliver increasing value for patients and shareholders.

Marketed Medicines

Medicines in Phase 3 Studies and Registration

We currently have seven medicines in Phase 3 studies for nine indications, which are:

COVID-19

As a company focused on improving the health of people around the world, our priority during the COVID-19 pandemic has been the safety of our employees, their families, the healthcare workers who work with us and the patients who rely on our medicines. We have also been focused on maintaining the quality of our studies and minimizing the impact to timelines. While the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted some areas of our business, we believe our mitigation efforts and financial strength have enabled us to continue to manage through the pandemic and execute on our strategic initiatives. Because the situation is fluid, we continue to monitor the impact COVID-19 could have on our business, including the impact on our commercial products and the medicines in our pipeline.

Our Marketed Medicines – Potentially Transformational Medicines Bringing Value to Patients Today

SPINRAZA – SPINRAZA (nusinersen) injection for intrathecal use is a survival motor neuron-2, or SMN2, directed antisense medicine indicated for the treatment of spinal muscular atrophy, or SMA, in pediatric and adult patients.

SPINRAZA is the global market leader for the treatment of patients with SMA, a progressive, debilitating and often fatal genetic disease. Our partner, Biogen, is responsible for commercializing SPINRAZA worldwide.

SMA is characterized by loss of motor neurons in the spinal cord and lower brain stem. People with SMA have a deletion or defect in their SMN1 gene and rely on their SMN2 gene to produce functional SMN protein, which motor neurons need to maintain motor function and muscle strength. However, the SMN2 gene can only produce approximately 10 percent of the SMN protein critical for motor neurons, resulting in severe and progressive loss of motor function and strength.

The rate and severity of degeneration varies depending on the amount of functional SMN protein a patient can produce. Type 1, or infantile-onset, SMA is the most severe form of the disease. Type 1 SMA patients produce very little SMN protein and often progress to death or permanent ventilation by the age of 2. Patients with Type 2 or Type 3, or later-onset, SMA produce more SMN protein, but also suffer from a progressive loss of muscle strength and function and a reduced life expectancy.

Biogen continues to expand the body of evidence supporting SPINRAZA’s durable efficacy and well-established safety profile to address the remaining needs of SMA patients of all ages. This includes the following ongoing studies:

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DEVOTE: In the Phase 2/3 DEVOTE study, Biogen is evaluating the safety and potential to achieve increased efficacy with a higher dose of SPINRAZA compared to the currently approved dose. In 2022, Biogen reported final data from Part A of the ongoing, three-part DEVOTE study. Results from Part A, an open-label safety evaluation period in children and teens with later-onset SMA, suggest that the higher dosing regimen of SPINRAZA leads to higher levels of the drug in the cerebrospinal fluid, supporting further development of a higher dose of SPINRAZA. Additionally, the results indicated that SPINRAZA was generally well-tolerated.

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RESPOND: In the Phase 4 RESPOND study, Biogen is evaluating the benefit of SPINRAZA in infants and children with a suboptimal clinical response to the gene therapy, onasemnogene abeparvovec. In 2022, Biogen reported that increasing enrollment in the RESPOND study indicates there are residual unmet clinical needs in infants and toddlers with SMA who have unmet needs following gene therapy treatment.

•	ASCEND: In the Phase 3b ASCEND study, Biogen is evaluating the clinical outcomes and assessing the safety of a higher dose of SPINRAZA in children, teens and adults with later-onset SMA following treatment of risdiplam. The first patient was treated in the ASCEND study in the first quarter of 2022.

Additionally, Biogen continues to conduct the Phase 2 NURTURE study, an open-label study investigating the benefit of SPINRAZA when administered before symptom onset in patients genetically diagnosed with SMA, and likely to develop Type 1 or Type 2 SMA. NURTURE was the first study to investigate the potential to slow or stop SMA disease progression in presymptomatic SMA patients. In 2022, Biogen reported new NURTURE study data, showing that early and sustained treatment with SPINRAZA helped participants to maintain and/or make progressive gains in motor function. These data showed that after 11 months of additional follow-up since the 2020 interim analysis, all children who were able to walk alone maintained this ability and one child gained the ability to walk alone, increasing the total percentage of study participants able to walk from 92% to 96%. Further, most children achieved motor milestones within age-appropriate timelines and no major motor milestones were lost. The safety of SPINRAZA over this extended follow-up period was consistent with previously reported findings.

The approval of SPINRAZA was based on efficacy and safety data from multiple clinical studies, including two randomized, placebo-controlled Phase 3 studies, ENDEAR, in patients with infantile-onset SMA, and CHERISH, in patients with later-onset SMA as well as from SHINE, an open-label extension, or OLE, study for patients with SMA who participated in prior SPINRAZA studies.

TEGSEDI – TEGSEDI (inotersen) injection is an antisense medicine indicated for the treatment of ATTRv-PN in adults. TEGSEDI prevents the production of TTR protein, reducing the amount of amyloid buildup that damages organs and tissues.

ATTRv-PN is caused by the accumulation of misfolded mutated TTR protein in the peripheral nerves. Patients with ATTRv-PN experience ongoing debilitating nerve damage throughout their body resulting in the progressive loss of motor functions, such as walking. These patients also accumulate TTR in other major organs, which progressively compromises their function and eventually leads to death within five to fifteen years of disease onset. There are an estimated 40,000 addressable patients, which includes those with ATTRv-PN and those with ATTRv-mixed phenotype worldwide.

TEGSEDI is commercially available in numerous countries, including the U.S., many European countries, Canada, and Latin America. We launched TEGSEDI in the U.S. and EU in late 2018. In 2021, we began selling TEGSEDI in the U.S., Canada and Europe through our distribution agreement with Sobi. In Latin America, PTC is commercializing TEGSEDI in Brazil and is pursuing access in additional Latin American countries through its exclusive license agreement with us.

The approvals of TEGSEDI were based on efficacy and safety data from the Phase 3 NEURO-TTR study in patients with ATTRv-PN.

WAYLIVRA – WAYLIVRA (volanesorsen) is an antisense medicine indicated as an adjunct to diet in adult patients with genetically confirmed FCS and at high risk for acute, potentially fatal pancreatitis, in whom response to diet and triglyceride lowering therapy has been inadequate. WAYLIVRA reduces triglyceride levels by inhibiting the production of apolipoprotein C-III, or ApoC-III, a protein that is a key regulator of triglyceride levels.

FCS is a rare, genetic disease estimated to affect one to two individuals per million and characterized by extremely elevated triglyceride levels, typically greater than 1,000 mg/dl. FCS can lead to many chronic health issues including severe, recurrent abdominal pain, fatigue, high risk of life-threatening pancreatitis and abnormal enlargement of the liver or spleen. In addition, people with FCS are often unable to work, adding to their disease burden. In severe cases, patients can have bleeding into the pancreas, serious tissue damage, infection, and cyst formation, as well as damage to other vital organs such as the heart, lungs, and kidneys.

WAYLIVRA received conditional marketing authorization in May 2019 from the European Commission, or EC. WAYLIVRA is commercially available in multiple European countries and in Latin America. We launched WAYLIVRA in the EU in the third quarter of 2019. In 2021, we began selling WAYLIVRA in Europe through our distribution agreement with Sobi. In Latin America, WAYLIVRA is approved for two indications, FCS and FPL. PTC is commercializing WAYLIVRA in Brazil and is pursuing access in additional Latin American countries through its exclusive license agreement with us. In the fourth quarter of 2022, WAYLIVRA was approved in Brazil for a second indication, FPL.

WAYLIVRA’s conditional marketing authorization in the EU for FCS and approval in Brazil for FCS were based on efficacy and safety data from the Phase 3 APPROACH study and supported by results from the Phase 3 COMPASS study. WAYLIVRA’s approval in Brazil for FPL was based on efficacy and safety data from the Phase 3 BROADEN study in patients with FPL.

Our Innovative Pipeline of Genetic Medicines

Today, we are a leader in the discovery and development of RNA-targeted therapeutics. We are focused on pioneering new markets and changing standards of care with a focus on cardiovascular and neurological diseases. We also have an emerging specialty rare disease pipeline comprised of medicines that we believe represent compelling opportunities for us. We are building on our capabilities in RNA-targeted therapeutics to achieve our vision to be the leader in genetic medicines.

The table below lists the medicines in our clinical pipeline. We categorize patient studies to establish a medicine’s safety profile as Phase 1/2 and those studies in healthy volunteers as Phase 1. The table includes the disease indication, the partner (if the medicine is partnered), and the development status of each medicine. We have included descriptions for each of our medicines in Phase 2 and Phase 3 development below.

Our Late-Stage Pipeline

We currently have seven medicines in our late-stage pipeline: eplontersen, olezarsen, donidalorsen, ION363, tofersen, pelacarsen and bepirovirsen.

 

Eplontersen (TTR) – Eplontersen (TTR) – Eplontersen (formerly IONIS-TTR-L_Rx) is an investigational LIgand-Conjugated Antisense, or LICA, medicine we designed to inhibit the production of TTR protein. We are developing eplontersen as a monthly self-administered subcutaneous injection to treat all types of ATTR. ATTR amyloidosis is a systemic, progressive and fatal disease in which patients experience multiple overlapping clinical manifestations caused by the inappropriate formation and aggregation of TTR amyloid deposits in various tissues and organs, including peripheral nerves, heart, intestinal tract, eyes, kidneys, central nervous system, thyroid and bone marrow. The progressive accumulation of TTR amyloid deposits in these tissues and organs leads to organ failure and eventually death.

In January 2020, we initiated the CARDIO-TTRansform Phase 3 cardiovascular outcome study of eplontersen in patients with ATTR-CM. CARDIO-TTRansform is a global, multi-center, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study in approximately 1,400 patients with ATTR-CM. We designed the study to evaluate the efficacy, safety and tolerability of eplontersen in patients with ATTR-CM. The CARDIO-TTRansform study includes co-primary outcome measures of cardiovascular death and frequency of cardiovascular clinical events.

In January 2022, the FDA granted an Orphan Medicine Designation for eplontersen.

In December 2021, we entered into an agreement with AstraZeneca to jointly develop and commercialize eplontersen in the U.S. We granted AstraZeneca exclusive rights to commercialize eplontersen outside the U.S, except for certain Latin American countries.

Olezarsen (ApoC-III) – Olezarsen (formerly IONIS-APOCIII-L_Rx) is an investigational LICA medicine we designed to inhibit the production of apoC-III for patients who are at risk of disease due to elevated triglyceride levels. ApoC-III is a protein produced in the liver that regulates triglyceride metabolism in the blood. People with severely elevated triglycerides, such as people with FCS, are at high risk for acute pancreatitis and an increased risk of cardiovascular disease, or CVD. It is estimated that FCS affects one to two individuals per million worldwide and more than three million patients have SHTG in the U.S.

We are currently conducting a broad development program for olezarsen that includes the Phase 3 BALANCE study in patients with FCS and three Phase 3 studies supporting development for the treatment of SHTG: CORE, CORE2 and ESSENCE.

BALANCE is a global, multi-center, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study in approximately 65 patients designed to assess the efficacy, safety and tolerability of olezarsen in patients with FCS. Patients will be treated with 50 mg or 80 mg of olezarsen monthly by subcutaneous injection. The primary endpoint is the percent change from baseline in fasting triglyceride levels at six months compared to placebo.

CORE and CORE2 are global, multi-center, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled studies enrolling approximately 540 and 390 patients, respectively, designed to assess the efficacy, safety and tolerability of olezarsen in patients with SHTG. The CORE and CORE2 studies compare olezarsen to placebo in patients with triglyceride levels equal to or greater than 500 mg/dL who are on currently available therapies for elevated triglycerides. The primary endpoint of the studies is the percent change in fasting triglycerides from baseline at month six. Additionally, in November 2022, we initiated ESSENCE, a global, multi-center, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study enrolling approximately 1,300 patients to provide a robust safety database. The primary endpoint of the study is the percent change in fasting triglycerides from baseline at week six.

In January 2020, we reported positive results from a Phase 2 clinical study in patients with hypertriglyceridemia and at high risk of or with established CVD. Olezarsen achieved statistically significant, dose-dependent reductions in fasting triglycerides compared to placebo at all dose levels. Additionally, at the highest monthly dose, 91 percent of patients achieved serum triglycerides of ≤ 150 mg/dL, the recognized threshold for cardiovascular risk, compared to less than five percent of patients in the placebo group. Olezarsen also achieved statistical significance in numerous key secondary endpoints, including significant reductions in apoC-III, very low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, or VLDL-C, and remnant cholesterol, and a statistically significant increase in high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, or HDL-C. Olezarsen had a favorable safety and tolerability profile supportive of continued development.

In January 2023, the FDA granted olezarsen fast track designation for the treatment of patients with FCS.

Donidalorsen (PKK) – Donidalorsen (formerly IONIS-PKK-L_Rx) is an investigational LICA medicine we designed to target the prekallikrein, or PKK, pathway. HAE is a rare genetic disease that is characterized by severe and potentially fatal swelling of the arms, legs, face and throat. PKK plays an important role in the activation of inflammatory mediators associated with acute attacks of HAE. By inhibiting the production of PKK, donidalorsen could be an effective prophylactic approach to preventing HAE attacks. It is estimated that there are more than 20,000 patients with HAE in the U.S. and Europe.

In November 2021, we initiated the Phase 3 study of donidalorsen, OASIS-HAE, in patients with HAE. OASIS-HAE is a multi-center, randomized, double-blind placebo-controlled study in approximately 80 patients designed to assess the efficacy, safety and tolerability of donidalorsen. Patients will be treated with an 80 mg dose of donidalorsen either every four weeks or every eight weeks by subcutaneous injection. The primary endpoint is the time-normalized number of investigator-confirmed HAE attacks per month from week one to week 25. In May 2022, we initiated OASIS-Plus, a multi-center, open-label, global study in approximately 110 patients who were either previously treated with other prophylactic therapies or who have completed OASIS-HAE.

In 2021 and 2022, we reported positive results from a Phase 2 clinical study of donidalorsen in patients with HAE. Patients received either donidalorsen 80 mg or placebo subcutaneously once monthly for 17 weeks. The Phase 2 study met its primary and secondary endpoints, achieving significant reductions in the number of attacks suffered by patients with HAE compared to placebo. The study demonstrated a mean reduction of 90 percent in the number of monthly HAE attacks in weeks one to 17 of the study (p <0.001) and a mean reduction of 97 percent in the number of monthly HAE attacks in weeks five to 17 (p=0.003). In weeks five to 17, 92 percent of patients treated with donidalorsen were attack-free compared to 0 percent in the placebo group (p <0.001). Additionally, donidalorsen demonstrated an overall reduction in moderate to severe attacks starting with the second dose in the study. For the final month of the study, all donidalorsen treated patients were attack-free. Further, patients reported higher overall health-related quality of life, or HRQoL, over 17 weeks with donidalorsen, with a mean change in total score of the AE-QoL of -26.85, compared with -6.15 in the placebo group (P=0.002) where reduction in the score indicates better quality of life. There were improvements observed across all individual domains of the AE-QoL compared with placebo we published. The Phase 3 data were published in the New England Journal of Medicine. Donidalorsen had a favorable safety and tolerability profile supportive of continued development.

In 2022 and in early 2023, we reported positive results from the Phase 2 OLE study of donidalorsen in patients with HAE. Interim data after all patients completed one year of treatment in the study showed a sustained reduction in HAE attacks. Patients completing the Phase 2 study were eligible for enrollment in the OLE study. There were 20 Type 1 or Type 2 HAE patients in the Phase 2 study, and 17 (85%) entered the OLE. Following a 13-week fixed-dose period where participants received subcutaneous donidalorsen 80 mg every four weeks, eight patients switched to subcutaneous donidalorsen 80 mg every eight weeks. Patients receiving donidalorsen 80 mg every eight weeks experienced a mean reduction in attack rate of 75.6% from baseline and the mean monthly attack rate was 0.28. Six of these patients remained attack free over the one year duration of this analysis, and two of these patients returned to 80 mg every four weeks. For patients treated with donidalorsen, 99.6% of study days were HAE attack-free. Additionally, patients treated for one year with donidalorsen reported a mean improvement of 24 points in their AE-QoL total score across all domains relative to baseline. Donidalorsen had a favorable safety and tolerability profile supportive of continued development.

ION363 (FUS) – ION363 is an investigational antisense medicine we designed to reduce the production of the FUS protein to treat people with ALS caused by mutations in the FUS gene. Because antisense-mediated reduction of mutant FUS protein in a FUS-ALS mouse model demonstrated the ability to prevent motor neuron loss, it is hypothesized that reduction of FUS protein will reverse or prevent disease progression in FUS-ALS patients. It is estimated that there are approximately 350 patients with FUS-ALS in G7 countries (comprised of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the U.S.).

In April 2021, we initiated a Phase 3 study of ION363 in patients with FUS-ALS. The Phase 3 trial of ION363 is a global, multi-center, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study in approximately 75 patients designed to assess the efficacy, safety and tolerability of ION363. Part 1 of the trial consists of patients randomized to receive a loading regimen of ION363 or placebo for weeks one and four followed by one dose every four to 12 weeks for 61 weeks, followed by Part 2, which will be an open-label period in which all patients in the trial will receive ION363 or placebo loading regimen at week four followed by one dose every 12 weeks for 85 weeks. The primary endpoint is the change from baseline as measured by the Revised Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Functional Rating Scale, or ALSFRS-R, Total Score, time of rescue or discontinuation from Part 1 and entering Part 2 due to a deterioration in function, and Ventilation Assistance-free survival, or VAFS.

Tofersen is currently under regulatory review in the U.S. and EU. In July 2022, Biogen announced that the FDA had accepted tofersen’s NDA and granted priority review of tofersen for SOD1-ALS. Tofersen has an FDA Advisory Committee meeting planned for March 22, 2023 and a PDUFA date of April 25, 2023. In December 2022, Biogen announced that the EMA accepted the MAA for tofersen for SOD1-ALS.

The tofersen NDA and MAA included results from a Phase 1 study in healthy volunteers, a Phase 1/2 study evaluating ascending dose levels, the Phase 3 VALOR study, and the Phase 3 OLE study, as well as 12-month integrated results from VALOR and the Phase 3 OLE study. The 12-month integrated data show that earlier initiation of tofersen, compared to delayed initiation, slowed declines in clinical function, respiratory function, muscle strength and quality of life and build on the results previously observed in the initial readout. The 12-month data compare patients with early initiation of tofersen (at the start of VALOR) to those who had a delayed initiation of tofersen (six months later, in the OLE).

At the time of the 12-month analysis, because the majority of participants survived without permanent ventilation, or PV, the median time to death or PV and median time to death, could not be estimated. However, early survival data suggest a lower risk of death or PV and death with earlier initiation of tofersen. Additionally, the latest 12-month results showed that reductions in total SOD1 protein (a marker of target engagement) and neurofilament (a marker of axonal injury and neurodegeneration) were sustained over time. Tofersen reduced total cerebrospinal fluid, or CSF, SOD1 protein and plasma neurofilament levels in both early- and delayed-start groups as follows:

•	33% and 21% reduction in SOD1 protein, the intended target for tofersen, respectively

•	51% and 41% reduction in plasma neurofilament, a marker of neuron injury, respectively

Tofersen had a favorable safety and tolerability profile supportive of continued development.

In April 2021, Biogen initiated a second Phase 3 study of tofersen, called ATLAS, in presymptomatic individuals with a SOD1 genetic mutation. ATLAS is a multi-center, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study enrolling approximately 150 subjects designed to assess the efficacy, safety and tolerability of tofersen. Patients are only given tofersen if they meet a defined biomarker threshold or progress to develop clinically manifest SOD1-ALS.

In December 2018, Biogen exercised its option to license tofersen. As a result, Biogen is responsible for global development, regulatory and commercialization activities, and costs for tofersen.

Pelacarsen (Apo(a)) (TQJ230) – Pelacarsen (formerly IONIS-APO(a)-L_Rx) is an investigational LICA antisense medicine we designed to inhibit the production of apolipoprotein(a), or Apo(a), in the liver to offer a direct approach for reducing Lp(a). Elevated Lp(a) is recognized as an independent, genetic cause of CVD. Lp(a) levels are determined at birth and lifestyle modification, including diet and exercise, do not impact Lp(a) levels. Inhibiting the production of Apo(a) in the liver reduces the level of Lp(a) in blood, potentially slowing down or reversing CVD in people with hyperlipoproteinemia(a), a condition in which individuals have levels of Lp(a) greater than 50 mg/dL, the recognized threshold for risk of CVD. We believe antisense technology is well suited to address hyperlipoproteinemia(a) because it specifically targets the RNA that codes for all forms of the Apo(a) molecule. It is estimated that there are more than eight million people living with CVD and elevated levels of Lp(a).

In December 2019, Novartis initiated the Phase 3 study of pelacarsen, Lp(a) HORIZON, in patients with elevated Lp(a) levels and a prior cardiovascular event. Lp(a) HORIZON is a global, multi-center, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled cardiovascular outcomes study in more than 8,000 patients designed to assess the efficacy, safety and tolerability of pelacarsen. Patients are treated with 80 mg of pelacarsen administered monthly by subcutaneous injection. The primary endpoint in Lp(a) HORIZON is the time to occurrence of first major adverse cardiovascular event, or MACE. In July 2022, we announced that the Lp(a) HORIZON study had completed enrollment.

In November 2018, at the American Heart Association, or AHA, annual meeting, we reported results of the Phase 2 study of pelacarsen in patients with hyperlipoproteinemia(a). In the Phase 2 study, we observed statistically significant and dose dependent reductions from baseline in Lp(a) levels. Approximately 98 percent of patients who received the highest dose in the study demonstrated a reduction in Lp(a) levels to below the recommended threshold for CVD events (<50 mg/dL). Pelacarsen had a favorable safety and tolerability profile supportive of continued development.

In February 2019, Novartis exercised its option to license pelacarsen. As a result, Novartis is responsible for global development, regulatory and commercialization activities, and costs for pelacarsen.

In April 2020, the FDA granted pelacarsen fast track designation for the treatment of patients with elevated Lp(a) and CVD. In December 2020, the Center for Drug Evaluation, or CDE, of China National Medical Products Administration granted breakthrough therapy designation to pelacarsen.

Bepirovirsen (HBV) (GSK3228836) – Bepirovirsen (formerly IONIS-HBV_Rx) is an investigational antisense medicine we designed to inhibit the production of viral proteins associated with hepatitis B virus, or HBV. These include proteins associated with infection and replication, including the hepatitis B surface antigen, or HBsAg, which is present in both acute and chronic infections and is associated with a poor prognosis in people with chronic HBV infection.

HBV infection is a serious health problem that can lead to significant and potentially fatal health conditions, including cirrhosis, liver failure and liver cancer. Chronic HBV infection is one of the most common persistent viral infections in the world, affecting nearly 300 million people and resulting in approximately 900,000 deaths annually. Currently available therapies, although effective in reducing circulating HBV in the blood, do not effectively inhibit HBV antigen production and secretion, which are associated with poor prognosis and increased risk of liver cancer.

In January 2023, GSK initiated the Phase 3 program of bepirovirsen, B-Well, in patients with chronic HBV. B-Well 1 and B-Well 2 are global, multi-center, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled studies enrolling more than 500 patients each. GSK designed these studies to assess the efficacy, safety and tolerability of bepirovirsen. The studies will have four stages: (1) a double-blind treatment period of 24 weeks with bepirovirsen or placebo, (2) Nucleoside Analogue, or NA, treatment for 24 weeks, (3) NA cessation with 24 week follow up or (4) continue on NA for 24 weeks, with follow up for a further 24 weeks for patients who stopped NA treatment at week 48. The arms will be stratified based on HBsAg levels with the first group including those with HBsAg levels ≥ 100 IU/mL to ≤ 1,000 IU/mL and the second group for those with HBsAg levels >1,000 IU/mL to ≤ 3,000 IU/mL at screening. The primary endpoint is the number of patients achieving functional cure with baseline HBsAg ≤ 1,000 IU/mL. Functional cure is defined as a sustained suppression (24 weeks or longer) of HBV DNA (< Lower Limit of Quantification, or LLOQ) while off all HBV treatments with HBsAg loss (<0.05 IU/mL) with or without HBsAg after a finite duration of therapy.

In June 2022, GSK presented end of treatment results from the Phase 2b B-CLEAR study of bepirovirsen in patients with chronic HBV infection at the European Association for the Study of the Liver’s, or EASL, International Liver Congress. Additionally, in November 2022, GSK presented positive end of study data from the Phase 2b B-CLEAR study at the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases, or AASLD. The end of study results showed that treatment with bepirovirsen resulted in sustained clearance of HBsAg and HBV DNA for 24 weeks after end of bepirovirsen treatment in people with chronic HBV infection. Treatment with bepirovirsen, with a loading dose at day four and 11, and at a dose of 300 mg per week for 24 weeks (treatment arm 1), resulted in 9% of patients on NA treatment and 10% of patients not on NA treatment achieving the primary outcome of HBsAg levels below the LLOQ and HBV DNA levels, both below the LLOQ, respectively. This is defined as a sustained response and was observed for 24 weeks post last dose. In the study, sustained response rates were higher in subjects with low baseline HBsAg (< 1000 IU/mL) than in those with high baseline HBsAg (>1000 IU/mL). Patients with low baseline HBsAg levels responded best to treatment with bepirovirsen with 16% and 25% of patients achieving the primary outcome in treatment arm one of the on NA and not on NA cohorts, respectively. Bepirovirsen had a favorable safety and tolerability profile supportive of continued development.

In August 2019, GSK exercised its option to license our HBV program following the positive results of the Phase 2a study of bepirovirsen in patients with chronic HBV infection. As a result, GSK is responsible for global development, regulatory and commercialization activities, and costs for the HBV program.

Our Neurological Medicines in Development

According to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, or NINDS, at the National Institutes of Health, or NIH, a third of the 7,000 known rare diseases are neurological disorders or thought to include a neurological component. We are currently investigating potential disease-modifying treatments for a broad range of neurological diseases affecting major regions of the brain and in the central nervous system cell types, including ATTRv-PN, ALS and Alzheimer’s disease.

Eplontersen – See the medicine description under “Our Late-Stage Pipeline” section above.

ION363 – See the medicine description under “Our Late-Stage Pipeline” section above.

Tofersen – See the medicine description under “Our Late-Stage Pipeline” section above.

Zilganersen – Zilganersen (formerly ION373) is an investigational antisense medicine targeting glial fibrillary acidic protein, or GFAP, mRNA we designed to inhibit the production of GFAP. We are developing zilganersen as a potential therapy for Alexander disease, or AxD. AxD is a rare, progressive and fatal neurological disease that affects the myelin sheath which protects nerve fibers. AxD is caused by a gain-of-function mutation in the GFAP gene and is characterized by progressive deterioration, including loss of skills and independence, generally leading to death in childhood or early adulthood.

Two major types of AxD have been defined. Type I onset typically occurs before four years of age and patients can experience head enlargement, seizures, limb stiffness, delayed or declining cognition, and lack of growth. Type II onset typically occurs after the age of four and symptoms can include difficulty speaking, swallowing, and making coordinated movements. AxD is most often fatal. There are treatments that can relieve symptoms, but there is no disease modifying therapy yet available to patients.

In April 2021, we initiated a pivotal study of zilganersen in patients with AxD. The Phase 2/3 study of zilganersen is a multi-center, double-blind, placebo-controlled, multiple-ascending dose study in approximately 55 patients with AxD designed to assess the efficacy, safety and tolerability of zilganersen. Patients will receive zilganersen or placebo for a 60-week period, after which all patients in the study will receive zilganersen for a 60-week open-label treatment period. The primary endpoint is the change from baseline in the 10-Meter Walk Test, or 10MWT.

IONIS-MAPT_Rx (BIIB080) – IONIS-MAPT_Rx is an investigational antisense medicine we designed to selectively inhibit production of the microtubule-associated protein tau, or tau protein in the brain. We are developing IONIS-MAPT_Rx to treat people with Alzheimer’s disease, or AD, and potentially other neurodegenerative disorders characterized by the deposition of abnormal tau protein in the brain, such as certain forms of frontotemporal degeneration, or FTD, and progressive supranuclear palsy, or PSP.

AD and FTD are characterized predominantly by memory impairment and behavioral changes, resulting in a person’s inability to independently perform daily activities. PSP is characterized by problems with walking and control of movement, sleep disorder and loss of memory and ability to reason. AD generally occurs late in life and may progress to death in five to 20 years after the onset of the disease. FTD and PSP have a more rapid disease progression.

In December 2022, Biogen initiated a Phase 2 clinical study of IONIS-MAPT_Rx in patients with mild cognitive impairment or mild dementia due to AD. The study is a randomized, double-blinded, placebo-controlled, dose-escalation study in approximately 735 patients designed to assess the efficacy, safety and tolerability of IONIS-MAPT_Rx administered intrathecally. The primary endpoint is the change from baseline to week 76 on the Clinical Dementia Rating scale Sum of Boxes, or CDR-SB.

In July 2021, we and Biogen reported positive topline data from our Phase 1/2 study of IONIS-MAPT_Rx in patients with mild Alzheimer’s disease at the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference, or AAIC. The Phase 1/2 study was a blinded, randomized, placebo-controlled, dose-escalation study of IONIS-MAPT_Rx to evaluate the safety and activity of once-monthly intrathecal injections of IONIS-MAPT_Rx in patients with mild AD. The study showed that IONIS-MAPT_Rx met its primary objective of safety and tolerability in patients with mild Alzheimer’s disease. The study demonstrated robust time and dose dependent lowering of tau protein in cerebrospinal fluid over the three-month treatment period and sustained reductions during the six-month post-treatment period. IONIS-MAPT_Rx had a favorable safety and tolerability profile supportive of continued development.

In December 2019, Biogen exercised its option to license IONIS-MAPT_Rx. Biogen has responsibility for global development, regulatory and commercialization activities, and costs for IONIS-MAPT_Rx.

ION859 (LRRK2) (BIIB094) – ION859 is an investigational antisense medicine we designed to inhibit the production of the Leucine Rich Repeat Kinase 2, or LRRK2, protein as a potential therapy for Parkinson’s disease, or PD. The most common genetic mutations in PD are found in the LRRK2 protein. It is believed that increased LRRK2 protein activity could be one of the key drivers for developing PD. PD is a progressive neurodegenerative disease characterized by loss of neurons in the motor system. Patients with PD can experience tremors, loss of balance and coordination, stiffness, slowing of movement, changes in speech and in some cases cognitive decline. PD is ultimately fatal. There are treatments that can relieve symptoms, but there are no approved disease modifying therapies.

In August 2019, Biogen initiated a Phase 1/2 study evaluating ION859 in patients with PD. The Phase 1/2 study is a global, multi-center, randomized, double-blinded, placebo-controlled study in approximately 80 patients designed to assess the safety, tolerability and activity of multiple ascending doses of ION859 administered intrathecally.

ION859 is being developed under our 2013 Strategic Neurology collaboration with Biogen.

ION464 (SNCA) (BIIB101) – ION464 is an investigational antisense medicine we designed to inhibit the production of the alpha-synuclein protein as a potential therapy for PD, Multiple System Atrophy, or MSA, and related synucleinopathies. Alpha-synuclein protein abnormally accumulates in the brains of PD and MSA patients and is thought to be one of the key drivers of these diseases. It is believed that decreasing the production of the alpha-synuclein protein will reduce the toxic effects of gain-of-function mutations.

In July 2020, we initiated a Phase 1/2 study evaluating ION464 in patients with MSA. The current study is a multi-center, randomized, double-blinded, placebo-controlled study in approximately 40 patients designed to assess the safety and tolerability of multiple ascending doses of ION464 administered intrathecally.

ION464 is being developed under our 2013 Strategic Neurology collaboration with Biogen.

ION541 (ATXN2) (BIIB105) – ION541 is an investigational antisense medicine we designed to reduce the production of the ataxin-2, or ATXN2, protein for the potential treatment of ALS. The reduction of ATXN2 has been shown to decrease aggregation of TDP-43, a toxic RNA binding protein found in most patients with ALS, including the approximately 90 percent of the ALS population with no known family history of ALS.

In October 2020, Biogen initiated a Phase 1/2 clinical study evaluating ION541 in patients with ALS. The current study is a randomized, blinded, placebo-controlled study in approximately 110 patients designed to assess the safety, tolerability, and pharmacokinetics of multiple ascending doses of ION541 administered intrathecally.

ION541 is being developed under our 2013 Strategic Neurology collaboration with Biogen.

ION582 (UBE3A) (BIIB121) – ION582 is an investigational antisense medicine we designed to inhibit the expression of the UBE3A transcript, or UBE3A-ATS for the potential treatment of Angelman Syndrome, or AS. AS is a rare, genetic neurological disease caused by the loss of function of the maternally inherited UBE3A gene. AS typically presents in infancy and is characterized by intellectual disability, balance issues, motor impairment, and debilitating seizures. Some patients are unable to walk or speak. Some symptoms can be managed with existing drugs; however, there are no approved disease modifying therapies.

In December 2021, we initiated the Phase 1/2 study, HALOS, of ION582 in patients with AS. The study is an open label dose-escalation study enrolling approximately 40 patients designed to assess the safety, tolerability and activity of multiple ascending doses of ION582.

ION582 is being developed under our 2012 Neurology collaboration with Biogen.

Tominersen (HTT) (RG6042) – Tominersen (formerly IONIS-HTT_Rx) is an investigational antisense medicine we designed to target the underlying cause of Huntington’s disease, or HD, by reducing the production of all forms of the huntingtin protein, or HTT, including its mutated variant, or mHTT. HD is an inherited genetic brain disorder that results in the progressive loss of both mental faculties and physical control. It is caused by the expansion of the cytosine-adenine-guanine, or CAG, trinucleotide sequence in the HTT gene. The resulting mutant HTT protein is toxic and gradually destroys neurons. Symptoms usually appear between the ages of 30 and 50 and worsen over a 10 to 25-year period. Ultimately, the weakened individual succumbs to pneumonia, heart failure or other complications. Presently, there is no effective treatment or cure for the disease, and currently available medicines only mask the patient’s symptoms but do not slow down the underlying loss of neurons.

In January 2023, Roche initiated the Phase 2, GENERATION HD2, study of tominersen in patients aged 25 to 50 years old with prodromal and early manifest HD. The Phase 2 study of tominersen is a multi-center, double-blind, placebo-controlled study in approximately 360 patients designed to assess the efficacy, safety and tolerability of tominersen. Patients will receive tominersen or placebo every 16 weeks for 16 months, after which patients may receive tominersen in an open-label study. The primary endpoint is the change from baseline in the composite Unified Huntington’s Disease Ratings Scale, or cUHDRS, (non-U.S.) and overall functional capacity, or TFC, (U.S.) at 16 months.

Roche conducted the Phase 3 study, GENERATION HD1, of tominersen in patients with HD. The Phase 3 study was a randomized, multicenter, double-blind, placebo-controlled study that recruited 791 participants. In March 2021, Roche announced that dosing would be stopped in the study following a recommendation from the independent data monitoring committee, or iDMC, based on an overall benefit/risk assessment. In January 2022, Roche announced findings from a post-hoc analysis of the GENERATION HD1 study that suggested tominersen may benefit younger adult patients with lower disease burden.

In December 2017, Roche exercised its option to license tominersen. As a result, Roche is responsible for global development, regulatory and commercialization activities, and costs for tominersen.

Our Cardiovascular Medicines in Development

According to the World Health Organization, or WHO, CVD remains the number one cause of death globally. An estimated 17.9 million people died from CVD in 2019, representing approximately 30 percent of all deaths globally. Our cardiovascular medicines target the major risk factors of cardiovascular disease, including cholesterol, triglycerides, and hypertension.

Eplontersen – See the medicine description under “Our Late-Stage Pipeline” section above.

Olezarsen – See the medicine description under “Our Late-Stage Pipeline” section above.

Pelacarsen – See the medicine description under “Our Late-Stage Pipeline” section above.

Fesomersen (FXI) – Fesomersen (formerly IONIS-FXI-L_Rx) is an investigational LICA medicine we designed to inhibit the production of Factor XI. Factor XI is a clotting factor produced in the liver that is important in the growth of blood clots. Thrombosis, characterized by the formation of a blood clot inside blood vessels, can cause heart attacks and strokes. People who are deficient in Factor XI have a lower incidence of thromboembolic events with minimal increase in bleeding risk. Although currently available anticoagulants reduce the risk of thrombosis, physicians associate these anticoagulants with increased bleeding, which can be fatal. By inhibiting Factor XI production, we believe that fesomersen can be used for the treatment of a number of non-acute forms of thrombosis where additional safe and well tolerated anti-thrombotic medicines are needed.

In November 2022, Bayer presented positive results from the RE-THINc Phase 2b study of fesomersen in patients with end-stage renal disease, or ESRD, on hemodialysis at the American Society of Nephrology’s, or ASN, Kidney Week. In the study, fesomersen achieved its primary endpoint, demonstrating no increase in the incidence of the composite of major bleeding and clinically relevant non-major bleeding with 24 weeks of treatment. Fesomersen also achieved dose-dependent and sustained median reductions in steady-state FXI levels of 53.1%, 72.2% and 86.6% in the 40 mg, 80 mg, and 120 mg doses of fesomersen, respectively, administered once every four weeks. Incidences of dialysis circuit clotting and arteriovenous access, or AV-access, thrombosis diminished significantly with decreasing FXI levels, both of which were exploratory efficacy endpoints. Fesomersen had a favorable safety and tolerability profile supportive of continued development.

In November 2022, we regained all rights to fesomersen, which we had previously licensed to Bayer in February 2017.

IONIS-AGT-L_Rx – IONIS-AGT-L_Rx is an investigational LICA medicine we designed to inhibit the production of angiotensinogen to decrease blood pressure in people with uncontrolled hypertension. Treatment resistant hypertension, or TRH, is defined as failure to achieve a blood pressure goal of 140/90 (systolic/diastolic) despite the use of three or more antihypertensive medications. People with TRH have been found to have a three-fold higher chance of having fatal and non-fatal cardiovascular events relative to those with controlled hypertension.

We are also studying IONIS-AGT-L_Rx in patients with chronic heart failure with reduced ejection fraction. Heart failure, or HF, is a chronic, progressive condition in which the heart muscle is unable to pump enough blood to meet the body’s needs for blood and oxygen. HF with reduced ejection fraction is a clinical syndrome of shortness of breath, exercise intolerance and/or fluid retention resulting from an impairment of ejection of blood, usually documented by a left ventricular ejection fraction of 40 percent or less on echocardiography.

In January 2021, we initiated a Phase 2b clinical study of IONIS-AGT-L_Rx in patients with TRH. The study is a randomized, double-blinded, placebo-controlled study in approximately 150 patients designed to assess the efficacy, safety and tolerability of IONIS-AGT-L_Rx. The primary endpoint is the change in systolic blood pressure, or SBP, from baseline.

In September 2021, we initiated a Phase 2 clinical study of IONIS-AGT-L_Rx in patients with chronic HF with reduced ejection fraction. The study is a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study in approximately 75 patients designed to assess the safety, tolerability, and efficacy of IONIS-AGT-L_Rx. The primary endpoint is the percent change in plasma AGT concentration from baseline.

We evaluated IONIS-AGT-L_Rx in two randomized, double-blinded, placebo-controlled Phase 2 studies. The first study was in people with mild hypertension and the second was in people with uncontrolled hypertension who were on two or three antihypertensive medications, including ACE inhibitors or ARBs. IONIS-AGT-L_Rx significantly reduced AGT levels compared to placebo in both studies. IONIS-AGT-L_Rx had a favorable safety and tolerability profile supportive of continued development.

ION904 – ION904 is an investigational next-generation LICA medicine designed to inhibit the production of angiotensinogen to decrease blood pressure in people with uncontrolled hypertension. ION904 is a follow-on medicine targeting AGT, designed to enable less frequent dosing compared to IONIS-AGT-L_Rx.

In April 2022, we initiated a Phase 2 clinical study of ION904 in patients with mild to moderate uncontrolled hypertension on one or more anti-hypertensive medications for at least one month. The study is a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study in approximately 45 patients designed to assess the safety, tolerability, and efficacy of ION904. The primary endpoint is the percent change in plasma AGT concentration from baseline.

We conducted a Phase 1, blinded, randomized, placebo-controlled, dose-escalation study of ION904 in healthy volunteers that was supportive of continued development.

Specialty Rare Medicines in Development

Our emerging specialty rare disease pipeline is comprised of medicines that are outside of our cardiovascular and neurological franchises, but we believe could represent a compelling opportunity for us.

Donidalorsen – See the medicine description under “Our Late-Stage Pipeline” section above.

Sapablursen (TMPRSS6) – Sapablursen (formerly IONIS-TMPRSS6-L_Rx) is an investigational LICA medicine we designed to target the TMPRSS6 gene to modulate the production of hepcidin, which is the key regulator of iron homeostasis. By modulating hepcidin expression, sapablursen has the potential to positively impact diseases characterized by iron deficiency, such as polycythemia vera, or PV.

PV is a rare, non-genetic and potentially fatal disease caused by overproduction of red blood cells. This overproduction leads to a thickening of the blood, which increases patients’ risk of life-threatening blood clots, including in the lungs, heart and brain. Patients with PV also experience severe iron deficiency due to hepcidin overexpression. There are no approved disease-modifying treatments for PV.

In January 2022, we initiated a Phase 2 study evaluating sapablursen in patients with phlebotomy dependent PV, or PD-PV. The Phase 2 study is a multi-center, randomized, open-label study in approximately 40 patients designed to assess the efficacy, safety and tolerability of sapablursen. The primary endpoint is the change in the frequency of phlebotomy comparing baseline with the last 20 weeks of the 37-week treatment period.

In December 2018, we presented positive data from our Phase 1 study of sapablursen in healthy volunteers at the American Society of Hematology Annual Meeting. The Phase 1 study demonstrated dose-dependent reductions of serum iron and serum transferrin saturation with sapablursen. Additionally, we observed an increase in serum hepcidin and predicted changes in hemoglobin. Sapablursen had a favorable safety and tolerability profile supportive of continued development.

Other Medicines in Development

We also have four medicines in development, outside of our core franchises, of which half are partnered.

Bepirovirsen – See the medicine description under “Our Late-Stage Pipeline” section above.

IONIS-FB-L_Rx – IONIS-FB-L_Rx (RG6299) is an investigational LICA medicine we designed to inhibit the production of complement factor B, or FB, and the alternative complement pathway. Genetic association studies have shown that overaction of the alternative complement pathway has been associated with the development of several complement-mediated diseases, including immunoglobulin A, or IgA, nephropathy, or IgAN, and geographic atrophy, or GA, secondary to age-related macular degeneration, or AMD.

IgAN is one of the most common causes of inflammation that impairs the filtering ability of kidneys and is an important cause of chronic kidney disease and kidney failure. Also known as Berger’s disease, IgAN is characterized by deposits of IgA in the kidneys, resulting in inflammation and tissue damage. AMD is the leading cause of central vision loss in developed countries. GA is an advanced form of AMD.

In November 2022, we presented positive results from the Phase 2 study of IONIS-FB-L_Rx in patients with IgAN at the American Society of Nephrology’s, or ASN, Kidney Week. In the Phase 2 study, which included results from the first 10 patients treated with IONIS-FB-L_Rx, IONIS-FB-L_Rx met its primary endpoint of change in 24-hour urinary protein, demonstrating a 44% mean reduction in proteinuria from baseline to week 29. Kidney function, as measured by estimated glomerular filtration rate, or eGFR, was maintained in all patients in the study. The results from the Phase 2 study provided proof-of-concept for the potential of IONIS-FB-L_Rx to treat patients with IgAN by inhibiting complement FB and the alternative complement pathway. IONIS-FB-L_Rx had a favorable safety and tolerability profile supportive of continued development. The Phase 2 open-label study remains ongoing and will evaluate IONIS-FB-L_Rx in approximately 25 patients with IgAN.

In June 2019, we initiated a Phase 2 study evaluating IONIS-FB-L_Rx in patients with GA secondary to age-related macular degeneration. The study is a randomized, masked, placebo-controlled study in approximately 330 patients designed to assess the efficacy, safety and tolerability of multiple ascending doses of IONIS-FB-L_Rx administered subcutaneously in adults with GA. The primary endpoint is the absolute change from baseline in GA area at week 49.

In July 2022, Roche exercised its option to license IONIS-FB-L_Rx following the positive Phase 2 results described above. As a result, Roche is responsible for global development, regulatory and commercialization activities, and costs for IONIS-FB-L_Rx, except for the open label Phase 2 study in patients with IgAN and the Phase 2 study in patients with GA, both of which we are conducting and funding.

Cimdelirsen (GHR) – Cimdelirsen (formerly IONIS-GHR-L_Rx) is an investigational LICA medicine we designed to inhibit the production of growth hormone receptor, or GHr, to decrease the circulating level of insulin-like growth factor-1, or IGF-1. Elevated levels of IGF-1 results in acromegaly, a chronic, slowly progressing and potentially fatal disease. Patients with acromegaly experience multiple chronic conditions, such as type 2 diabetes, hypertension, respiratory complications and premature death. Current treatments to block IGF-1 are often unsuccessful. Drug treatments to normalize IGF-1 levels are also available but are associated with potentially serious side effects.

In January 2021, we initiated a Phase 2 study evaluating cimdelirsen as a monotherapy in patients with acromegaly. The Phase 2 study is a multi-center, randomized, open label study in approximately 40 patients designed to assess the efficacy, safety and tolerability of cimdelirsen. The primary endpoint is the percent change from baseline in IGF-1 to week 27.

We completed a Phase 2 study evaluating cimdelirsen as an add-on therapy in patients with uncontrolled acromegaly despite stable therapy with long-acting somatostatin receptor ligands, or SRL. Due to enrollment difficulties associated with the COVID-19 pandemic, the study closed early, resulting in smaller cohort sizes than planned. While no longer powered to assess the primary endpoint (percentage of IGF- lowering at Day 141) in accordance with the protocol, the study did permit placebo-controlled evaluation of safety and efficacy. Cimdelirsen had a favorable safety and tolerability profile supportive of continued development.

ION224 (DGAT) – ION224 is an investigational LICA medicine we designed to reduce the production of diacylglycerol acyltransferase 2, or DGAT2, to treat patients with nonalcoholic steatohepatitis, or NASH. NASH is a common liver disease characterized by liver steatosis, inflammation and scarring and can lead to increased risk of cardiovascular disease, liver cancer, need for liver transplantation and early death. DGAT2 is an enzyme that catalyzes the final step in triglyceride synthesis in the liver. Reducing the production of DGAT2 should therefore decrease triglyceride synthesis in the liver. In animal studies, antisense inhibition of DGAT2 significantly improved liver steatosis, lowered blood lipid levels and reversed diet-induced insulin resistance.

Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, or NAFLD, describes the full spectrum of liver disease progression from fatty liver to NASH to cirrhosis to hepatocellular carcinoma. NASH epidemiology studies have estimated 13 to 32 percent of the global population has NAFLD, 1.5 to 6.5 percent have NASH, and approximately nine percent of NASH patients progress to advanced liver disease. There are currently no commercially available medications to treat NASH.

NASH is sometimes considered a “silent” liver disease because people with early-stage NASH feel well, even though they are starting to accumulate fat in their livers and may not be aware that they have the disease. However, NASH can develop into more severe diseases such as liver cirrhosis and liver failure. Currently, liver transplant is the only therapeutic option for patients with liver cirrhosis. In addition, NASH has been shown to be a major risk factor for the development of liver cancer.

In June 2021, we initiated a Phase 2 study of ION224 in patients with confirmed non-alcoholic steatohepatitis. The Phase 2 study is a multi-center, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical study in approximately 160 patients designed to assess the efficacy, safety and tolerability of multiple subcutaneous doses of ION224 on NASH histologic improvement.

Our Technology

For more than 30 years, we have advanced genetic medicines with the goal to change standards of care and transform the lives of people with devastating diseases. Our recent technology advancements have enabled us to advance programs with the potential for extended dosing and delivery to new tissues, such as muscle. We also recently added capabilities to potentially utilize RNA interference, or RNAi, or gene editing in addition to our novel antisense technology,  which we believe, gives us the potential to deliver genetic medicines for a greater number of patients in need.

Overview of Antisense Technology

All of the medicines currently in our clinical pipeline use our antisense technology — an innovative platform for discovering first-in-class and/or best-in-class medicines. Antisense medicines target RNA, the intermediary that conveys genetic information from a gene to the protein synthesis machinery in the cell. By targeting RNA instead of proteins, we can use antisense technology to increase, decrease or alter the production of specific proteins. Most of our antisense medicines are designed to bind to mRNAs and inhibit the production of disease-causing proteins. Examples of these include eplontersen, olezarsen and donidalorsen. SPINRAZA is an example of an antisense medicine that modulates RNA splicing to increase protein production of the SMN protein, which is critical to the health and survival of nerve cells in the spinal cord that are responsible for neuro-muscular function. The SMN protein is deficient in people with SMA. Our antisense technology is also broadly applicable to many additional antisense mechanisms including decreasing toxic RNAs.

Our advanced LICA technology is a chemical technology we developed that involves attaching a molecule called a ligand that binds with receptors on the surfaces of cells in a highly specific manner. Because these receptors are often found only on certain cell types, LICA allows us to increase effective delivery of our antisense medicines with higher specificity to certain cell types that express these receptors relative to non-conjugated antisense medicines. We currently have an integrated assessment of data from multiple LICA medicines and clinical programs which demonstrates that our LICA technology for liver targets can increase potency by 20-30-fold over our non-LICA antisense medicines. Our LICA medicines have also demonstrated consistently favorable safety and tolerability in clinical trials. In 2022, we reported positive interim analysis data from the NEURO-TTRansform study of eplontersen in patients with ATTRv-PN. Eplontersen demonstrated a favorable safety and tolerability profile with no specific concerns.

Our generation 2.5 chemistry can enable up to 10-fold greater potency compared to our medicines using our Generation 2 chemistries. We can combine our Generation 2.5 chemistry with our LICA technology to further increase potency.

In addition, we are developing LICA conjugation technology that we can use to target tissues other than the liver, such as muscle, and initial results in animals are promising. In the fourth quarter of 2022, we advanced our first program incorporating LICA technology for enhanced delivery to muscle into preclinical development.

Emerging Technology Advancements

Our recent technology advancements have enabled us to create even more potent medicines amenable to more potential targets and tissue types. We have also diversified the approaches we can use in designing our medicines in order to reach more patients with severe diseases. Today our medicines and those entering our pipeline utilize our key technology advances, including our LICA technology and mesyl phosphoramidate, or MsPA, backbone chemistry. We may also now be able to use RNAi in addition to antisense, in the development of new medicines, depending on which approach demonstrates the best potential product profile for the indication we are pursuing. And through our Metagenomi collaboration, we added the potential to use gene editing, which modifies DNA.

We designed our MsPA backbone chemistry to improve both therapeutic index and durability. It does this by increasing metabolic stability relative to the other backbone chemistries we utilize. We have also shown it can improve potency in certain circumstances and reduce non-specific interactions with proteins that can cause undesirable effects, such as proinflammatory effects. In the fourth quarter of 2022, we advanced new programs using our MsPA backbone, designed to improve both efficacy and durability, into preclinical development.

In November 2022, we entered into a collaboration with Metagenomi that leverages our extensive expertise in RNA-targeted therapeutics and Metagenomi’s versatile next-generation gene editing systems to pursue a mix of validated and novel genetic targets with the goal of discovering and developing new drugs. These targets have the potential to expand therapeutic options for patients.

Gene editing utilizes specific RNA-guided nucleases known as Cas enzymes to precisely and permanently modify a DNA sequence. Because of this, gene editing holds the promise of treatments that could provide long-term, potentially permanent, therapeutic benefits.

Gene editing is highly complementary and synergistic with RNA-targeted therapeutics. Both platforms rely on the same nucleic acid hybridization principals to precisely target nucleases to either RNA, in the case of RNase H and siRNA drugs, or to DNA in the case of Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats, or CRISPR-Cas systems. This enables us to leverage our expertise in nucleic acids and modified nucleic acid chemistry with the goal to enhance gene editing’s ability to treat diseases for which there are limited treatment options.

Collaborative Arrangements

Strategic Partnership

We have several strategic collaborations with Biogen focused on using our technology to advance the treatment of neurological disorders. These collaborations combine our expertise in creating antisense medicines with Biogen’s expertise in developing therapies for neurological disorders. We developed and licensed to Biogen SPINRAZA, our approved medicine to treat people with SMA. We and Biogen are currently developing numerous investigational medicines to treat neurodegenerative diseases under our collaborations, including medicines in development to treat people with ALS, SMA, AS, Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease. In addition to these medicines, our collaborations with Biogen include a substantial pipeline that addresses a broad range of neurological diseases. From inception through December 31, 2022, we have generated more than $3.5 billion in payments from our Biogen collaborations.

In January 2012, we entered into a collaboration agreement with Biogen to develop and commercialize SPINRAZA, an RNA-targeted therapy for the treatment of SMA. We are receiving tiered royalties ranging from 11 percent to 15 percent on sales of SPINRAZA. We have exclusively in-licensed patents related to SPINRAZA from Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory and the University of Massachusetts. We pay Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory and the University of Massachusetts a low single digit royalty on net sales of SPINRAZA. Under our agreement, Biogen is responsible for global development, regulatory and commercialization activities and costs for SPINRAZA. From inception through December 31, 2022, we recognized more than $1.8 billion in total revenue under our SPINRAZA collaboration, including nearly $1.4 billion in revenue from SPINRAZA royalties and more than $425 million in R&D revenue.

New antisense medicines for the treatment of SMA

In December 2017, we entered into a collaboration agreement with Biogen to identify new antisense medicines for the treatment of SMA. Biogen has the option to license therapies arising out of this collaboration following the completion of preclinical studies. Upon licensing, Biogen will be responsible for global development, regulatory and commercialization activities and costs for such therapies. Under the collaboration agreement, we received a $25 million upfront payment in December 2017. In December 2021, Biogen exercised its option to license ION306, for which we earned a $60 million license fee payment. Biogen is solely responsible for the costs and expenses related to the development, manufacturing and potential future commercialization of ION306 following the option exercise.

We will receive development and regulatory milestone payments from Biogen if new medicines, including ION306, advance towards marketing approval.

Over the term of the collaboration, we are eligible to receive up to $1.2 billion, which is comprised of a $25 million upfront payment, up to $110 million in license fees, up to $80 million in development milestone payments, up to $180 million in regulatory milestone payments and up to $800 million in sales milestone payments and other payments, including up to $555 million if Biogen advances ION306. In addition, we are eligible to receive tiered royalties from the mid-teens to mid-20 percent range on net sales from any product that Biogen successfully commercializes under this collaboration. From inception through December 31, 2022, we have generated $85 million in payments under this collaboration.

Neurology Collaborations

2018 Strategic Neurology

In April 2018, we and Biogen entered into a strategic collaboration agreement to develop novel antisense medicines for a broad range of neurological diseases. We also entered into a Stock Purchase Agreement, or SPA. As part of the collaboration, Biogen gained exclusive rights to the use of our antisense technology to develop therapies for these diseases for 10 years. We are responsible for the identification of antisense drug candidates based on selected targets. Biogen will usually be responsible for conducting IND-enabling toxicology studies for the selected medicine. Biogen has the option to license the selected medicine after it completes the IND-enabling toxicology study. If Biogen exercises its option to license a medicine, it will assume global development, regulatory and commercialization responsibilities and costs for that medicine.

In June 2018, we received $1 billion from Biogen, comprised of $625 million to purchase our stock at an approximately 25 percent cash premium and $375 million in an upfront payment.

Over the term of the collaboration, we are eligible to receive up to $270 million, which is comprised of a $15 million license fee, up to $105 million in development milestone payments and up to $150 million in regulatory milestone payments for each medicine that achieves marketing approval. In addition, we are eligible to receive tiered royalties up to the 20 percent range on net sales from any product that Biogen successfully commercializes under this collaboration. We are currently advancing multiple programs under this collaboration. From inception through December 31, 2022, we have generated nearly $1.1 billion in payments under this collaboration.

2013 Strategic Neurology

In September 2013, we and Biogen entered into a long-term strategic relationship focused on applying antisense technology to advance the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases. As part of the collaboration, Biogen gained exclusive rights to the use of our antisense technology to develop therapies for neurological diseases and has the option to license medicines resulting from this collaboration. We will usually be responsible for drug discovery and early development of antisense medicines and Biogen will have the option to license antisense medicines after Phase 2 proof-of-concept. In October 2016, we expanded our collaboration to include additional research activities we will perform. If Biogen exercises its option to license a medicine, it will assume global development, regulatory and commercialization responsibilities and costs for that medicine. We are currently advancing five investigational medicines in development under this collaboration, including a medicine for Parkinson’s disease, two medicines for ALS, a medicine for multiple system atrophy and a medicine for an undisclosed target. In December 2018, Biogen exercised its option to license our most advanced ALS medicine, tofersen, and as a result Biogen is responsible for global development, regulatory and commercialization activities and costs for tofersen.

Under the terms of the agreement, we received an upfront payment of $100 million and are eligible to receive milestone payments, license fees and royalty payments for all medicines developed under this collaboration, with the specific amounts dependent upon the modality of the molecule advanced by Biogen.

Over the term of the collaboration for tofersen, we are eligible to receive nearly $110 million, which is comprised of a $35 million license fee, up to $18 million in development milestone payments and $55 million in regulatory milestone payments. For each of the other antisense medicines that are chosen for drug discovery and development under this collaboration, we are eligible to receive up to approximately $260 million, which is comprised of a $70 million license fee, up to $60 million in development milestone payments and up to $130 million in regulatory milestone payments. In addition, we are eligible to receive tiered royalties up to the mid-teens on net sales from any product that Biogen successfully commercializes under this collaboration. From inception through December 31, 2022, we have generated more than $300 million under this collaboration, including more than $25 million in milestone payments we received from Biogen in 2022 when Biogen advanced three programs under this collaboration.

2012 Neurology

In December 2012, we and Biogen entered into a collaboration agreement to develop and commercialize novel antisense medicines to treat neurodegenerative diseases. We are responsible for the development of each of the medicines through the completion of the initial Phase 2 clinical study for such medicine. Biogen has the option to license a medicine from each of the programs through the completion of the first Phase 2 study for each program. Under this collaboration, Biogen is conducting the IONIS-MAPT_Rx study for AD and we are currently advancing ION582 for AS. If Biogen exercises its option to license a medicine, it will assume global development, regulatory and commercialization responsibilities and costs for that medicine. In December 2019, Biogen exercised its option to license IONIS-MAPT_Rx and as a result Biogen is responsible for global development, regulatory and commercialization activities and costs for IONIS-MAPT_Rx.

Under the terms of the agreement, we received an upfront payment of $30 million. Over the term of the collaboration, we are eligible to receive up to $210 million, which is comprised of a $70 million license fee, up to $10 million in development milestone payments per program and up to $130 million in regulatory milestone payments per program, plus a mark-up on the cost estimate of the Phase 1 and 2 studies. In addition, we are eligible to receive tiered royalties up to the mid-teens on net sales from any product that Biogen successfully commercializes under this collaboration. From inception through December 31, 2022, we have generated more than $190 million under this collaboration, including nearly $20 million in milestone payments we received from Biogen for advancing ION582 and a $10 million milestone payment we received from Biogen when Biogen advanced IONIS-MAPT_Rx during 2022.

Joint Development and Commercialization Arrangement

AstraZeneca

Eplontersen Collaboration

In December 2021, we entered into a joint development and commercialization agreement with AstraZeneca to develop and commercialize eplontersen for the treatment of ATTR. We are jointly developing and preparing to commercialize eplontersen with AstraZeneca in the U.S. We granted AstraZeneca exclusive rights to commercialize eplontersen outside the U.S., except certain countries in Latin America.

The collaboration also includes territory-specific development, commercial and medical affairs cost-sharing provisions. AstraZeneca is currently responsible for 55 percent of the costs associated with the ongoing global Phase 3 development program. AstraZeneca is responsible for the majority of the commercial and medical affairs costs in the U.S. and all costs associated with bringing eplontersen to market outside the U.S.

Research and Development Partners

AstraZeneca

In addition to our collaboration for eplontersen, we have a collaboration with AstraZeneca focused on discovering and developing treatments for cardiovascular, renal and metabolic diseases. In July 2015, we and AstraZeneca formed a collaboration to discover and develop antisense therapies for treating cardiovascular, renal and metabolic diseases. Under our collaboration, AstraZeneca has licensed multiple medicines from us. AstraZeneca is responsible for global development, regulatory and commercialization activities and costs for each of the medicines it has licensed from us.

Over the term of the collaboration, we are eligible to receive up to $5.8 billion, which is comprised of a $65 million upfront payment, up to $290 million in license fees, up to $1.1 billion in development milestone payments, up to $2.9 billion in regulatory milestone payments and up to $1.5 billion in sales milestone payments. In addition, we are eligible to receive tiered royalties up to the low teens on net sales from any product that AstraZeneca successfully commercializes under this collaboration agreement. From inception through December 31, 2022, we have generated $285 million in payments under this collaboration.

In March 2010, we entered into a collaboration with GSK using our antisense drug discovery platform to discover and develop new medicines against targets for serious and rare diseases, including infectious diseases. Our collaboration with GSK covers bepirovirsen_, an investigational antisense medicine we designed to reduce the production of viral proteins associated with HBV infection. In 2019, following positive Phase 2 results, GSK licensed our HBV program. GSK is responsible for all global development, regulatory and commercialization activities and costs for the HBV program.

Over the term of the collaboration, we are eligible to receive nearly $260 million, which is comprised of a $25 million license fee, up to $42.5 million in development milestone payments, up to $120 million in regulatory milestone payments and up to $70 million in sales milestone payments if GSK successfully develops bepirovirsen. In addition, we are eligible to receive tiered royalties up to the low-teens on net sales of bepirovirsen. From inception through December 31, 2022, we have generated more than $50 million in payments under the HBV program collaboration. Subsequent to December 31, 2022, we earned a $15 million milestone payment when GSK initiated a Phase 3 study of bepirovirsen in patients with chronic HBV in January 2023.

In January 2017, we initiated a collaboration with Novartis to develop and commercialize pelacarsen. Novartis is responsible for conducting and funding development and regulatory activities for pelacarsen, including a global Phase 3 cardiovascular outcomes study, which Novartis initiated in December 2019. In connection with Novartis’ license of pelacarsen, we and Novartis established a more definitive framework under which the companies would negotiate the co-commercialization of pelacarsen in selected markets. Included in this framework is an option by which Novartis could solely commercialize pelacarsen in exchange for Novartis paying us increased sales milestone payments based on sales of pelacarsen.

Over the term of the collaboration, we are eligible to receive up to $900 million, which is comprised of a $75 million upfront payment, a $150 million license fee, a $25 million development milestone payment, up to $290 million in regulatory milestone payments and up to $360 million in sales milestone payments. We are also eligible to receive tiered royalties in the mid-teens to low 20 percent range on net sales of pelacarsen. From inception through December 31, 2022, we have generated nearly $275 million in payments under this collaboration.

In conjunction with this collaboration, we entered into a SPA with Novartis. As part of the SPA, Novartis purchased 1.6 million shares of our common stock for $100 million in the first quarter of 2017.

Roche

Huntington’s Disease

IONIS-FB-L_Rx for Complement-Mediated Diseases

In October 2018, we entered into a collaboration agreement with Roche to develop IONIS-FB-L_Rx for the treatment of complement-mediated diseases. We are currently conducting Phase 2 studies in two disease indications for IONIS-FB-L_Rx, one for the treatment of patients with GA, the advanced stage of dry AMD, and a second for the treatment of patients with IgA nephropathy. After receiving positive data from the Phase 2 clinical study of IONIS-FB-L_Rx in patients with IgAN, Roche licensed IONIS-FB-L_Rx in July 2022. As a result, Roche is responsible for global development, regulatory and commercialization activities, and costs for IONIS-FB-L_Rx, except for the open label Phase 2 study in patients with IgAN and the Phase 2 study in patients with GA, both of which we are conducting and funding.

Over the term of the collaboration, we are eligible to receive more than $810 million, which is comprised of a $75 million upfront payment, a $35 million license fee, up to $145 million in development milestone payments, up to $279 million in regulatory milestone payments and up to $280 million in sales milestone payments. In addition, we are also eligible to receive tiered royalties from the high teens to 20 percent on net sales. From inception through December 31, 2022, we have generated more than $130 million under this collaboration, including $55 million in payments we earned in 2022 for advancing IONIS-FB-L_Rx.

Commercialization Partnerships

Swedish Orphan Biovitrum AB (Sobi)

We began commercializing TEGSEDI and WAYLIVRA in Europe in January 2021 and TEGSEDI in North America in April 2021 through distribution agreements with Sobi. Under our agreements, we are responsible for supplying finished goods inventory to Sobi and Sobi is responsible for selling each medicine to the end customer. In exchange, we earn a distribution fee on net sales from Sobi for each medicine.

PTC Therapeutics

In August 2018, we entered into an exclusive license agreement with PTC Therapeutics to commercialize TEGSEDI and WAYLIVRA in Latin America and certain Caribbean countries. Under the license agreement, we are eligible to receive royalties from PTC in the mid-20 percent range on net sales for each medicine. In December 2021, we started receiving royalties from PTC for TEGSEDI sales. We expect to receive royalties from PTC for WAYLIVRA sales starting in 2023.

Technology Enhancement Collaborations

Bicycle Therapeutics License Agreement

In December 2020, we entered into a collaboration agreement with Bicycle Therapeutics, or Bicycle, and obtained an option to license its peptide technology to potentially increase the delivery capabilities of our LICA medicines. In July 2021, we paid $42 million when we exercised our option to license Bicycle’s technology, which included an equity investment in Bicycle. As part of our stock purchase, we entered into a lockup agreement with Bicycle that restricted our ability to trade our Bicycle shares for one year. As a result, we recorded a $7 million equity investment for the shares we received in Bicycle in 2021. We recognized the remaining $35 million as R&D expense in 2021. From inception through December 31, 2022, we have paid Bicycle $47 million under this collaboration agreement.

Metagenomi

In November 2022, we entered into a collaboration and license agreement with Metagenomi to research, develop and commercialize investigational medicines for up to four initial genetic targets, and, upon the achievement of certain development milestones, four additional genetic targets using gene editing technologies. As a result, we paid $80 million to license Metagenomi’s technologies. We will also pay Metagenomi certain fees for the selection of genetic targets, and contingent on the achievement of certain development, regulatory and sales events, milestone payments and royalties. In addition, we will reimburse Metagenomi for certain of its costs in conducting its research and drug discovery activities under the collaboration.

Manufacturing

We manufacture most of the active pharmaceutical ingredient, or API, we use for our research and development activities ourselves. We have also manufactured API and commercial supply for our approved medicines. We have dedicated significant resources to develop ways to improve manufacturing efficiency and capacity. Since we can use variants of the same nucleotide building blocks and the same type of equipment to produce our oligonucleotide medicines, we found that the same techniques we used to efficiently manufacture one oligonucleotide medicine could help improve the manufacturing processes for our other medicines. By developing several proprietary chemical processes to scale up our manufacturing capabilities, we have greatly reduced the cost of producing oligonucleotide medicines. For example, we have significantly reduced the cost of raw materials through improved yield efficiency, while at the same time increasing our capacity to make our medicines. Through both our internal research and development programs and collaborations with outside vendors, we may achieve even greater efficiency and further cost reductions.

Our manufacturing facility is located in a 26,800 square foot building in Carlsbad, California. We purchased this building in 2017. In addition, we have a 25,800 square foot building that houses support functions for our manufacturing activities. We lease this facility under a lease that has a term ending in August 2026 with an option to extend the lease for an additional five-year period. Our manufacturing facility is subject to periodic inspections by the FDA and foreign equivalents to ensure that it is operating in compliance with current Good Manufacturing Practices, or cGMP, requirements. We have begun work on a new manufacturing facility in Oceanside, California that will expand our manufacturing capacity to support our advancing pipeline. Refer to Part I, Item 2, Properties, for further discussion of this lease facility.

As part of our collaborations, we may agree to manufacture clinical trial material and/or commercial drug supply for our partners. For example, in the past we have manufactured clinical trial material for AstraZeneca, Biogen, GSK and Novartis and commercial drug supply for Biogen.

We believe we have sufficient manufacturing capacity at our own facility or at contract manufacturing organizations, or CMOs, to meet our current internal research, development and potential commercial needs, as well as our obligations under existing agreements with our partners for research, development and commercial material. We manufacture process performance qualification batches and pre-approval inspection batches of our Phase 3 medicines that may be used for regulatory submissions and, pending regulatory approval, commercial sale. We believe our current network of CMO partners are capable of providing sufficient quantities to meet anticipated commercial demands. Additionally, we continue to evaluate relationships with additional suppliers to increase overall capacity and diversify our supply chain. While we believe that there are alternate sources of supply that can satisfy our commercial requirements, it is possible that identifying and establishing relationships with such sources, if necessary, could result in significant delay or material additional costs. We also could experience a disruption in supply from our current CMO partners.

CMOs are subject to the FDA’s cGMP requirements and other rules and regulations prescribed by foreign regulatory authorities. We depend on our CMO partners for continued compliance with cGMP requirements and applicable foreign standards.

Specifically, we have the following in place for our approved medicines, SPINRAZA, TEGSEDI and WAYLIVRA and our medicines in Phase 3 development.

SPINRAZA

Biogen is responsible for SPINRAZA drug supply.

TEGSEDI and WAYLIVRA

For TEGSEDI’s commercial drug supply, we are using CMOs to produce custom raw materials, API and finished goods. For WAYLIVRA’s commercial drug supply, we have manufactured custom raw materials and API. We are using CMOs to produce the finished goods for WAYLIVRA. Our CMO partners have extensive technical expertise and cGMP experience. We believe we and our current network of CMO partners are capable of manufacturing sufficient quantities to meet anticipated commercial demands.

Eplontersen

Our CMO partner supplied the API and the finished drug product for eplontersen’s Phase 3 program. Pursuant to our collaboration with AstraZeneca, we will manufacture and supply eplontersen through a CMO for the ongoing clinical trials, process performance qualification batches and pre-approval inspection batches. AstraZeneca is responsible for commercial drug supply.

Olezarsen, Donidalorsen, ION363

We and/or the CMOs have supplied the API and the finished drug product for olezarsen, donidalorsen and ION363 that we believe will be sufficient through the completion of the Phase 3 programs for each medicine, including process performance qualification batches and pre-approval inspection batches. We plan to leverage our relationships with CMOs to procure long-term raw material and drug supply at competitive prices in the future.

Tofersen

Biogen is responsible for tofersen drug supply, including launch supplies.

Pelacarsen

We supplied the API and the finished drug product for pelacarsen’s Phase 3 program. Pursuant to our collaboration with Novartis, Novartis is responsible for any further pelacarsen drug supply.

Patents and Proprietary Rights

Our success depends, in part, on our ability to obtain patent protection for our products in the U.S. and other countries. We own or have exclusively licensed a substantial patent estate with numerous issued patents worldwide protecting our products and, more generally, our platform for development and commercialization of RNA-targeting therapeutics. We focus our resources on patents and new patent applications that drive value for our company.

We own or control patents that provide exclusivity for products in our pipeline and patents that provide exclusivity for our core technology in the field of oligonucleotides and RNA-targeting therapeutics more generally. Our core technology patents include claims to chemically modified oligonucleotides as well as medicine designs utilizing these chemical modifications. These core claims are independent of specific therapeutic target, nucleic acid sequence, or clinical indication. We also own a large number of patents claiming oligonucleotide compounds having nucleic acid sequences complementary to therapeutic target nucleic acids, independent of the particular chemical modifications incorporated into the oligonucleotide compound. Importantly, we seek and obtain issued patent claims to specifically protect each of our medicines. For example, we file and seek to obtain claims covering each drug’s nucleic acid sequence and precise drug design. In sum, we maintain our competitive advantage in the field of oligonucleotide therapeutics technology by protecting our core platform technology and by creating multiple layers of patent protection for each of our specific medicines in development.

The most broadly applicable of our patents are those that claim modified nucleosides and oligonucleotides comprising the modified nucleosides that we incorporate into our medicines to increase their therapeutic efficacy. Nucleosides and chemically modified nucleosides are the basic building blocks of our medicines. Therefore, claims that cover any oligonucleotide incorporating one of our proprietary modified nucleosides can apply to a wide array of therapeutic mechanisms of action as well as several therapeutic targets. The following are some of our patents in this category in key jurisdictions (U.S., Europe and Japan):

We also have patents that claim oligonucleotides comprising drug design motifs, or patterns of nucleoside modifications at specified positions in an oligonucleotide. Patent claims covering drug design motifs are independent of nucleic acid sequence, so they cover oligonucleotides having the recited motif, regardless of cellular target or clinical indication. The claimed motifs generally confer properties that optimize oligonucleotides for a particular mechanism of action, such as ribonuclease H (RNase H), RNAi, or splicing. We have designed oligonucleotides incorporating motifs, which we refer to as chimeric compounds or gapmers, to exploit the RNase H mechanism to achieve target RNA reduction. We have patent claims to such antisense drug design motifs incorporating bicyclic nucleosides, which include both locked nucleic acids, or “LNA” and cEt. The following patents are some examples of our issued patents in this category in key jurisdictions (U.S., Europe and Japan):

We also have patent claims to new chemistries created to enhance targeting of antisense medicines to specific tissues and cells to improve a drug’s properties. We designed our GalNAc LICA medicines to provide an increase in potency for targets in the liver. We have successfully obtained issued patent claims covering our LICA technology conjugated to any modified oligonucleotide, including gapmers, double-stranded siRNA compounds, and fully modified oligonucleotides. The following patents are some examples of our issued patents in this category:

In addition to our broad core patents, we also own hundreds of patents, worldwide, with claims to antisense compounds having particular sequences and compounds directed to particular therapeutically important targets or methods of achieving cellular or clinical endpoints using these antisense compounds. These “Target” patents also include claims reciting the specific nucleic acid sequences utilized by our products, independent of chemical modifications and motifs. In addition, our product-specific patents typically include claims combining specific nucleic acid sequences with nucleoside modifications and motifs. In this way, we seek patent claims narrowly tailored to protect our products specifically, in addition to the broader core antisense patents described above.

SPINRAZA and Survival Motor Neuron

We believe SPINRAZA is protected from generic competition in the U.S. until at least 2035 and in Europe until at least 2030 by a suite of patents. These issued patents include: (i) patents licensed from the University of Massachusetts drawn to antisense compounds having the sequence of SPINRAZA, independent of chemical modification and uses of such compounds for treating SMA, and (ii) joint patents with Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory claiming fully modified 2’MOE compositions targeting SMN2, including the precise composition of matter of SPINRAZA and methods of using such compositions. We have filed for patent term extension, to potentially extend the term beyond 2030. With Biogen’s license of SPINRAZA, we assigned our interest in these patents to Biogen. The table below lists some key issued patents protecting SPINRAZA in the U.S. and Europe:

TEGSEDI and Transthyretin

We believe TEGSEDI is protected from generic competition in the U.S. and Europe until at least 2031. Additional patent applications designed to protect TEGSEDI in other foreign jurisdictions are being pursued. The table below lists some key issued patents protecting TEGSEDI in the U.S. and Europe:

WAYLIVRA and Apolipoprotein C-III

We have obtained patent claims in the U.S. and Europe drawn to the use of antisense compounds complementary to a broad active region of human ApoC-III, including the site targeted by WAYLIVRA. We have also obtained issued patents claiming the specific sequence and chemical composition of WAYLIVRA in the U.S. and Europe. We believe the issued claims protect WAYLIVRA from generic competition in the U.S. and Europe until at least 2023 and 2024, respectively. The table below lists some key issued patents protecting WAYLIVRA in the U.S. and Europe:

Eplontersen and Transthyretin

We believe eplontersen is protected from generic competition in the U.S. and Europe until at least 2034. Additional patent applications to protect eplontersen in other foreign jurisdictions are being pursued. The table below lists some key issued patents protecting eplontersen in the U.S. and Europe:

Olezarsen and ApoC-III

We believe olezarsen is protected from generic competition in the U.S. and Europe until at least 2034. Additional patent applications to protect olezarsen in other foreign jurisdictions are being pursued. The table below lists some key issued patents protecting olezarsen in the U.S. and Europe.

Donidalorsen and PKK

We believe donidalorsen is protected from generic competition in the U.S. and Europe until at least 2035. Additional patent applications to protect donidalorsen in other foreign jurisdictions are being pursued. The table below lists some key issued patents protecting donidalorsen in the U.S. and Europe.

ION363 and FUS

Patent applications designed to protect ION363 from generic competition are being pursued in the U.S. and Europe. Patents issued from these applications would have terms until at least 2040. The table below lists some key pending patent applications designed to protect ION363 in the U.S. and Europe:

Tofersen and SOD-1

We believe tofersen is protected from generic competition in the U.S. and Europe until at least 2035. Additional patent applications designed to protect tofersen in other foreign jurisdictions are being pursued. With Biogen’s license of tofersen, we assigned our interest in these patents to Biogen. The table below lists some key issued patents protecting tofersen in the U.S. and Europe:

Pelacarsen and Apo(a)

We believe pelacarsen is protected from generic competition in the U.S. and Europe until at least 2034. Additional patent protection designed to protect pelacarsen in other foreign jurisdictions are being pursued. The table below lists some key issued patents protecting pelacarsen in the U.S. and Europe:

We seek patent protection in significant markets and/or countries for each medicine in development. We also seek to maximize patent term. In some cases, the patent term can be extended to recapture a portion of the term lost during FDA regulatory review. The patent exclusivity period for a medicine will prevent generic medicines from entering the market. Patent exclusivity depends on a number of factors including initial patent term and available patent term extensions based upon delays caused by the regulatory approval process.

We also own patents claiming methods of manufacturing and purifying oligonucleotides. These patents claim methods for improving oligonucleotide drug manufacturing, including processes for large-scale oligonucleotide synthesis and purification. These methods allow us to manufacture oligonucleotides at lower cost by, for example, eliminating expensive manufacturing steps.

We also rely on trade secrets, proprietary know-how and continuing technological innovation to develop and maintain a competitive position in antisense therapeutics.

Government Regulation

Regulation by government authorities in the U.S. and other countries is a significant component in the development, manufacture and commercialization of pharmaceutical products and services. In addition to regulations enforced by the FDA and relevant foreign regulatory authorities, we are also subject to regulation under the Occupational Safety and Health Act, the Environmental Protection Act, the Toxic Substances Control Act, the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act and other present and potential future federal, state and local regulations.

Extensive regulation by the U.S. and foreign governmental authorities governs the development, manufacture and sale of our medicines. In particular, our medicines are subject to a number of approval requirements by the FDA in the U.S. under the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act, or FDCA, and other laws and by comparable agencies in those foreign countries in which we conduct business. The FDCA and other various federal, state and foreign statutes govern or influence the research, testing, manufacture, safety, labeling, storage, recordkeeping, approval, promotion, marketing, distribution, post-approval monitoring and reporting, sampling, quality, and import and export of our medicines. State, local, and other authorities also regulate pharmaceutical manufacturing facilities and procedures.

Our manufacturing facility and our CMOs are subject to periodic inspection by the FDA and other foreign equivalents to ensure that they are operating in compliance with cGMP requirements. In addition, marketing authorization for each new medicine may require a rigorous manufacturing pre-approval inspection by regulatory authorities. Post approval, there are strict regulations regarding changes to the manufacturing process, and, depending on the significance of the change, changes may require prior FDA approval. FDA regulations also require investigation and correction of any deviations from cGMP and impose reporting and documentation requirements upon us and any third-party manufacturers that we may decide to use.

The FDA must approve any new medicine before a manufacturer can market it in the U.S. In order to obtain approval, we and our partners must complete clinical studies and prepare and submit an NDA to the FDA. If the FDA approves a medicine, it will issue an approval letter authorizing commercial marketing of the medicine and may require a risk evaluation and mitigation strategy, or REMS, to help ensure the benefits of the medicine outweigh the potential risks. For example, TEGSEDI has a REMS program. The requirements for REMS can materially affect the potential market and profitability of our medicines. In foreign jurisdictions, the drug approval process is similarly demanding.

For any approved medicine, domestic and foreign sales of the medicine depend, in part, on the availability and amount of coverage and adequate reimbursement by third-party payers, including governments and private health plans. The process for determining whether a payer will provide coverage for a product may be separate from the process for setting the reimbursement rate that the payer will pay for the product, or procedures which utilize such product. Private health plans may seek to manage cost and use of our medicines by implementing coverage and reimbursement limitations. For example, third-party payers may limit coverage to specific products on an approved list, or formulary, which might not include all U.S. FDA-approved products for a particular indication. In certain jurisdictions, governments may also regulate or influence coverage, reimbursement and/or pricing of our medicines to control cost or affect use. Within the EU a variety of payers pay for medicines, with governments being the primary source of payment. Negotiating pricing with governmental authorities can delay commercialization. Such pricing and reimbursement factors could impact our ability and that of our commercial partners to successfully commercialize approved medicines. Further, it is possible that additional governmental action is taken in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Both the federal and state governments in the U.S. and foreign governments continue to propose and pass new legislation and regulations designed to contain or reduce the cost of healthcare. For example, in July 2021, the Biden administration released an executive order, “Promoting Competition in the American Economy,” with multiple provisions aimed at prescription drugs. In response to Biden’s executive order, on September 9, 2021, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, or HHS, released a Comprehensive Plan for Addressing High Drug Prices that outlines principles for drug pricing reform and sets out a variety of potential legislative policies that Congress could pursue as well as potential administrative actions HHS can take to advance these principles. No legislation or administrative actions have been finalized to implement these principles. Congress is also considering additional health reform measures that may result in decreased reimbursement, which may further exacerbate industry-wide pressure to reduce the prices charged for medical products.

There has also been heightened governmental scrutiny over the manner in which manufacturers set prices for their marketed products, which has resulted in efforts to bring more transparency to drug pricing, review the relationship between pricing and manufacturer patient programs, and reform government program reimbursement methodologies for medicines. For example, in August 2022, President Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, or the IRA, into law, which includes key actions aimed at reducing the costs of prescription drugs and allows HHS to negotiate the price of certain single-source drugs covered under Medicare and establish a price cap on such drugs, known as the Maximum Fair Price. It is currently unclear how the IRA will be effectuated but it is likely to have a significant impact on the pharmaceutical industry. There are important exemptions to the Maximum Fair Price, including for medications that are orphan drug designated and approved for only one rare disease, and drugs with low Medicare spend as defined by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.  In an effort to curb Medicare patients’ out-of-pocket costs for prescription drugs, the Part D redesign legislation requires manufacturers to contribute to the catastrophic coverage phase for Part D drugs as discounts through a manufacturer discount program. Furthermore, any reduction in reimbursement from Medicare and other government programs may result in a similar reduction in payments from private payers.  Our future product sales may be subject to additional discounts from list price in the form of rebates and discounts provided to 340B covered entities. Changes to the 340B program or to Medicare or Medicaid programs at the federal or state level, including outcomes of ongoing litigation in our industry, may impact our product prices and rebate liability.

In addition, the distribution of prescription pharmaceutical products is subject to the Drug Supply Chain Security Act, or DSCA, which regulates the distribution and tracing of prescription drugs and prescription drug samples at the federal level and sets minimum standards for the regulation of drug distributors by the states. The DSCA imposes requirements to ensure accountability in distribution and to identify and remove counterfeit and other illegitimate products from the market.

Other healthcare laws that may affect our ability to operate include, for example, the following:

Sales and Marketing

Numerous regulatory authorities in addition to the FDA, including, in the U.S., the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, other divisions of the HHS, the U.S. Department of Justice, and similar foreign, state and local government authorities, regulate sales, promotion and other activities following drug approval. As described above, the FDA regulates all advertising and promotion activities for drugs under its jurisdiction both prior to and after approval. Only those claims relating to safety and efficacy that the FDA has approved may be used in labeling. Physicians may prescribe legally available drugs for uses that are not described in the drug’s labeling and that differ from those we tested and the FDA approved. Such off-label uses are common across medical specialties and often reflect a physician’s belief that the off-label use is the best treatment for the patients. The FDA does not regulate the behavior of physicians in their choice of treatments, but FDA regulations do impose stringent restrictions on manufacturers’ communications regarding off-label uses. If we do not comply with applicable FDA requirements, we may face adverse publicity, enforcement action by the FDA, corrective advertising, consent decrees and the full range of civil and criminal penalties available to the FDA. Promotion of off-label uses of drugs can also implicate the false claims laws described below.

In the U.S. sales, marketing and scientific/educational programs must also comply with various federal and state laws pertaining to healthcare “fraud and abuse,” including anti-kickback laws and false claims laws. Anti-kickback laws make it illegal for a prescription drug manufacturer to solicit, offer, receive, or pay any remuneration in exchange for, or to induce, the referral of business, including the purchase or prescription of a particular drug. Due to the breadth of the statutory provisions, limited statutory exceptions and regulatory safe harbors, and the absence of guidance in the form of regulations and very few court decisions addressing industry practices, it is possible that our practices might be challenged under anti-kickback or similar laws. Moreover, recent healthcare reform legislation has strengthened these laws. For example, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, as amended by the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010, or Affordable Care Act, among other things, amends the intent requirement of the federal anti-kickback and criminal healthcare fraud statutes to clarify that a person or entity does not need to have actual knowledge of this statute or specific intent to violate it. In addition, the Affordable Care Act clarifies that the government may assert that a claim that includes items or services resulting from a violation of the federal anti-kickback statute constitutes a false or fraudulent claim for purposes of the false claims statutes. False claims laws prohibit anyone from knowingly and willingly presenting, or causing to be presented for payment, to third-party payers (including Medicare and Medicaid) claims for reimbursed drugs or services that are false or fraudulent, claims for items or services not provided as claimed, or claims for medically unnecessary items or services. Our activities relating to the sale and marketing of our drugs may be subject to scrutiny under these laws. Violations of fraud and abuse laws may be punishable by criminal and civil sanctions, including fines and civil monetary penalties, the possibility of exclusion from federal healthcare programs (including Medicare and Medicaid) and corporate integrity agreements, which impose, among other things, rigorous operational and monitoring requirements on companies. Similar sanctions and penalties also can be imposed upon executive officers and employees, including criminal sanctions against executive officers under the so-called “responsible corporate officer” doctrine, even in situations where the executive officer did not intend to violate the law and was unaware of any wrongdoing.

Given the significant penalties and fines that can be imposed on companies and individuals if convicted, allegations of such violations often result in settlements even if the company or individual being investigated admits no wrongdoing. Settlements often include significant civil sanctions, including fines and civil monetary penalties, and corporate integrity agreements. If the government were to allege or convict us or our executive officers of violating these laws, our business could be harmed. In addition, private individuals can bring similar actions. Our activities could be subject to challenge for the reasons discussed above and due to the broad scope of these laws and the increasing attention being given to them by law enforcement authorities. Other healthcare laws that may affect our ability to operate include HIPAA, which prohibits, among other things, executing or attempting to execute a scheme to defraud any healthcare benefit program or making false statements relating to healthcare matters. HIPAA, as amended by the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act, also governs the conduct of certain electronic healthcare transactions and protects the security and privacy of protected health information; analogous state laws governing the privacy and security of health information, some of which are more stringent than HIPAA and many of which differ from each other in significant ways and may not have the same effect, and the Physician Payments Sunshine Act, which requires manufacturers of drugs, devices, biologics, and medical supplies to report annually to the HHS information related to payments and other transfers of value to physicians, other healthcare providers and teaching hospitals, and ownership and investment interests held by physicians and their immediate family members. Further, there are an increasing number of state laws that require manufacturers to make reports to states on pricing and marketing information. Many of these laws contain ambiguities as to what is required to comply with the laws. Given the lack of clarity in laws and their implementation, our reporting actions could be subject to the penalty provisions of the pertinent state authorities.

Similar rigid restrictions are imposed on the promotion and marketing of drugs in the E.U. and other countries. Even in those countries where we may not be directly responsible for the promotion and marketing of our medicines, if our potential international distribution partners engage in inappropriate activity, it can have adverse implications for us.

The U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, or FCPA, prohibits certain individuals and entities, including us, from promising, paying, offering to pay, or authorizing the payment of anything of value to any foreign government official, directly or indirectly, to obtain or retain business or an improper advantage. If we violate the FCPA, it could result in large civil and criminal penalties as well as an adverse effect on our reputation, operations, and financial condition. We could also face collateral consequences such as debarment and the loss of export privileges.

Competition

Our Business in General

Some of our medicines may compete with existing therapies for market share and some of our medicines in development may compete for patients in clinical trials. In addition, there are a number of companies pursuing the development of genetic medicines and the development of pharmaceuticals utilizing these technologies. These companies include biopharmaceutical companies and large pharmaceutical companies acting either independently or together. Our medicines are differentiated from traditional small molecule medicines by their chemistry, how they move in the body, how they act in the body, delivery technology, and formulations.

Our approved medicines and our medicines under development address numerous markets. The diseases our medicines target for which we have or may receive marketing authorization will determine our competition. For some of our medicines, an important factor may be the timing of market introduction of competitive products. Accordingly, the relative speed with which we can develop medicines, complete the clinical trials and marketing authorization processes and supply commercial quantities of the medicines to the market are important competitive factors. We expect to compete with products approved for sale based on a variety of factors, including, among other things, product efficacy, safety, mechanism of action, dosing administration, marketing and sales strategy and tactics, availability, price, and reimbursement.

Below we have included what we believe to be medicines that compete or may compete directly with our marketed medicines and the medicines we currently have in Phase 3 trials. We included competitors, potential competitors that are past Phase 1 development or potential competitors that plan to start a pivotal study this year. We do not believe that any medicines meet these criteria to compete with ION363.

SPINRAZA

We consider the following medicines as competitors to SPINRAZA for the indication of SMA:

TEGSEDI and Eplontersen

We consider the following medicines as competitors and potential future competitors to TEGSEDI and eplontersen for the indication of hATTR amyloidosis and/or ATTR cardiomyopathy:

WAYLIVRA and Olezarsen

We believe that the following medicines could compete with WAYLIVRA and olezarsen in FCS and SHTG:

Donidalorsen

We believe that the following medicines could compete with donidalorsen as a prophylactic treatment for patients with HAE:

Pelacarsen

We believe that the following medicines could compete with pelacarsen in CVD in patients with elevated LP(a):

Tofersen

We believe that the following medicine could compete with tofersen in SOD1-ALS:

ION363

We believe there is no medicine in clinical development for FUS-ALS.

Environmental, Social and Governance Initiatives

We recognize the importance of Environmental, Social and Governance, or ESG, initiatives as it relates to our business strategy and risk assessment. During 2021 and 2022, we took steps to formalize our corporate responsibility program and capture and report on the impact of our ESG efforts. In December 2022, we issued our latest corporate responsibility report. As part of our ongoing work, we identified the following corporate responsibility initiatives that we believe are most important to our business:

We continue to build our corporate responsibility program and ESG framework to support our ongoing commitment to operate our business responsibly and sustainably. In 2022, we established a formal Corporate Responsibility Steering Committee, or Committee, to ensure we develop the right programs and policies to continue to integrate ESG across our organization. Our corporate responsibility initiatives, policies and programs are reviewed on a regular basis by the Committee and its recommendations are key to driving efforts to advance our corporate responsibility strategy to support our growth.

The Committee reports to our Chief Executive Officer and consists of senior leaders in key functions across the company, including legal, finance, human resources and corporate affairs. The Committee is now part of our governance framework, which defines responsibilities and ensures we have the right systems and controls to oversee ethical and sustainable operations across our business. The Committee periodically updates our executive leadership and the appropriate committees of our Board of Directors on our ongoing ESG efforts.

We look to our stakeholders and third-party frameworks such as the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board Health Care – Biotechnology and Pharmaceuticals Standard and the Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures to inform our approach and our disclosures.

We encourage you to view our 2022 Corporate Responsibility Report published on our website for more detailed information regarding our ESG initiatives. Nothing in the report or on our website shall be deemed incorporated by reference into this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Employees & Human Capital

As of February 16, 2023, we employed 796 people, the vast majority of whom reside in the U.S. A significant number of our management and professional employees have had prior experience with pharmaceutical, biotechnology or medical product companies. Our average employee turnover rate in 2022 was 13 percent, while the turnover for life sciences and medical device companies over this period was 23 percent according to a survey published by Radford – an Aon Hewitt Company. Given the uniqueness and complexity of our technology, it is critical to retain the knowledge and experience of outstanding long service employees. The experience and seniority of our employees is as critical to our future success as it has been to the success we have enjoyed to date.

Collective bargaining agreements do not cover any of our employees, and management considers relations with our employees to be good. We believe that the future will be defined by outstanding people and we are committed to recruiting, developing, motivating, and rewarding them.

We encourage you to visit our website for more detailed information regarding our Human Capital programs and initiatives. Nothing on our website shall be deemed incorporated by reference into this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Benefits

We reward our employees individually on the basis of their responsibilities and accomplishments. We offer competitive compensation and benefits to our employees. In addition to salary and bonus programs, we also offer:

We recognize achievements with salary increases, equity awards, promotions, and bonus opportunities.

Pay Equity

We are committed to paying our employees fairly, regardless of their gender, race, or other personal characteristics. To ensure we are achieving our commitment, we benchmark and evaluate pay based on market data and consider factors such as an employee’s role and experience, an employee’s performance and internal equity. We also regularly review our compensation practices, in terms of our overall workforce and individual employees, to ensure our pay is fair and equitable.

In 2021, we engaged an independent third-party expert to perform a pay equity analysis that reviewed pay equity by gender, race and age. The results of this analysis did not reveal any pay gaps based on gender, race or age. We plan to continue to engage a third-party expert to review pay equity and report on this analysis as required by future reporting requirements. In 2022, we performed an internal analysis, leveraging our biostatistics team. The analysis showed similar results to the analysis performed in 2021. In addition, we are implementing a comprehensive plan to comply with the new California pay transparency law that went into effect on January 1, 2023.

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

Training and Development

We designed our training and development programs to help employees gain important Ionis knowledge and develop the skills to be successful at Ionis. All of our trainings from new hire through senior leader, are focused on the Ionis culture and core principles and learning what we mean when we say: “Working the Ionis Way.”

We empower our employees to build rewarding careers at Ionis, driven by a culture of having a bias to act that encourages personal and professional employee growth. Ionis offers robust training opportunities with course offerings and events available to every employee regardless of level or function. In addition, employees also have access to Ionis’ learning and development library that houses important information on career growth and planning. By supporting our employees, we know that each professional development milestone enables our continued success.

Information about our Executive Officers

The following sets forth certain information regarding our executive officers as of February 16, 2023:

BRETT P. MONIA, Ph.D.

Chief Executive Officer

Dr. Monia was promoted to Chief Executive Officer in January 2020. From January 2018 to December 2019, Dr. Monia served as Chief Operating Officer. From January 2012 to January 2018, Dr. Monia served as Senior Vice President. From February 2009 to January 2012, Dr. Monia served as our Vice President, Drug Discovery and Corporate Development and from October 2000 to February 2009, he served as our Vice President, Preclinical Drug Discovery. From October 1989 to October 2000 he held various positions within our Molecular Pharmacology department.

JOSEPH T. BAROLDI

Executive Vice President, Chief Business Officer

Mr. Baroldi has served as Ionis’ Executive Vice President, Chief Business Officer since January 2022. Prior to Ionis, Mr. Baroldi was the chief operating officer at Avidity Biosciences, a biotechnology company focused on oligonucleotide-based therapies. Prior to Avidity, Mr. Baroldi was Vice President, Business Development at Ionis, where he held several roles of increasing responsibility from 2009 to 2020. Mr. Baroldi has also held positions in strategic planning and scientific research for Gen-Probe Inc.

C. FRANK BENNETT, Ph.D.

Executive Vice President, Chief Scientific Officer

Dr. Bennett has served as Ionis’ Executive Vice President, Chief Scientific Officer since April 2020. In January 2020, Dr. Bennett was promoted to Chief Scientific Officer. From January 2006 to December 2019, Dr. Bennett served as Senior Vice President, Antisense Research. From June 1995 to January 2006, Dr. Bennett served as our Vice President, Research. From March 1993 to June 1995, he was Director, Molecular Pharmacology, and from May 1992 to March 1993, he was an Associate Director in our Molecular and Cellular Biology department. Prior to joining Ionis in 1989, Dr. Bennett was employed by SmithKline and French Laboratories in various research positions. He is a member of the Board of Directors for Flamingo Therapeutics and an external member of the Hereditary Disease Foundation.

ONAIZA CADORET-MANIER

Executive Vice President, Chief Global Product Strategy and Operations Officer

Ms. Cadoret-Manier has served as Ionis’ Executive Vice President, Chief Product Strategy and Operations Officer since February 2022. From April 2020 to February 2022, Ms. Cadoret-Manier served as our Executive Vice President, Chief Corporate Development and Commercial Officer. Ms. Cadoret-Manier joined Ionis as Chief Corporate Development and Commercial Officer in January 2020. Prior to joining Ionis, from 2018 to 2019 Ms. Cadoret-Manier was the chief commercial officer for Grail Biosciences, an early detection genomics company. Prior to Grail, Ms. Cadoret-Manier was vice president of the Respiratory Franchise at Genentech where she worked from 2011 to 2018. Ms. Cadoret-Manier also has held multiple senior management positions overseeing corporate strategy, alliances, and marketing and sales for numerous disease areas for Genentech, Pfizer and Amylin Pharmaceuticals.

RICHARD S. GEARY, Ph.D.

Executive Vice President, Chief Development Officer

Dr. Geary has served as Ionis’ Executive Vice President, Chief Development Officer since January 2021. From April 2020 to December 2020, Dr. Geary served as our Executive Vice President, Development and from August 2008 to March 2020, was our Senior Vice President, Development. From August 2003 to August 2008, Dr. Geary served as our Vice President, Preclinical Development. From November 1995 to August 2003, he held various positions within the Preclinical Development department. Prior to joining Ionis in 1995, Dr. Geary was Senior Research Scientist and Group Leader for the bioanalytical and preclinical pharmacokinetics group in the Applied Chemistry Department at Southwest Research Institute.

ELIZABETH L. HOUGEN

Executive Vice President, Finance and Chief Financial Officer

Ms. Hougen has served as Ionis’ Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer since April 2020. From January 2013 to March 2020, Ms. Hougen served as our Senior Vice President, Finance and Chief Financial Officer. From January 2007 to December 2012, Ms. Hougen served as our Vice President, Finance and Chief Accounting Officer and from May 2000 to January 2007, she served as our Vice President, Finance. Prior to joining Ionis in 2000, Ms. Hougen was Executive Director, Finance and Chief Financial Officer for Molecular Biosystems, Inc., a public biotechnology company.

PATRICK R. O’NEIL, Esq.

Chief Legal Officer, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary

Mr. O’Neil has served as Ionis’ Chief Legal Officer and General Counsel since September 2021. Mr. O’Neil also serves as our Corporate Secretary. From March 2020 to September 2021, Mr. O’Neil served as our Executive Vice President, Legal & General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer. From January 2013 to March 2020, Mr. O’Neil served as our Senior Vice President, Legal and General Counsel. From September 2010 to January 2013, Mr. O’Neil served as our Vice President, Legal and General Counsel and from January 2009 to September 2010, he served as our Vice President, Legal and Senior Transactions Counsel. From October 2001 to January 2009 he held various positions within our Legal department. Prior to joining Ionis, Mr. O’Neil was an associate at Cooley LLP.

EUGENE SCHNEIDER, M.D.

Executive Vice President, Chief Clinical Development Officer

Dr. Schneider was promoted to Executive Vice President and Chief Clinical Development Officer of Ionis in January 2021. From August 2018 to December 2020, Dr. Schneider served as our Senior Vice President, Head of Clinical Development. From April 2015 to July 2018, Dr. Schneider was our Vice President, Clinical Development, Severe and Rare Diseases. Dr. Schneider joined Ionis in December 2013 as Executive Director, Clinical Development. Dr. Schneider has two decades of experience in clinical development primarily in the rare diseases space. Prior to joining Ionis, Dr. Schneider was senior medical director at both Synageva BioPharma and Biovail Technologies Ltd.

ERIC E. SWAYZE, Ph.D.

Executive Vice President, Research

Item 1A. RISK FACTORS

Investing in our securities involves a high degree of risk. You should carefully consider the following information about the risks described below, together with the other information contained in this report and in our other public filings in evaluating our business. If any of the following risks actually occur, our business could be materially harmed, and our financial condition and results of operations could be materially and adversely affected. As a result, the trading price of our securities could decline, and you might lose all or part of your investment.

Risks Related to the Commercialization of our Medicines

We have limited experience as a company in commercializing medicines and we will have to invest significant resources to develop our capabilities. If we are unable to establish effective marketing, sales, market access, distribution, and related functions, or enter into agreements with third parties to commercialize our medicines, we may not be able to generate revenue from our medicines.

If the market does not accept our medicines, including SPINRAZA, TEGSEDI, WAYLIVRA, eplontersen and tofersen, and our medicines in development, we are not likely to generate substantial revenues or become consistently profitable.

Even if our medicines are authorized for marketing, our success will depend upon the medical community, patients and third-party payers accepting our medicines as medically useful, cost-effective, safe and convenient. Even when the FDA or foreign regulatory authorities authorize our or our partners’ medicines for commercialization, doctors may not prescribe our medicines to treat patients. Furthermore, we and our partners may not successfully commercialize additional medicines.

Additionally, in many of the markets where we or our partners may sell our medicines in the future, if we or our partners cannot agree with the government or other third-party payers regarding the price we can charge for our medicines, we may not be able to sell our medicines in that market. Similarly, cost control initiatives by governments or third-party payers could decrease the price received for our medicines or increase patient coinsurance to a level that makes our medicines, including SPINRAZA, TEGSEDI, WAYLIVRA, eplontersen and tofersen, and our medicines in development, economically unviable. If the pricing of any of our medicines decreases for any reason, it will reduce our revenue for such medicine. For example, Biogen has disclosed that SPINRAZA revenue has decreased in part due to lower pricing in the U.S. and certain rest of world markets.

The degree of market acceptance for our medicines, including SPINRAZA, TEGSEDI, WAYLIVRA, eplontersen and tofersen, and our medicines in development, depends upon a number of factors, including the:

Based on the profile of our medicines, physicians, patients, patient advocates, payers or the medical community in general may not accept or use any of the medicines that we may develop.

For example, TEGSEDI requires periodic blood and urine monitoring, is available in the U.S. only through a REMS program, and the product label in the U.S. has a boxed warning for thrombocytopenia and glomerulonephritis. Our main competitors in the U.S. market for TEGSEDI are patisiran and vutrisiran, both marketed by Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Neither patisiran nor vutrisiran has a boxed warning nor does either require use of a REMS program. Additionally, the product label for WAYLIVRA in the European Union, or EU, requires regular blood monitoring. In each case, these label requirements have negatively affected our ability to attract and retain patients for these medicines. If we or our partner cannot effectively maintain patients on TEGSEDI or WAYLIVRA, including due to limitations or restrictions on the ability to conduct periodic blood and urine monitoring of our patients as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, we may not be able to generate substantial revenue from TEGSEDI or WAYLIVRA sales.

If government or other third-party payers fail to provide adequate coverage and payment rates for our medicines, including SPINRAZA, TEGSEDI, WAYLIVRA, eplontersen and tofersen, and our medicines in development, our revenue will be limited.

In both domestic and foreign markets, sales of our current and future products will depend in part upon the availability of coverage and reimbursement from third-party payers. The majority of patients in the U.S. who would fit within our target patient populations for our medicines have their healthcare supported by a combination of Medicare coverage, other government health programs such as Medicaid, managed care providers, private health insurers and other organizations. Coverage decisions may depend upon clinical and economic standards that disfavor new medicines when more established or lower cost therapeutic alternatives are already available or subsequently become available. Assuming coverage is approved, the resulting reimbursement payment rates might not be enough to make our medicines affordable. Even if favorable coverage status and adequate reimbursement rates are attained, less favorable coverage policies and reimbursement rates may be implemented in the future. Accordingly, SPINRAZA, TEGSEDI, WAYLIVRA, eplontersen and tofersen, and our medicines in development, will face competition from other therapies and medicines for limited financial resources. We or our partners may need to conduct post-marketing studies to demonstrate the cost-effectiveness of any future products to satisfy third-party payers. These studies might require us to commit a significant amount of management time and financial and other resources. Third-party payers may never consider our future products as cost-effective. Adequate third-party coverage and reimbursement might not be available to enable us to maintain price levels sufficient to realize an appropriate return on investment in product development.

Third-party payers, whether foreign or domestic, or governmental or commercial, are developing increasingly sophisticated methods of controlling healthcare costs. In addition, in the U.S., no uniform policy of coverage and reimbursement for medicines exists among third-party payers. Therefore, coverage and reimbursement for medicines can differ significantly from payer to payer. For example, the Affordable Care Act, or ACA, was passed in March 2010, and substantially changed the way healthcare is financed by both governmental and private insurers and continues to significantly impact the U.S. pharmaceutical industry. There have been judicial and Congressional challenges to certain aspects of the ACA, as well as efforts to repeal or replace certain aspects of the ACA. It is unclear how future litigation and healthcare reform measures will impact the ACA and our business.

Further, we believe that future coverage, reimbursement and pricing will likely be subject to increased restrictions both in the U.S. and in international markets. In the U.S., recent health reform measures have resulted in reductions in Medicare and other healthcare funding, and there have been several recent U.S. Congressional inquiries, legislation and executive orders designed to, among other things, reduce drug prices, increase competition, lower out-of-pocket drug costs for patients, and foster scientific innovation to promote better health care and improved health. In addition, the IRA, among other things, allows HHS to negotiate the price of certain single-source drugs covered under Medicare and imposes rebates under Medicare Part B and Medicare Part D. In an effort to curb Medicare patients’ out-of-pocket costs for prescription drugs, the Part D redesign legislation requires manufacturers to contribute to the catastrophic coverage phase for Part D drugs as discounts through a manufacturer discount program. Furthermore, any reduction in reimbursement from Medicare and other government programs may result in a similar reduction in payments from private payers. Our future product sales may be subject to additional discounts from list price in the form of rebates and discounts provided to 340B covered entities. Changes to the 340B program or to Medicare or Medicaid programs at the federal or state level, including outcomes of ongoing litigation in our industry, may impact our product prices and rebate liability. Further, the Biden administration released an executive order on October 14, 2022, directing HHS to submit a report on how the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation can be further leveraged to test new models for lowering drug costs for Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries. It is unclear whether or how this executive order or similar policy initiatives will be implemented in the future.

At the state level, legislatures have increasingly passed legislation and implemented regulations designed to control pharmaceutical and biological product pricing, including price or patient reimbursement constraints, discounts, restrictions on certain product access and marketing cost disclosure and transparency measures, and, in some cases, designed to encourage importation from other countries and bulk purchasing. Third-party coverage and reimbursement for medicines may not be available or adequate in either the U.S. or international markets, which would negatively affect the potential commercial success of our products, our revenue and our profits.

If we or our partners fail to compete effectively, our medicines, including SPINRAZA, TEGSEDI, WAYLIVRA, eplontersen and tofersen, and our medicines in development, will not generate significant revenues.

Our competitors engage in drug discovery throughout the world, are numerous, and include, among others, major pharmaceutical companies and specialized biopharmaceutical firms. In addition, other companies are engaged in developing RNA-targeted technology. Our competitors may succeed in developing medicines that are:

These competitive developments could make our medicines, including SPINRAZA, TEGSEDI, WAYLIVRA, eplontersen and tofersen, and our medicines in development, obsolete or non-competitive.

Certain of our partners are pursuing other technologies or developing other medicines either on their own or in collaboration with others, including our competitors, to treat some of the same diseases our own collaborative programs target. Competition may negatively impact a partner’s focus on and commitment to our medicines and, as a result, could delay or otherwise negatively affect the commercialization of our medicines, including SPINRAZA, TEGSEDI, WAYLIVRA, eplontersen and tofersen.

Many of our competitors have substantially greater financial, technical and human resources than we do. In addition, many of these competitors have significantly greater experience than we do in conducting preclinical testing and human clinical studies of new pharmaceutical products, in obtaining FDA and other regulatory authorizations of such products and in commercializing such products. Accordingly, our competitors may succeed in obtaining regulatory authorization for products earlier than we do or more successfully commercialize their products.

There are several pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies engaged in the development or commercialization in certain geographic markets of products against targets that are also targets of products in our development pipeline. For example:

SPINRAZA injection for intrathecal use is an antisense medicine indicated for the treatment of SMA patients of all ages approved in over 50 countries. Specifically, SPINRAZA faces competition from onasemnogene abeparvovec, a gene therapy product that was approved in the U.S. in May 2019 and in the EU in May 2020 for the treatment of SMA, as well as risdiplam, an oral product for the treatment of SMA that was approved in the U.S. in August 2020 and in the EU in March 2021. Biogen has disclosed that SPINRAZA revenue has decreased primarily due to a reduction in demand as a result of increased competition and that future sales of SPINRAZA may be adversely affected by competing products.

Additionally, companies that are developing medicines that target the same patient populations as our medicines in development may compete with us to enroll participants in the clinical trials for such medicines, which could make it more difficult for us to complete enrollment for these clinical trials.

Our medicines could be subject to regulatory limitations following approval.

Following approval of a medicine, we and our partners must comply with comprehensive government regulations regarding the manufacture, marketing and distribution of medicines. Promotional communications regarding prescription medicines must be consistent with the information in the product’s approved labeling. We or our partners may not obtain the labeling claims necessary or desirable to successfully commercialize our medicines, including SPINRAZA, TEGSEDI, WAYLIVRA, eplontersen and tofersen, and our medicines in development.

The FDA and foreign regulatory bodies have the authority to impose significant restrictions on an approved medicine through the product label and on advertising, promotional and distribution activities. For example:

Prescription medicines may be promoted only for the approved indication(s) in accordance with the approved label. The FDA and other agencies actively enforce the laws and regulations prohibiting the promotion of off-label uses, and a company that is found to have improperly promoted off-label uses may be subject to significant liability.

In addition, when approved, the FDA or a foreign regulatory authority may condition approval on the performance of post-approval clinical studies or patient monitoring, which could be time consuming and expensive. For example, in connection with the conditional marketing approval for WAYLIVRA in the EU, we are required to conduct a post-authorization safety study to evaluate the safety of WAYLIVRA on thrombocytopenia and bleeding in FCS patients taking WAYLIVRA. If the results of such post-marketing studies are not satisfactory, the FDA, EC or other foreign regulatory authorities may withdraw marketing authorization or may condition continued marketing on commitments from us or our partners that may be expensive and time consuming to fulfill.

If we or others identify side effects after any of our medicines are on the market, or if manufacturing problems occur subsequent to regulatory approval, or if we, our manufacturers or our partners fail to comply with regulatory requirements, we or our partners may, among other things, lose regulatory approval and be forced to withdraw products from the market, need to conduct additional clinical studies, incur restrictions on the marketing, distribution or manufacturing of the product, and/or change the labeling of our medicines.

We depend on our collaboration with Biogen for the development and commercialization of SPINRAZA.

We have entered into a collaborative arrangement with Biogen to develop and commercialize SPINRAZA. We entered into this collaboration primarily to:

We are relying on Biogen to obtain additional regulatory approvals for SPINRAZA, generate additional clinical data for SPINRAZA, manufacture, and continue to successfully commercialize SPINRAZA. In general, we cannot control the amount and timing of resources that Biogen devotes to our collaboration. If Biogen fails to further develop SPINRAZA, obtain additional regulatory approvals for SPINRAZA, manufacture or continue to successfully commercialize SPINRAZA, or if Biogen’s efforts in any of these respects are ineffective, revenues for SPINRAZA would be negatively affected.

In addition, our collaboration with Biogen may not continue for various reasons. Biogen can terminate our collaboration at any time. If Biogen stops developing or commercializing SPINRAZA, we would have to seek or spend additional funding, and SPINRAZA’s commercialization may be harmed or delayed.

We depend on our collaboration with AstraZeneca for the joint development and commercialization of eplontersen.

We have entered into a collaborative arrangement with AstraZeneca to develop and commercialize eplontersen. Under the terms of the collaboration agreement, we and AstraZeneca will co-develop and co-commercialize eplontersen in the U.S. and AstraZeneca will have the sole right to commercialize eplontersen in all other countries, except for certain Latin American countries. Prior to co-commercializing eplontersen in the U.S., we will need to negotiate a co-commercialization agreement with AstraZeneca to govern the parties’ performance of co-commercialization, which agreement will include a commercial plan and budget. As a company we do not have experience with co-commercialization arrangements. We also do not have control over the amount and timing of resources that AstraZeneca devotes to our collaboration, particularly outside of the U.S. If the co-commercialization arrangement for eplontersen is not successful for any reason, eplontersen may not meet our commercial objectives and our revenues for eplontersen may be limited.

In addition, a Joint Steering Committee, or JSC, having equal membership from us and AstraZeneca, and various subcommittees oversee and coordinate the development, manufacturing, commercialization and other exploitation activities for eplontersen in the U.S. by mutual agreement. If any subcommittee cannot reach unanimous agreement on any matter within its respective scope of authority, such matter may be referred to the JSC for resolution. If the JSC cannot come to a mutual agreement on any particular matter, this could delay our ability to develop or commercialize eplontersen.

If we are not successful in expanding our manufacturing capabilities or cannot manufacture our medicines or contract with a third party to manufacture our medicines at costs that allow us to charge competitive prices to buyers, we cannot market our products profitably.

To successfully commercialize any of our medicines, we need to optimize and manage large-scale commercial manufacturing capabilities either on a standalone basis or through a third-party manufacturer. As our drug development and commercial pipeline increases and matures, we will have a greater need for clinical trial and commercial manufacturing capacity. To that end, we have begun work on a new manufacturing facility in Oceanside, California that will expand our manufacturing infrastructure. We will incur substantial expenditures to build our new manufacturing facility and, following its completion, will likely need to hire and train additional staff to operate the facility. If we are not successful in executing this expansion, it could limit our ability to meet our manufacturing requirements and commercial objectives in the future.

In addition, we have limited experience manufacturing pharmaceutical products of the chemical class represented by our medicines, called oligonucleotides, on a commercial scale for the systemic administration of a medicine. There are a small number of suppliers for certain capital equipment and raw materials that we use to manufacture our medicines, and some of these suppliers will need to increase their scale of production to meet our projected needs for commercial manufacturing. Further, we must continue to improve our manufacturing processes to allow us to reduce our drug costs. We or our partners may not be able to manufacture our medicines at a cost or in quantities necessary to make commercially successful products.

Manufacturers, including us, must adhere to the FDA’s cGMP regulations and similar regulations in foreign countries, which the applicable regulatory authorities enforce through facilities inspection programs. We, our partners and our contract manufacturers may not comply or maintain compliance with cGMP, or similar foreign regulations. Non-compliance could significantly delay or prevent receipt of marketing authorizations for our medicines, including authorizations for SPINRAZA, TEGSEDI, WAYLIVRA, eplontersen and tofersen, and our medicines in development, or could result in enforcement action after authorization that might limit the commercial success of our medicines, including SPINRAZA, TEGSEDI, WAYLIVRA, eplontersen and tofersen, and our medicines in development.

We rely on third-party manufacturers to supply the drug substance and drug product for TEGSEDI and drug product for WAYLIVRA. Any delays or disruption to our own or third-party commercial manufacturing capabilities, including any interruption to our supply chain as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic or the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine, could limit the commercial success of our medicines.

We are relying on third parties to market, sell and distribute TEGSEDI and WAYLIVRA.

We have entered into agreements with third parties to commercialize TEGSEDI and WAYLIVRA as follows:

We are relying on Sobi and PTC to effectively market, sell and distribute TEGSEDI and WAYLIVRA and have less control over sales efforts and may receive less revenue than if we commercialized TEGSEDI or WAYLIVRA by ourselves. If Sobi or PTC does not successfully commercialize TEGSEDI or WAYLIVRA, including as a result of delays or disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, we may receive limited revenue for TEGSEDI or WAYLIVRA in the U.S., Canada, Europe, Latin America or certain Caribbean countries, which could adversely affect our business, prospects, financial condition and results of operations.

Risks Related to the Development and Regulatory Approval of our Medicines

If we or our partners fail to obtain regulatory approval for our medicines and additional approvals for SPINRAZA, TEGSEDI and WAYLIVRA, we or our partners cannot sell them in the applicable markets.

We cannot guarantee that any of our medicines will be considered safe and effective or will be approved for commercialization. In addition, it is possible that SPINRAZA, TEGSEDI and WAYLIVRA may not be approved in additional markets or for additional indications. We and our partners must conduct time-consuming, extensive and costly clinical studies to demonstrate the safety and efficacy of each of our medicines before they can be approved or receive additional approvals for sale. We and our partners must conduct these studies in compliance with FDA regulations and with comparable regulations in other countries.

We and our partners may not obtain necessary regulatory approvals on a timely basis, if at all, for our medicines. It is possible that regulatory agencies will not approve our medicines for marketing or SPINRAZA, TEGSEDI or WAYLIVRA in additional markets or for additional indications. If the FDA or another regulatory agency believes that we or our partners have not sufficiently demonstrated the safety or efficacy of any of our medicines, including SPINRAZA, TEGSEDI and WAYLIVRA, or our medicines in development, the agency will not approve the specific medicine or will require additional studies, which could be time consuming and expensive and delay or harm commercialization of the medicine. For example, in August 2018 we received a complete response letter from the FDA regarding the new drug application for WAYLIVRA in which the FDA determined that the safety concerns identified with WAYLIVRA in our clinical development program outweighed the expected benefits of triglyceride lowering in patients with FCS. We also received a Non-W from Health Canada for WAYLIVRA in November 2018.

The FDA or other comparable foreign regulatory authorities can delay, limit or deny approval of a medicine for many reasons, including:

Failure to receive marketing authorization for our medicines, or failure to receive additional marketing authorizations for SPINRAZA, TEGSEDI or WAYLIVRA, or delays in these authorizations, could prevent or delay commercial introduction of the medicine, and, as a result, could negatively impact our ability to generate revenue from product sales.

If the results of clinical testing indicate that any of our medicines are not suitable for commercial use, we may need to abandon one or more of our drug development programs.

Drug discovery and drug development have inherent risks and the historical failure rate for drugs is high. Antisense medicines are a relatively new approach to therapeutics. If we cannot demonstrate that our medicines are safe and effective for human use in the intended indication(s), we may need to abandon one or more of our drug development programs.

Even if our medicines are successful in preclinical and human clinical studies, the medicines may not be successful in late-stage clinical studies.

Successful results in preclinical or initial human clinical studies, including the Phase 2 results for some of our medicines in development, may not predict the results of subsequent clinical studies. If any of our medicines in Phase 3 clinical studies, including the studies of donidalorsen, eplontersen, ION363, olezarsen, pelacarsen and tofersen, do not show sufficient efficacy in patients with the targeted indication, or if such studies are discontinued for any other reason, it could negatively impact our development and commercialization goals for these medicines and our stock price could decline.

In the past, we have invested in clinical studies of medicines that have not met the primary clinical endpoints in their Phase 3 studies or have been discontinued for other reasons. For example, in October 2021, Biogen reported that tofersen did not meet the primary clinical endpoint in the Phase 3 VALOR study; however, trends favoring tofersen were seen across multiple secondary and exploratory measures of disease activity and clinical function. In addition, in March 2021, Roche decided to discontinue dosing in the Phase 3 GENERATION HD1 study of tominersen in patients with manifest Huntington’s disease based on the results of a pre-planned review of data from the Phase 3 study conducted by an unblinded Independent Data Monitoring Committee. Similar results could occur in clinical studies for our other medicines, including the studies of donidalorsen, eplontersen, ION363, olezarsen, pelacarsen and tofersen.

There are a number of factors that could cause a clinical study to fail or be delayed, including:

The COVID-19 pandemic could make some of these factors more likely to occur.

In addition, our current medicines, including SPINRAZA, TEGSEDI, WAYLIVRA, eplontersen and tofersen are chemically similar to each other. As a result, a safety observation we encounter with one of our medicines could have, or be perceived by a regulatory authority to have, an impact on a different medicine we are developing. This could cause the FDA or other regulators to ask questions or take actions that could harm or delay our ability to develop and commercialize our medicines or increase our costs. For example, the FDA or other regulatory agencies could request, among other things, additional information or commitments before we can start or continue a clinical study, protocol amendments, increased safety monitoring, additional product labeling information, and post-approval commitments. This happened in connection with the conditional marketing approval for WAYLIVRA in the EU, as the EC is requiring us to conduct a post-authorization safety study to evaluate the safety of WAYLIVRA on thrombocytopenia and bleeding in FCS patients taking WAYLIVRA. We have ongoing post-marketing studies for WAYLIVRA and TEGSEDI and an EAP for WAYLIVRA. Adverse events or results from these studies or the EAPs could negatively impact our pending or future marketing approval applications for WAYLIVRA and TEGSEDI in patients with FCS or ATTRv-PN, respectively, or the commercial opportunity for WAYLIVRA or TEGSEDI.

Any failure or delay in our clinical studies, including the studies of donidalorsen, eplontersen, ION363, olezarsen, pelacarsen and tofersen, could reduce the commercial potential or viability of our medicines.

We depend on third parties to conduct clinical studies for our medicines and any failure of those parties to fulfill their obligations could adversely affect our development and commercialization plans.

We depend on independent clinical investigators, contract research organizations and other third-party service providers to conduct our clinical studies for our medicines and expect to continue to do so in the future. For example, we use clinical research organizations, such as Icon Clinical Research Limited, Medpace, Inc., Parexel International Corporation, Syneos Health, Inc. and Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. for the clinical studies for our medicines, including donidalorsen, eplontersen, ION363, olezarsen, pelacarsen and tofersen. We rely heavily on these parties for successful execution of our clinical studies, but do not control many aspects of their activities. For example, the investigators are not our employees, but we are responsible for ensuring that such investigators conduct each of our clinical studies in accordance with the general investigational plan and approved protocols for the study. Third parties may not complete activities on schedule or may not conduct our clinical studies in accordance with regulatory requirements or our stated protocols. For example, some of our key vendors are experiencing labor shortages, which could impact their ability to perform services for us for certain of our clinical trials. The failure of these third parties to carry out their obligations, including as a result of delays or disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, or a termination of our relationship with such third parties, could delay or prevent the development, marketing authorization and commercialization of our medicines or additional marketing authorizations for TEGSEDI and WAYLIVRA.

In addition, while we do not have any clinical trial sites in Ukraine, we do have a limited number of clinical trial sites in Russia and surrounding countries that may be impacted by the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine and could result in difficulties enrolling or completing our clinical trials in such areas on schedule. Furthermore, the U.S. and its European allies have imposed significant sanctions against Russia, including regional embargoes, full blocking sanctions, and other restrictions targeting major Russian financial institutions. The U.S. government has also indicated it will consider imposing additional sanctions and other similar measures in the future. Our ability to conduct clinical trials in Russia may become restricted under applicable sanctions laws, which would require us to identify alternative trial sites, and could increase our costs and delay the clinical development of certain of our medicines.

Since corporate partnering is a significant part of our strategy to fund the advancement and commercialization of our development programs, if any of our collaborative partners fail to fund our collaborative programs, or if we cannot obtain additional partners, we may have to delay or stop progress on our drug development programs.

To date, corporate partnering has played a significant role in our strategy to fund our development programs and to add key development resources. We plan to continue to rely on additional collaborative arrangements to develop and commercialize some of our unpartnered medicines. However, we may not be able to negotiate favorable collaborative arrangements for these drug programs. If we cannot continue to secure additional collaborative partners, our revenues could decrease and the development of our medicines could suffer.

Our corporate partners are developing and funding many of the medicines in our development pipeline. For example, we are relying on:

If any of these pharmaceutical companies stops developing and funding these medicines, our business could suffer and we may not have, or be willing to dedicate, the resources available to develop these medicines on our own. Our collaborators can terminate their relationships with us under certain circumstances, many of which are outside of our control. For example, in 2022, Pfizer and Bayer decided to discontinue the clinical development programs for vupanorsen and fesomersen, respectively.

Even with funding from corporate partners, if our partners do not effectively perform their obligations under our agreements with them, it would delay or stop the progress of our drug development and commercial programs.

In addition to receiving funding, we enter into collaborative arrangements with third parties to:

Once we have secured a collaborative arrangement to further develop and commercialize one of our drug development programs, such as our collaborations with AstraZeneca, Biogen, GSK, Novartis, and Roche, these collaborations may not continue or result in commercialized medicines, or may not progress as quickly as we anticipated.

For example, a collaborator such as AstraZeneca, Biogen, GSK, Novartis, or Roche, could determine that it is in its financial interest to:

If any of these occur, it could affect our partner’s commitment to the collaboration with us and could delay or otherwise negatively affect the commercialization of our medicines, including SPINRAZA, eplontersen, pelacarsen and tofersen.

We may not be able to benefit from orphan drug designation for our medicines.

In the U.S., under the Orphan Drug Act, the FDA may designate a medicine as an orphan drug if it is intended to treat a rare disease or condition affecting fewer than 200,000 individuals in the U.S. Orphan drug designation does not convey any advantage in, or shorten the duration of, the regulatory review and approval process, but it can provide financial incentives, such as tax advantages and user-fee waivers, as well as longer regulatory exclusivity periods. The FDA has granted orphan drug designation to eplontersen for the treatment of patients with transthyretin-mediated amyloidosis and to ION582 for the treatment of patients with Angelman syndrome. The FDA and EMA have granted orphan drug designation to TEGSEDI for the treatment of patients with ATTRv-PN, to WAYLIVRA for the treatment of patients with FCS, and to tominersen for the treatment of patients with HD. In addition, the EMA has granted orphan drug designation to WAYLIVRA for the treatment of patients with FPL. Even if approval is obtained on a medicine that has been designated as an orphan drug, we may lose orphan drug exclusivity if the FDA or EMA determines that the request for designation was materially defective or if we cannot assure sufficient quantity of the applicable medicine to meet the needs of patients with the rare disease or condition, or if a competitor is able to gain approval for the same medicine in a safer or more effective form or that makes a major contribution to patient care. If we lose orphan drug exclusivity on any of our medicines, we may face increased competition and lose market share for such medicine.

Risks Associated with our Businesses as a Whole

Risks related to our financial condition

If we fail to obtain timely funding, we may need to curtail or abandon some of our programs.

Many of our medicines are undergoing clinical studies or are in the early stages of research and development. Most of our programs will require significant additional research, development, manufacturing, preclinical and clinical testing, marketing authorizations, preclinical activities and commitment of significant additional resources prior to their successful commercialization. In addition, as we commercialize more medicines on our own, we will need to invest significant financial resources to continue developing the infrastructure required to successfully commercialize our medicines, including the build-out of a new manufacturing facility. All of these activities will require significant cash. As of December 31, 2022, we had cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments equal to $2.0 billion. If we or our partners do not meet our goals to successfully commercialize our medicines, including SPINRAZA, TEGSEDI and WAYLIVRA, or to license certain medicines and proprietary technologies, we will need additional funding in the future. Our future capital requirements will depend on many factors such as:

If we need additional funds, we may need to raise them through public or private financing. Additional financing may not be available on acceptable terms or at all. If we raise additional funds by issuing equity securities, the shares of existing stockholders will be diluted and the price, as well as the price of our other securities, may decline. If adequate funds are not available or not available on acceptable terms, we may have to cut back on one or more of our research, drug discovery or development programs. Alternatively, we may obtain funds through arrangements with collaborative partners or others, which could require us to give up rights to certain of our technologies or medicines.

We have incurred losses, and our business will suffer if we fail to consistently achieve profitability in the future.

Because drug discovery and development require substantial lead-time and money prior to commercialization, our expenses have generally exceeded our revenue since we were founded in January 1989. As of December 31, 2022, we had an accumulated deficit of approximately $1.4 billion and stockholders’ equity of approximately $0.6 billion. Most of our historical losses resulted from costs incurred in connection with our research and development programs and from selling, general and administrative costs associated with our operations. Most of our income has historically come from collaborative arrangements, including commercial revenue from royalties and R&D revenue, with additional income from research grants and the sale or licensing of our patents, as well as interest income. We will now and continuing into the foreseeable future need to invest significant financial resources to develop capabilities to commercialize medicines on our own and expect that our income in the future will be driven primarily by commercial sales. If we do not earn substantial revenue from commercial sales, we may incur additional operating losses in the future, which could restrict our ability to successfully develop additional medicines or sustain future profitability.

We may not be entitled to obtain additional milestone payments under our royalty monetization agreement with Royalty Pharma.

In January 2023, we entered into a Royalty Purchase Agreement with Royalty Pharma Investments. In addition to the $500 million we received at closing, this agreement makes available to us up to an additional $625 million in milestone payments. However, these additional milestone payments are subject to satisfaction of certain conditions related to the regulatory approval or commercial sales of pelacarsen, in certain cases by specific deadlines. Should we not satisfy such conditions by the applicable deadlines, or if we fail to meet our obligations or default under this agreement, the actual amount of additional payments to us could be substantially less than the maximum amounts available thereunder.

Risks related to our intellectual property

If we cannot protect our patent rights or our other proprietary rights, others may compete more effectively against us.

Our success depends to a significant degree upon whether we can continue to develop, secure and maintain intellectual property rights to proprietary products and services. However, we may not receive issued patents on any of our pending patent applications in the U.S. or in other countries and we may not be able to obtain, maintain or enforce our patents and other intellectual property rights, any of which could impact our ability to compete effectively. In addition, the scope of any of our issued patents may not be sufficiently broad to provide us with a competitive advantage. Furthermore, other parties may successfully challenge, invalidate or circumvent our issued patents or patents licensed to us so that our patent rights do not create an effective competitive barrier or revenue source.

We cannot be certain that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, or U.S. PTO, and courts in the U.S. or the patent offices and courts in foreign countries will consider the claims in our patents and applications covering SPINRAZA, TEGSEDI, WAYLIVRA, eplontersen and tofersen, or any of our medicines in development as patentable. Method-of-use patents protect the use of a product for the specified method. This type of patent does not prevent a competitor from making and marketing a product that is identical to our product for an indication that is outside the scope of the patented method. Moreover, even if competitors do not actively promote their product for our targeted indications, physicians may prescribe these products off-label. Although off-label prescriptions may infringe or contribute to the infringement of method-of-use patents, the practice is common and such infringement is difficult to prevent, even through legal action.

If we or any licensor partner loses or cannot obtain patent protection for SPINRAZA, TEGSEDI, WAYLIVRA, eplontersen and tofersen, or any of our medicines in development, it could have a material adverse impact on our business.

Intellectual property litigation could be expensive and prevent us from pursuing our programs.

From time to time, we have to defend our intellectual property rights. If we are involved in an intellectual property dispute, we may need to litigate to defend our rights or assert them against others. Disputes can involve arbitration, litigation or proceedings declared by the U.S. PTO or the International Trade Commission or foreign patent authorities. Even if resolved in our favor, litigation or other legal proceedings relating to intellectual property claims may cause us to incur significant expenses and could distract our technical and management personnel from their normal responsibilities. In addition, there could be public announcements of the results of hearings, motions or other interim proceedings or developments and if securities analysts or investors perceive these results to be negative, it could have a substantial adverse effect on the price of our common stock.

If a third party claims that our medicines or technology infringe its patents or other intellectual property rights, we may have to discontinue an important product or product line, alter our products and processes, pay license fees or cease certain activities. We may not be able to obtain a license to needed intellectual property on favorable terms, if at all. There are many patents issued or applied for in the biotechnology industry, and we may not be aware of patents or patent applications held by others that relate to our business. This is especially true since patent applications in the U.S. are filed confidentially for the first 18 months. Moreover, the validity and breadth of biotechnology patents involve complex legal and factual questions for which important legal issues remain.

Risks related to product liability

We are exposed to potential product liability claims, and insurance against these claims may not be available to us at a reasonable rate in the future or at all.

Our business exposes us to potential product liability risks that are inherent in the testing, manufacturing, marketing and sale of therapeutic products, including potential product liability claims related to SPINRAZA, TEGSEDI and WAYLIVRA, and our medicines in development. We have clinical study insurance coverage and commercial product liability insurance coverage. However, this insurance coverage may not be adequate to cover claims against us, or be available to us at an acceptable cost, if at all. Regardless of their merit or eventual outcome, product liability claims may result in decreased demand for our medicines, injury to our reputation, withdrawal of clinical study volunteers and loss of revenues. Thus, whether or not we are insured, a product liability claim or product recall may result in losses that could be material.

Risks related to our personnel

The loss of key personnel, or the inability to attract and retain highly skilled personnel, could make it more difficult to run our business and reduce our likelihood of success.

We are dependent on the principal members of our management and scientific staff, and as we move towards commercializing medicines on our own, we will become increasingly dependent on the principal members of our commercial team. We do not have employment agreements with any of our employees that would prevent them from leaving us. The loss of our management, key scientific or commercial employees might slow the achievement of important research and development or commercial goals. It is also critical to our success that we recruit and retain qualified scientific personnel to perform research and development work. We may not be able to attract and retain skilled and experienced scientific personnel on acceptable terms because of intense competition for experienced scientists among many pharmaceutical and health care companies, universities and non-profit research institutions. In addition, failure to succeed in clinical studies may make it more challenging to recruit and retain qualified scientific personnel.

Risks related to the COVID-19 pandemic and other events

Our business may be adversely affected by pandemics, climate change, extreme weather events, earthquakes, war, civil or political unrest, terrorism or other catastrophic events.

Our business could be adversely affected by health epidemics in regions where we or our partners are commercializing our medicines, have concentrations of clinical trial sites or other business operations, and could cause disruption in the operations of third-party manufacturers and contract research organizations upon whom we rely. For example, some physician and hospital policies that were put in place as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic restricted in-person access by third parties, which in some cases impacted our commercialization efforts for TEGSEDI and WAYLIVRA. In addition, in December 2021, Novartis announced that enrollment for the Phase 3 HORIZON study had been delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The COVID-19 pandemic continues to evolve, and while we believe we have not experienced material adverse effects to our business as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the ultimate impact of the COVID-19 pandemic or a similar health epidemic is highly uncertain.

In recent years, extreme weather events and changing weather patterns have become more common. As a result, we are potentially exposed to varying natural disaster or extreme weather risks such as hurricanes, tornadoes, fires, droughts, floods, or other events that may result from the impact of climate change on the environment. The potential impacts of climate change may also include increased operating costs associated with additional regulatory requirements and investments in reducing energy, water use and greenhouse gas emissions. In addition, we currently manufacture most of our research and clinical supplies in a manufacturing facility located in Carlsbad, California and will move such manufacturing to our new facility in Oceanside, California once it is built. We manufacture the finished drug product for TEGSEDI and WAYLIVRA at third-party contract manufacturers. Biogen manufactures the finished drug product for SPINRAZA. The facilities and the equipment we, our partners and our contract manufacturers use to research, develop and manufacture our medicines would be costly to replace and could require substantial lead time to repair or replace. Our facilities or those of our partners or contract manufacturers may be harmed by natural disasters or other events outside our control, such as earthquakes, war, civil or political unrest, deliberate acts of sabotage, terrorism or industrial accidents such as fire and explosion, whether due to human or equipment error, and if such facilities are affected by a disaster or other event, our development and commercialization efforts would be delayed. Although we possess property damage and business interruption insurance coverage, this insurance may not be sufficient to cover all of our potential losses and may not continue to be available to us on acceptable terms, or at all. In addition, our development and commercialization activities could be harmed or delayed by a shutdown of the U.S. government, including the FDA.

Risks related to cybersecurity

We are dependent on information technology systems, infrastructure and data, which exposes us to data security risks.

We are dependent upon our own and third-party information technology systems, infrastructure and data, including mobile technologies, to operate our business. The multitude and complexity of our computer systems may make them vulnerable to service interruption or destruction, disruption of data integrity, malicious intrusion, or random attacks. Likewise, data privacy or security incidents or breaches by employees or others may pose a risk that sensitive data, including our intellectual property, trade secrets or personal information of our employees, patients, customers or other business partners may be exposed to unauthorized persons or to the public. Cyber-attacks are increasing in their frequency, sophistication and intensity, with third-party phishing and social engineering attacks in particular increasing during the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, the number and frequency of cybersecurity events globally may be heightened during times of geopolitical tension or instability between countries, including, for example, the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine, as a result of which several companies (not including us) have reported recent cybersecurity events.

Cyber-attacks could include the deployment of harmful malware, denial-of-service, social engineering and other means to affect service reliability and threaten data confidentiality, integrity and availability. Our business partners face similar risks and any security breach of their systems could adversely affect our security posture. A security breach or privacy violation that leads to disclosure or modification of or prevents access to patient information, including personally identifiable information or protected health information, could harm our reputation, compel us to comply with federal and state breach notification laws and foreign law equivalents, subject us to financial penalties and mandatory and costly corrective action, require us to verify the correctness of database contents and otherwise subject us to litigation or other liability under laws and regulations that protect personal data, any of which could disrupt our business and result in increased costs or loss of revenue. Moreover, the prevalent use of mobile devices that access confidential information increases the risk of data security breaches, which could lead to the loss of confidential information, trade secrets or other intellectual property. While we have invested, and continue to invest, in the protection of our data and information technology infrastructure, our efforts may not prevent service interruptions or identify breaches in our systems that could adversely affect our business and operations and result in the loss of critical or sensitive information, which could result in financial, legal, business or reputational harm to us.

Risks related to our securities and the global credit markets

If we do not progress in our programs as anticipated, the price of our securities could decrease.

For planning purposes, we estimate and may disclose the timing of a variety of clinical, regulatory and other milestones, such as when we anticipate a certain medicine will enter clinical trials, when we anticipate completing a clinical study, or when we anticipate filing an application for, or obtaining, marketing authorization, or when we or our partners plan to commercially launch a medicine. We base our estimates on present facts and a variety of assumptions, many of which are outside of our control, including the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. If we do not achieve milestones in accordance with our or our investors’ or securities analysts’ expectations, including milestones related to SPINRAZA, TEGSEDI, WAYLIVRA, donidalorsen, eplontersen, ION363, olezarsen, pelacarsen and tofersen, the price of our securities could decrease.

If the price of our securities continues to be highly volatile, this could make it harder to liquidate your investment and could increase your risk of suffering a loss.

The market price of our common stock, like that of the securities of many other biopharmaceutical companies, has been and is likely to continue to be highly volatile. These fluctuations in our common stock price may significantly affect the trading price of our securities. During the 12 months preceding December 31, 2022, the market price of our common stock ranged from $48.82 to $28.25 per share. Many factors can affect the market price of our securities, including, for example, fluctuations in our operating results, announcements of collaborations, clinical study results, technological innovations or new products being developed by us or our competitors, the commercial success of our approved medicines, governmental regulation, marketing authorizations, changes in payers’ reimbursement policies, developments in patent or other proprietary rights and public concern regarding the safety of our medicines.

Broad market factors may materially harm the market price of our common stock irrespective of our operating performance. For example, the COVID-19 pandemic caused a significant disruption of global financial markets and resulted in increased volatility in the trading price of our common stock. The global credit and financial markets may also be adversely affected by the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine and measures taken in response thereto. In addition, industry factors may materially harm the market price of our common stock. Nasdaq, and the market for biotechnology companies in particular, have historically experienced extreme price and volume fluctuations that have often been unrelated or disproportionate to the operating performance of the particular companies affected. The trading prices and valuations of these stocks, and of ours, may not be predictable. A loss of investor confidence in the market for biotechnology or pharmaceutical stocks or the stocks of other companies that investors perceive to be similar to us, the opportunities in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical market or the stock market in general, could depress our stock price regardless of our business, prospects, financial conditions or results of operations.

Provisions in our certificate of incorporation, convertible notes documents, call spread hedge transaction documents and Delaware law may prevent stockholders from receiving a premium for their shares.

Our certificate of incorporation provides for classified terms for the members of our board of directors. Our certificate also includes a provision that requires at least 66 2/3 percent of our voting stockholders to approve a merger or certain other business transactions with, or proposed by, any holder of 15 percent or more of our voting stock, except in cases where certain directors approve the transaction or certain minimum price criteria and other procedural requirements are met.

Our certificate of incorporation also requires that any action required or permitted to be taken by our stockholders must be taken at a duly called annual or special meeting of stockholders and may not be taken by written consent. In addition, only our board of directors, chairman of the board or chief executive officer can call special meetings of our stockholders. We have in the past, and may in the future, implement a stockholders’ rights plan, also called a poison pill, which could make it uneconomical for a third party to acquire our company on a hostile basis. In addition, our board of directors has the authority to fix the rights and preferences of, and issue shares of preferred stock, which may have the effect of delaying or preventing a change in control of our company without action by our stockholders.

The provisions of our convertible senior notes could make it more difficult or more expensive for a third party to acquire us. Upon the occurrence of certain transactions constituting a fundamental change, holders of the notes will have the right, at their option, to require us to repurchase all of their notes or a portion of their notes, which may discourage certain types of transactions in which our stockholders might otherwise receive a premium for their shares over the then-current market prices.

These provisions, as well as Delaware law, including Section 203 of the Delaware General Corporation Law, and other of our agreements, may discourage certain types of transactions in which our stockholders might otherwise receive a premium for their shares over then-current market prices, and may limit the ability of our stockholders to approve transactions that they think may be in their best interests.

Future sales of our common stock in the public market could adversely affect the trading price of our securities.

Future sales of substantial amounts of our common stock in the public market, or the perception that such sales could occur, could adversely affect trading prices of our securities. For example, we may issue approximately 17.5 million shares of our common stock upon conversion of our 0% Notes and 0.125% Notes, up to 10.9 million shares in connection with the warrant transactions we entered into in connection with the issuance of our 0% Notes, and up to 6.6 million shares in connection with the warrant transactions we entered into in connection with the issuance of our 0.125% Notes, in each case subject to customary anti-dilution adjustments. The addition of any of these shares into the public market may have an adverse effect on the price of our securities.

In addition, pursuant to the call spread transactions we entered into in connection with the pricing of our 0% Notes and 0.125% Notes, the counterparties are likely to modify their hedge positions from time to time at or prior to the conversion or maturity of the notes by purchasing and selling shares of our common stock, other of our securities, or other instruments, including over-the-counter derivative instruments, that they may wish to use in connection with such hedging, which may have a negative effect on the conversion value of those notes and an adverse impact on the trading price of our common stock. The call spread transactions are expected generally to reduce potential dilution to holders of our common stock upon any conversion of our 0% Notes or 0.125% Notes or offset any cash payments we are required to make in excess of the principal amount of the converted 0% Notes or 0.125% Notes, as the case may be. However, the warrant transactions could separately have a dilutive effect to the extent that the market value per share of our common stock exceeds the applicable strike price of the warrants.

Negative conditions in the global credit markets and financial services and other industries may adversely affect our business.

The global credit markets, the financial services industry, the U.S. capital markets, and the U.S. economy as a whole have recently experienced substantial turmoil and uncertainty characterized by unprecedented intervention by the U.S. federal government in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. While the potential economic impact brought by, and the duration of, the COVID-19 pandemic may be difficult to assess or predict, it could result in significant disruption of global financial markets, reducing our ability to access capital, which could in the future negatively affect our liquidity. In addition, a recession or market correction resulting from the spread of COVID-19 could materially affect our business and has and could continue to affect the value of our securities. In addition, the global credit and financial markets may be adversely affected by the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine and measures taken in response thereto. In the past, the failure, bankruptcy, or sale of various financial and other institutions created similar turmoil and uncertainty in such markets and industries. It is possible that a similar crisis in the global credit markets, the U.S. capital markets, the financial services industry or the U.S. economy may adversely affect our business, vendors and prospects, as well as our liquidity and financial condition. Additionally, our insurance carriers and insurance policies covering all aspects of our business may become financially unstable or may not be sufficient to cover any or all of our losses and may not continue to be available to us on acceptable terms, or at all. In addition, due to the rapidly rising inflation rate, we may experience significantly increased costs of goods and services for our business.

A variety of risks associated with operating our business and marketing our medicines internationally could adversely affect our business. In addition to our U.S. operations, we are commercializing TEGSEDI in the EU, Canada, Latin America and certain Caribbean countries, and WAYLIVRA in the EU, Latin America and certain Caribbean countries. We face risks associated with our international operations, including possible unfavorable regulatory, pricing and reimbursement, political, tax and labor conditions, which could harm our business. Because we have international operations, we are subject to numerous risks associated with international business activities, including:

Our business activities outside of the U.S. are subject to the FCPA and similar anti-bribery or anti-corruption laws, regulations or rules of other countries in which we operate, including the United Kingdom’s Bribery Act 2010. In many other countries, the healthcare providers who prescribe pharmaceuticals are employed by their government, and the purchasers of pharmaceuticals are government entities; therefore, any dealings with these prescribers and purchasers may be subject to regulation under the FCPA. There is no certainty that all employees and third-party business partners (including our distributors, wholesalers, agents, contractors and other partners) will comply with anti-bribery laws. In particular, we do not control the actions of manufacturers and other third-party agents, although we may be liable for their actions. Violation of these laws may result in civil or criminal sanctions, which could include monetary fines, criminal penalties, and disgorgement of past profits, which could have an adverse impact on our business and financial condition.

Risks related to compliance with laws

Our operations are subject to additional healthcare laws.

Our operations are subject to additional healthcare laws, including federal and state anti-kickback laws, false claims laws, transparency laws, such as the federal Sunshine Act, and health information privacy and security laws, which are subject to change at any time. It is possible that governmental authorities will conclude that our business practices may not comply with current or future statutes, regulations or case law involving applicable fraud and abuse or other healthcare laws and regulations. Penalties for violations of applicable healthcare laws and regulations may include significant civil, criminal and administrative penalties, damages, disgorgement, fines, imprisonment, exclusion of products from government funded healthcare programs, such as Medicare and Medicaid, and additional reporting requirements and oversight if we enter into a corporate integrity agreement or similar agreement to resolve allegations of non-compliance with these laws. In addition, violations may also result in reputational harm, diminished profits and future earnings.

Because we use biological materials, hazardous materials, chemicals and radioactive compounds, if we do not comply with laws regulating the protection of the environment and health and human safety, our business could be adversely affected.

Our research, development and manufacturing activities involve the use of potentially harmful biological materials as well as materials, chemicals and various radioactive compounds that could be hazardous to human health and safety or the environment. We store most of these materials and various wastes resulting from their use at our facilities in Carlsbad, California pending ultimate use and disposal. We cannot completely eliminate the risk of contamination, which could cause:

In such an event, we may be held liable for any resulting damages, and any liability could exceed our resources. Although we carry insurance for pollution liability in amounts and types that we consider commercially reasonable, the coverage or coverage limits of our insurance policies may not be adequate. If our losses exceed our insurance coverage, our financial condition would be adversely affected.

Our business is subject to changing regulations for corporate governance and public disclosure that has increased both our costs and the risk of noncompliance.

Each year we are required to evaluate our internal control systems to allow management to report on and our Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm to attest to, our internal controls as required by Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. As a result, we continue to incur additional expenses and divert our management’s time to comply with these regulations. In addition, if we cannot continue to comply with the requirements of Section 404 in a timely manner, we might be subject to sanctions or investigation by regulatory authorities, such as the SEC, the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, or PCAOB, or The Nasdaq Global Select Market. Any such action could adversely affect our financial results and the market price of our common stock.

The SEC and other regulators have continued to adopt new rules and regulations and make additional changes to existing regulations that require our compliance. In July 2010, the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Protection Act, or the Dodd-Frank Act, was enacted, and in August 2022, the SEC adopted additional rules and regulations under the Dodd-Frank Act related to “say on pay” and proxy access. Stockholder activism, the current political environment and the current high level of government intervention and regulatory reform may lead to substantial new regulations and disclosure obligations, which has and may in the future lead to additional compliance costs and impact the manner in which we operate our business.

Risks related to taxes

Our ability to use our net operating loss carryovers and certain other tax attributes may be limited.

Under the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, or the Code, a corporation is generally allowed a deduction for net operating losses, or NOLs, carried over from a prior taxable year. Under the Code, we can carryforward our NOLs to offset our future taxable income, if any, until such NOLs are used or expire. The same is true of other unused tax attributes, such as tax credits.

Under the current U.S. federal income tax law, U.S. federal NOLs generated in taxable years beginning after December 31, 2017 may be carried forward indefinitely, but the deductibility of such U.S. federal NOLs is limited to 80 percent of taxable income. It is uncertain if and to what extent various states will conform to current U.S. federal income tax law, and there may be periods during which states suspend or otherwise limit the use of NOLs for state income tax purposes.

In addition, under Sections 382 and 383 of the Code, and corresponding provisions of state law, if a corporation undergoes an “ownership change,” which is generally defined as a greater than 50 percentage-point cumulative change, by value, in its equity ownership over a three-year period, the corporation’s ability to use its pre-change NOL carryforwards and other pre-change tax attributes to offset its post-change income or taxes may be limited. We may experience ownership changes in the future as a result of subsequent shifts in our stock ownership, some of which may be outside of our control. If an ownership change occurs and our ability to use our NOL carryforwards or other tax attributes is materially limited, it would harm our future operating results by effectively increasing our future tax obligations. As a result of the Akcea Merger, we are subject to the separate return limitation year, or SRLY, rules. Under the SRLY rules, our utilization of Akcea’s pre-merger NOL and tax credit carryforwards is limited to the amount of income that Akcea contributes to our consolidated taxable income. The Akcea pre-merger tax attributes cannot be used to offset any of the income that Ionis contributes to our consolidated taxable income. In addition, at the state level, there may be periods during which the use of net operating losses is suspended or otherwise limited, which could accelerate or permanently increase state taxes owed.

Our future taxable income could be impacted by changes in tax laws, regulations and treaties.

A change in tax laws, treaties or regulations, or their interpretation, of any country in which we operate could materially affect us.

We could be subject to additional tax liabilities.

We are subject to U.S. federal, state, local and foreign income taxes, sales taxes in the U.S., withholding taxes and transaction taxes in foreign jurisdictions. Significant judgment is required in evaluating our tax positions and our worldwide provision for taxes. During the ordinary course of business, there are many activities and transactions for which the ultimate tax determination is uncertain. In addition, our tax obligations and effective tax rates could be adversely affected by changes in the relevant tax, accounting and other laws, regulations, principles and interpretations, including those relating to income tax nexus, by recognizing tax losses or lower than anticipated earnings in jurisdictions where we have lower statutory rates and higher than anticipated earnings in jurisdictions where we have higher statutory rates, by changes in foreign currency exchange rates, or by changes in the valuation of our deferred tax assets and liabilities. We may be audited in various jurisdictions, and such jurisdictions may assess additional taxes, sales taxes and value-added taxes against us. Although we believe our tax estimates are reasonable, the final determination of any tax audits or litigation could be materially different from our historical tax provisions and accruals, which could have a material adverse effect on our operating results or cash flows in the period for which a determination is made.

Item 1B. Unresolved Staff Comments

Not applicable.

Item 2. Properties

As of February 16, 2023, the following are the primary facilities in which we operate:

In October 2022, we concurrently entered into two purchase and sale agreements with a real estate investor. Under the agreements, we sold and leased back the facilities at our headquarters location in Carlsbad, California and will sell, subject to meeting certain closing conditions, two lots of undeveloped land adjacent to our headquarters. We sold the facilities at our headquarters for net proceeds of approximately $200 million, with the potential to receive additional payments of up to $40 million plus funding to expand our R&D campus. We used a portion of the sale proceeds to extinguish our mortgage debt on our headquarters facilities of $51 million. The initial lease term for our headquarters facilities is 15 years with options to extend the lease for two additional terms of five years each. In connection with the sale of our two undeveloped lots, we will enter into a build-to-suit lease agreement with the same real estate investor to lease a new R&D facility. The lessor will develop and construct a new building composed of research and development space and office space. We will design and construct tenant improvements to customize the facility’s interior space. Once this new facility is completed, our lease will commence.

In October 2022, we entered into a build-to-suit lease agreement to lease a development chemistry and manufacturing facility in Oceanside, California. The lessor will develop and construct a 217,000-square-foot building, composed of manufacturing space, office space, research and development space and warehouse space. We will design and construct tenant improvements to customize the facility’s interior space. We will lease the facility for an initial term of 20 years and 3 months with options to extend the lease for two additional terms of 10 years each. The lease will commence when the lessor’s construction is complete and we are able to begin constructing tenant improvements.

We believe that our current and future facilities will be adequate for the foreseeable future.

Item 3. Legal Proceedings

For details of legal proceedings, refer to Part IV, Item 15, Note 9, Legal Proceedings, in the Notes to the Consolidated Financial Statements.

Item 4. Mine Safety Disclosures

Not applicable.

PART II

Item 5. Market for Registrant’s Common Equity, Related Stockholder Matters and Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities

Market Information and Dividends

Our common stock is traded publicly through The Nasdaq Global Select Market under the symbol “IONS.” As of February 16, 2023, there were approximately 483 stockholders of record of our common stock. Because many of our shares are held by brokers and other institutions on behalf of stockholders, we are unable to estimate the total number of stockholders represented by these record holders.

We have never paid dividends and do not anticipate paying any dividends in the foreseeable future.

Performance Graph (1)

Set forth below is a table and chart comparing the total return on an indexed basis of $100 invested on December 31, 2017 in our common stock, the Nasdaq Composite Index (total return) and the Nasdaq Biotechnology Index. The total return assumes reinvestment of dividends.

*  $100 invested on December 31, 2017 in stock or index, including reinvestment of dividends. Fiscal year ending December 31.

COMPARISON OF 5 YEAR CUMULATIVE TOTAL RETURN

Among Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc., the Nasdaq Composite Index,

and the Nasdaq Biotechnology Index

________________

Item 6. Selected Financial Data

Refer to our financial data contained within Part II, Item 7, Management’s Discussion and Analysis, our financial statements and within other parts of this document.

Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations

This financial review presents our operating results for each of the two years in the period ended December 31, 2022, and our financial condition as of December 31, 2022. Refer to our 2021 Form 10-K for our results of operations for 2021 compared to 2020. Except for the historical information contained herein, the following discussion contains forward-looking statements that are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause our actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. We discuss such risks, uncertainties and other factors throughout this report and specifically under Item 1A of Part I of this report, “Risk Factors.” In addition, the following review should be read in conjunction with the information presented in our consolidated financial statements and the related notes to our consolidated financial statements included in Item 8 of Part II of this report.

Overview

As noted in our Business Overview in Part I of this report, we were founded over 30 years ago to deliver innovative new medicines for diseases with great medical need. Today, we are building on our advancements in RNA-targeted therapeutics with a vision to be the leader in genetic medicines. We believe our genetic medicines have the potential to pioneer new markets, change standards of care and transform the lives of people with devastating diseases. We currently have three marketed medicines: SPINRAZA, TEGSEDI and WAYLIVRA. We also have two medicines, eplontersen and tofersen, that will add to our commercial portfolio this year, assuming positive regulatory outcomes. In addition to our commercial medicines and medicines under regulatory review, we have a rich innovative late- and mid-stage pipeline primarily focused on our leading cardiovascular and neurology franchises. We currently have seven medicines in Phase 3 development. Refer to Part I, Item 1, Business, for further details on our business and key developments in our medicines.

Results of Operations

Below we have included our results of operations for 2022 compared to 2021. Refer to our 2021 Form 10-K for our results of operations for 2021 compared to 2020. The following table provides selected summary information from our consolidated statements of operations for 2022 and 2021 (in millions):

Revenue

Total revenue for 2022 was $587.4 million compared to $810.5 million in 2021 and was comprised of the following (in millions):

Our 2022 revenue continued to be derived from diverse sources, with just over half coming from commercial products and the balance from numerous partnered programs. SPINRAZA royalties, the largest contributor to our commercial revenue, increased each quarter in 2022. Total SPINRAZA product sales increased six percent in the fourth quarter of 2022 compared to the third quarter of 2022 and also increased four percent compared to the same quarter in 2021. The increases were driven by stabilization in the U.S. and growth in Asian markets, partially offset by competition in Europe. Total SPINRAZA product sales decreased six percent year-over-year driven by foreign currency exchange and competition in Europe, partially offset stabilization in the U.S. and growth in Asian markets. Our TEGSEDI and WAYLIVRA revenue was also lower year-over-year due to the shift to distribution fees in 2021.

Our R&D revenue for 2022 included $112 million from Biogen for advancing several neurology disease programs, $77 million from AstraZeneca for its share of the global Phase 3 development costs for eplontersen and $64 million from Roche for licensing and advancing IONIS-FB-L_Rx, among other partnered payments. R&D revenue was higher in 2021 compared to 2022 driven primarily by the $200 million we earned in the fourth quarter of 2021 from AstraZeneca to jointly develop and commercialize eplontersen.

Eplontersen Collaboration with AstraZeneca

Our financial results for the year ended December 31, 2022 reflected the cost-sharing provisions related to our collaboration with AstraZeneca to develop and commercialize eplontersen for the treatment of ATTR. Under the terms of the collaboration agreement, AstraZeneca is currently paying 55 percent of the costs associated with the ongoing global Phase 3 development program. Because we are leading and conducting the Phase 3 development program, we are recognizing as R&D revenue the 55 percent of cost-share funding AstraZeneca is responsible for, net of our share of AstraZeneca’s development expenses, in the same period we incur the related development expenses. In the year ended December 31, 2022, we earned $77 million in joint development revenue and recorded $147M of R&D expenses related to Phase 3 development expenses under this collaboration.

As AstraZeneca is responsible for the majority of the medical affairs and commercial costs in the U.S. and all costs associated with bringing eplontersen to market outside the U.S., we are recognizing cost-share funding we receive from AstraZeneca related to these activities as a reduction of our medical affairs and commercialization expenses, which we classify as R&D and selling, general and administrative, or SG&A, expenses, respectively. In the year ended December 31, 2022, we recognized $2.0 million and $2.6 million of medical affairs expenses and commercialization expenses for eplontersen, respectively, net of cost-share funding from AstraZeneca. We expect our medical affairs and commercialization expenses to increase as eplontersen advances toward the market under our collaboration with AstraZeneca.

The following is a summary of the financial impacts on our statement of operations for the year ended December 31, 2022 of the joint development activities under our eplontersen collaboration with AstraZeneca:

Operating Expenses

Our operating expenses were as follows (in millions):

Our operating expenses, excluding non-cash compensation expense related to equity awards, increased in 2022 compared to 2021. Our R&D expenses increased in 2022 compared to 2021 due to our investments in advancing our late-stage pipeline, including the expanded number of Phase 3 studies we are conducting, which doubled from three to six studies in 2021. Our R&D expenses also increased in 2022 compared to 2021 due to $80 million that we recognized in 2022 for licensing Metagenomi’s gene editing technologies. Our SG&A expenses decreased in 2022 compared to 2021 as a result of savings we realized from integrating Akcea and restructuring our commercial operations for TEGSEDI and WAYLIVRA, partially offset by the increase in expenses related to our go-to-market activities for eplontersen, donidalorsen and olezarsen.

Our non-cash compensation expense related to equity awards decreased in 2022 compared to 2021 as a result of the decrease in our stock price in 2022 compared to 2021 and reduced headcount due to restructuring our commercial operations in 2021. We anticipate our non-cash compensation expense related to equity awards to increase in 2023 due to increased headcount and an increase in our stock price when we granted annual equity awards to our employees in January 2023 compared to January 2022.

To analyze and compare our results of operations to other similar companies, we believe it is important to exclude non-cash compensation expense related to equity awards from our operating expenses. We believe non-cash compensation expense related to equity awards is not indicative of our operating results or cash flows from our operations. Further, we internally evaluate the performance of our operations excluding it.

Cost of Sales

Our cost of sales is comprised of costs related to our commercial revenue, which consisted of manufacturing costs, including certain fixed costs, transportation and freight, indirect overhead costs associated with the manufacturing and distribution of TEGSEDI and WAYLIVRA and certain associated period costs.

Our cost of sales were as follows (in millions):

Research, Development and Patent Expenses

Our research, development and patent expenses consist of expenses for drug discovery, drug development, manufacturing and development chemistry and R&D support expenses.

The following table sets forth information on research, development and patent expenses (in millions):

We use our proprietary technologies to generate information about the function of genes and to determine the value of genes as drug discovery targets. We use this information to direct our own drug discovery research, and that of our partners. Drug discovery is also the function that is responsible for advancing our core technology. This function is also responsible for making investments in complementary technologies to expand the reach of our technologies.

Our drug discovery expenses were as follows (in millions):

Drug discovery expenses, excluding non-cash compensation expense related to equity awards, increased in 2022 compared to 2021 primarily due to $80 million that we recognized in 2022 for licensing Metagenomi’s gene editing technologies. In 2021, we incurred certain licensing expenses, including $35 million for licensing Bicycle Therapeutics’ peptide technology.

The following table sets forth drug development expenses, including expenses for our marketed medicines and those in Phase 3 development for which we have incurred significant costs (in millions):

Our development expenses, excluding non-cash compensation expense related to equity awards, increased in 2022 compared to 2021 primarily due to our advancing late-stage pipeline, including the expanded number of Phase 3 studies we are conducting, which doubled over the course of 2021 from three to six studies.

We may conduct multiple clinical trials on a drug candidate, including multiple clinical trials for the various indications we may be studying. Furthermore, as we obtain results from trials, we may elect to discontinue clinical trials for certain drug candidates in certain indications in order to focus our resources on more promising drug candidates or indications. Our Phase 1 and Phase 2 programs are clinical research programs that fuel our Phase 3 pipeline. When our medicines are in Phase 1 or Phase 2 clinical trials, they are in a dynamic state in which we may adjust the development strategy for each medicine. Although we may characterize a medicine as “in Phase 1” or “in Phase 2,” it does not mean that we are conducting a single, well-defined study with dedicated resources. Instead, we allocate our internal resources on a shared basis across numerous medicines based on each medicine’s particular needs at that time. This means we are constantly shifting resources among medicines. Therefore, what we spend on each medicine during a particular period is usually a function of what is required to keep the medicines progressing in clinical development, not what medicines we think are most important. For example, the number of people required to start a new study is large, the number of people required to keep a study going is modest and the number of people required to finish a study is large. However, such fluctuations are not indicative of a shift in our emphasis from one medicine to another and cannot be used to accurately predict future costs for each medicine. And, because we always have numerous medicines in preclinical and varying stages of clinical research, the fluctuations in expenses from medicine to medicine, in large part, offset one another. If we partner a medicine, it may affect the size of a trial, its timing, its total cost and the timing of the related costs.

Our medical affairs function is responsible for managing publications planning, funding and coordinating investigator-sponsored trials and communicating scientific and clinical information to healthcare providers, medical professionals and patients.

Our medical affairs expenses were as follows (in millions):

Medical affairs expenses, excluding non-cash compensation expense related to equity awards, increased in 2022 compared to 2021 due to increased costs we incurred as we built our medical affairs function to support our late-stage pipeline.

Expenditures in our manufacturing and development chemistry function consist primarily of personnel costs, specialized chemicals for oligonucleotide manufacturing, laboratory supplies and outside services. Our manufacturing and development chemistry function is responsible for providing drug supplies to drug development and our collaboration partners. Our manufacturing procedures include testing to satisfy good laboratory and good manufacturing practice requirements.

Our manufacturing and development chemistry expenses were as follows (in millions):

In our research, development and patent expenses, we include support costs such as rent, repair and maintenance for buildings and equipment, utilities, depreciation of laboratory equipment and facilities, amortization of our intellectual property, informatics costs, procurement costs and waste disposal costs. We call these costs R&D support expenses.

The following table sets forth information on R&D support expenses (in millions):

R&D support expenses, excluding non-cash compensation expense related to equity awards, increased in 2022 compared to 2021. The increase was primarily related to increased occupancy and personnel costs to support advancing our pipeline and our technology. In October 2022, we executed a sale and leaseback transaction for our headquarters in Carlsbad, California. As a result, beginning in the fourth quarter of 2022, our occupancy costs increased because we began incurring rent expense for these facilities.

Selling, General and Administrative Expenses

Selling, general and administrative, or SG&A, expenses include personnel and outside costs associated with the pre-commercialization and commercialization activities for our medicines and costs to support our company, our employees and our stockholders including, legal, human resources, investor relations and finance. Additionally, we include in selling, general and administrative expenses such costs as rent, repair and maintenance of buildings and equipment, depreciation and utilities costs that we need to support the corporate functions listed above. We also include fees we owe under our in-licensing agreements related to SPINRAZA.

The following table sets forth information on SG&A expenses (in millions):

SG&A expenses, excluding non-cash compensation expense related to equity awards, decreased in 2022 compared to 2021 due to operating efficiencies achieved from restructuring our commercial operations for TEGSEDI and WAYLIVRA, partially offset by increased expenses for our go-to-market preparations for our near-term commercial opportunities. Non-cash compensation expense related to equity awards decreased in 2022 compared to 2021 as a result of restructuring our commercial operations for TEGSEDI and WAYLIVRA in 2021.

Investment Income

Investment income for 2022 was $25.3 million compared to $10.0 million for 2021. The increase in investment income was primarily due to an increase in interest rates during 2022 compared to 2021.

Interest Expense

The following table sets forth information on interest expense (in millions):

Gain (Loss) on Investments

We recorded a $7.3 million loss on investments for 2022 compared to a $10.1 million gain on investments for 2021. The period-over-period fluctuation in our gain (loss) on investments was primarily driven by changes in fair value of our investments in publicly traded biotechnology companies.

Gain on Sale of Real Estate

In October 2022, we concurrently entered into two purchase and sale agreements with a real estate investor. Under the agreements, we sold and leased back the facilities at our headquarters location in Carlsbad, California and will sell, subject to meeting certain closing conditions, two lots of undeveloped land adjacent to our headquarters. We sold the facilities at our headquarters for a total purchase price of $263.4 million and recorded a gain of $150.1 million in the fourth quarter of 2022, resulting in income tax expense of $8.8 million.

Other Expense

In 2022, we recorded a $7.7 million net expense to settle a litigation claim.

In 2021, as a result of a debt offering and debt repurchase, we recorded an $8.6 million loss on early retirement of debt, reflecting the early retirement of a portion of our 1% Notes. The loss on the early retirement of our debt is the difference between the amount we paid to retire our 1% Notes and the net carrying balance of the liability at the time that we retired the debt.

Income Tax Expense (Benefit)

We recorded an income tax expense of $11.7 million for 2022 compared to an income tax benefit of $0.6 million for 2021. Beginning in 2022, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, or TCJA, requires taxpayers to capitalize and amortize research and development expenditures pursuant to Internal Revenue Code, or IRC, Section 174. Our 2022 tax expense relates primarily to the impact of this new law and to federal and state tax on the gain from the sale of our headquarters facilities that closed in October 2022.

Net Loss and Net Loss per Share

We generated a net loss of $269.7 million for 2022 compared to $28.6 million for 2021. Our net loss increased for 2022 compared to 2021 primarily due to decreased revenue and increased expenses year-over-year, as discussed in the revenue and expenses sections, respectively.

Basic and diluted net loss per share for 2022 were each $1.90. Basic and diluted net loss per share for 2021 were each $0.20.

Liquidity and Capital Resources

We have financed our operations primarily from research and development collaborative agreements. We also finance our operations from commercial revenue from SPINRAZA royalties and TEGSEDI and WAYLIVRA commercial revenue. From our inception through December 31, 2022, we have earned approximately $6.4 billion in revenue. We have also financed our operations through the sale of our equity securities and the issuance of long-term debt. From the time we were founded through December 31, 2022, we have raised net proceeds of approximately $2.0 billion from the sale of our equity securities. Additionally, we borrowed approximately $2.1 billion under long-term debt arrangements to finance a portion of our operations over the same time period.

Our cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments, debt obligations and working capital decreased from 2021 to 2022. In 2021, we issued $632.5 million of 0% Notes (due in April 2026) and we used a portion of the proceeds to repurchase $247.9 million of our 1% Notes in April 2021. We paid the remaining principal balance of our 1% Notes with $62.0 million of cash at maturity in November 2021. In 2022, we sold the facilities and related land at our headquarters for a total purchase price of $263.4 million and used a portion of the proceeds to extinguish our mortgage debt on these facilities of $51.3 million. At December 31, 2022, we had $2.0 billion of cash and short-term investments on hand. We believe our cash and short-term investment balance is sufficient to fund our operations in the short-term and in the longer-term. In 2022, our working capital decreased because our cash and investments decreased as discussed above.

The following table summarizes our contractual obligations as of December 31, 2022. The table provides a breakdown of when obligations become due. We provide a more detailed description of the major components of our debt in Note 4, Long-Term Obligations and Commitments.

Our contractual obligations consist primarily of our convertible debt. In addition, we also have a facility mortgage, facility leases, equipment financing arrangements and other obligations. Due to the uncertainty with respect to the timing of future cash flows associated with our unrecognized tax benefits, we are unable to make reasonably reliable estimates of the period of cash settlement with the respective taxing authorities. Therefore, we have excluded our gross unrecognized tax benefits from our contractual obligations table above. We have not entered into, nor do we currently have, any off-balance sheet arrangements (as defined under SEC rules).

Convertible Debt and Call Spread

Operating Facilities

Refer to Part IV, Item 15, Note 4, Long-Term Obligations and Commitments, in the Notes to our consolidated financial statements for further details on our operating facilities.

Operating Leases

Refer to Part IV, Item 15, Note 4, Long-Term Obligations and Commitments, in the Notes to our consolidated financial statements for further details on our operating leases.

Royalty Revenue Monetization

In January 2023, we entered into a royalty purchase agreement with Royalty Pharma to monetize a portion of our future SPINRAZA and pelacarsen royalties we are entitled to under our agreements with Biogen and Novartis, respectively. Refer to Part IV, Item 15, Note 4, Long-Term Obligations and Commitments, in the Notes to our consolidated financial statements for further details on this agreement.

Other Obligations

In addition to contractual obligations, we had outstanding purchase orders as of December 31, 2022 for the purchase of services, capital equipment and materials as part of our normal course of business.

We may enter into additional collaborations with partners that could provide for additional revenue to us and we may incur additional cash expenditures related to our obligations under any of the new agreements we may enter into. We currently intend to use our cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments to finance our activities. However, we may also pursue other financing alternatives, like issuing additional shares of our common stock, issuing debt instruments, refinancing our existing debt, or securing lines of credit. Whether we use our existing capital resources or choose to obtain financing will depend on various factors, including the future success of our business, the prevailing interest rate environment and the condition of financial markets generally.

Critical Accounting Estimates

We prepare our consolidated financial statements in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the U.S. As such, we make certain estimates, judgments and assumptions that we believe are reasonable, based upon the information available to us. These judgments involve making estimates about the effect of matters that are inherently uncertain and may significantly impact our quarterly or annual results of operations and financial condition. Each quarter, our senior management reviews the development, selection and disclosure of such estimates with the audit committee of our board of directors. In the following paragraphs, we describe the specific risks associated with these critical accounting estimates and we caution that future events rarely develop exactly as one may expect, and that best estimates may require adjustment. Our significant accounting policies are outlined in Note 1, Organization and Significant Accounting Policies, in the Notes to the Consolidated Financial Statements.

The following are our significant accounting estimates, which we believe are the most critical to aid in fully understanding and evaluating our reported financial results:

The following are descriptions of our critical accounting estimates.

Revenue Recognition

We earn revenue from several sources. The judgements and estimates we make vary between each source of our revenue. At contract inception, we analyze our collaboration arrangements to assess whether such arrangements involve joint operating activities performed by parties that are both active participants in the activities and exposed to significant risks and rewards dependent on the commercial success of such activities and therefore within the scope of Accounting Standards Codification, or ASC, Topic 808, Collaborative Arrangements, or ASC 808. For collaboration arrangements within the scope of ASC 808 that contain multiple elements, we first determine which elements of the collaboration reflect a vendor-customer relationship and are therefore within the scope of ASC 606, Revenue from Contracts with Customers. When we determine elements of a collaboration do not reflect a vendor-customer relationship, we consistently apply the reasonable and rational policy election we made by analogizing to authoritative accounting literature.

The following is a summary of the critical accounting estimates we make with respect to our revenue.

Research and development revenue under collaborative agreements

We recognize R&D revenue from numerous collaboration agreements. Our collaboration agreements typically contain multiple elements, or performance obligations, including technology licenses or options to obtain technology licenses, R&D services, and manufacturing services. Upon entering into a collaboration agreement, we are required to make the following judgements:

Our assessment of what constitutes a separate performance obligation requires us to apply judgement. Specifically, we have to identify which goods and services we are required to provide under the contract are distinct.

To determine the transaction price, we review the amount of consideration we are eligible to earn under the agreement. We do not typically include any payments we may receive in the future in our initial transaction price since the payments are typically not probable because they are contingent upon certain future events. We reassess the total transaction price at each reporting period to determine if we should include additional payments in the transaction price that have become probable.

When we allocate the transaction price to more than one performance obligation, we make estimates of the relative stand-alone selling price of each performance obligation because we do not typically sell our goods or services on a stand-alone basis. The estimate of the relative stand-alone selling price requires us in some cases to make significant judgements. For example, when we deliver a license at the start of an agreement, we use valuation methodologies, such as the relief from royalty method, to value the license. Under this method we are required to make estimates including: future sales, royalties on future product sales, contractual milestones, expenses, income taxes and discount rates. Additionally, when we estimate the selling price for R&D services, we make estimates, including: the number of internal hours we will spend on the services, the cost of work we and third parties will perform and the cost of clinical trial material we will use.

The R&D revenue we recognize each period is comprised of several types of revenue, including amortization from upfront payments, milestone payments, license fees and other services that are recognized immediately or amortized over the period in which we satisfy our performance obligation. Each of these types of revenue require us to make various judgements and estimates.

R&D Services with Upfront Payments

We recognize revenue from the amortization of upfront payments as we perform R&D services. We use an input method to estimate the amount of revenue to recognize each period. This method requires us to make estimates of the total costs we expect to incur to complete our R&D services performance obligation or the total length of time it will take us to complete our R&D services performance obligation. If we change our estimates, we may have to adjust our revenue.

Milestone Payments

When recognizing revenue related to milestone payments we typically make the following judgements and estimates:

License Fees

Estimated Liability for Clinical Development Costs

We have numerous medicines in preclinical studies and/or clinical trials at clinical sites throughout the world. On at least a quarterly basis, we estimate our liability for preclinical and clinical development costs we have incurred and services that we have received but for which we have not yet been billed and maintain an accrual to cover these costs. These costs primarily relate to third-party clinical management costs, laboratory and analysis costs, toxicology studies and investigator grants. We estimate our liability using assumptions about study and patient activities and the related expected expenses for those activities determined based on the contracted fees with our service providers. The assumptions we use represent our best estimates of the activity and expenses at the time of our accrual and involve inherent uncertainties and the application of our judgment. Upon settlement, these costs may differ materially from the amounts accrued in our consolidated financial statements. Our historical accrual estimates have not been materially different from our actual amounts.

As of December 31, 2022, a hypothetical 10 percent increase in our liability for preclinical and clinical development costs would have resulted in an increase in our loss before income tax benefit and accrued liabilities of approximately $11.6 million.

Item 7A. Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk

We are exposed to changes in interest rates primarily from our investments in certain short-term investments. We primarily invest our excess cash in highly liquid short-term investments of the U.S. Treasury and reputable financial institutions, corporations, and U.S. government agencies with strong credit ratings. We typically hold our investments for the duration of the term of the respective instrument. We do not utilize derivative financial instruments, derivative commodity instruments or other market risk sensitive instruments, positions or transactions to manage exposure to interest rate changes. Accordingly, we believe that, while the securities we hold are subject to changes in the financial standing of the issuer of such securities, we were not subject to any material risks arising from changes in interest rates, foreign currency exchange rates, commodity prices, equity prices or other market changes that affect market risk sensitive instruments as of December 31, 2022 and will not be subject to any material risks arising from these changes in the foreseeable future.

Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data

We filed our consolidated financial statements and supplementary data required by this item as exhibits hereto, and listed them under Item 15(a)(1) and (2), and incorporate them herein by reference.

Item 9. Changes in and Disagreements with Accountants on Accounting and Financial Disclosure

None.

Item 9A. Controls and Procedures

Disclosure Controls and Procedures

We maintain disclosure controls and procedures (as defined in Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e) under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, or Exchange Act) that are designed to ensure that information we are required to disclose in our Exchange Act reports is recorded, processed, summarized and reported within the time periods specified in the SEC’s rules and forms, and that such information is accumulated and communicated to our management, including our Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer, as appropriate, to allow timely decisions regarding required disclosure. We designed and evaluated our disclosure controls and procedures recognizing that any controls and procedures, no matter how well designed and operated, can provide only reasonable assurance and not absolute assurance of achieving the desired control objectives.

As of the end of the period covered by this report on Form 10-K, we carried out an evaluation of our disclosure controls and procedures under the supervision of, and with the participation of our management, including our Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer. Based on our evaluation, our Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer concluded that our disclosure controls and procedures were effective as of December 31, 2022.

Management’s Report on Internal Control over Financial Reporting

Our management is responsible for establishing and maintaining adequate internal control over financial reporting, as defined in Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(f). Our internal control over financial reporting is a process designed under the supervision of our Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of our financial statements for external purposes in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles.

As of December 31, 2022, we assessed the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting based on the criteria for effective internal control over financial reporting under the 2013 “Internal Control—Integrated Framework,” issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations, or COSO, of the Treadway Commission, under the supervision of, and with the participation of our management, including our Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer. Based on that assessment, our management concluded that we maintained effective internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2022.

Ernst & Young LLP, an independent registered public accounting firm, audited the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2022, as stated in their attestation report, which is included elsewhere herein.

Changes in Internal Control over Financial Reporting

The above assessment did not identify any change in our internal control over financial reporting that occurred during our latest fiscal quarter and that has materially affected, or is reasonably likely to materially affect, our internal control over financial reporting.

REPORT OF INDEPENDENT REGISTERED PUBLIC ACCOUNTING FIRM

To the Stockholders and Board of Directors of Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

Opinion on Internal Control over Financial Reporting

We have audited Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc.’s internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2022, based on criteria established in Internal Control—Integrated Framework issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (2013 framework) (the COSO criteria). In our opinion, Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (the Company) maintained, in all material respects, effective internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2022, based on the COSO criteria.

We also have audited, in accordance with the standards of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States) (PCAOB), the consolidated balance sheets of the Company as of December 31, 2022 and 2021, the related consolidated statements of operations, comprehensive loss, stockholders’ equity and cash flows for each of the three years in the period ended December 31, 2022, and the related notes and our report dated February 22, 2023 expressed an unqualified opinion thereon.

Basis for Opinion

The Company’s management is responsible for maintaining effective internal control over financial reporting and for its assessment of the effectiveness of internal control over financial reporting included in the accompanying Management’s Report on Internal Control over Financial Reporting. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on the Company’s internal control over financial reporting based on our audit. We are a public accounting firm registered with the PCAOB and are required to be independent with respect to the Company in accordance with the U.S. federal securities laws and the applicable rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the PCAOB.

We conducted our audit in accordance with the standards of the PCAOB. Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether effective internal control over financial reporting was maintained in all material respects.

Our audit included obtaining an understanding of internal control over financial reporting, assessing the risk that a material weakness exists, testing and evaluating the design and operating effectiveness of internal control based on the assessed risk, and performing such other procedures as we considered necessary in the circumstances. We believe that our audit provides a reasonable basis for our opinion.

Definition and Limitations of Internal Control Over Financial Reporting

A company’s internal control over financial reporting is a process designed to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of financial statements for external purposes in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles. A company’s internal control over financial reporting includes those policies and procedures that (1) pertain to the maintenance of records that, in reasonable detail, accurately and fairly reflect the transactions and dispositions of the assets of the company; (2) provide reasonable assurance that transactions are recorded as necessary to permit preparation of financial statements in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles, and that receipts and expenditures of the company are being made only in accordance with authorizations of management and directors of the company; and (3) provide reasonable assurance regarding prevention or timely detection of unauthorized acquisition, use, or disposition of the company’s assets that could have a material effect on the financial statements.

Because of its inherent limitations, internal control over financial reporting may not prevent or detect misstatements. Also, projections of any evaluation of effectiveness to future periods are subject to the risk that controls may become inadequate because of changes in conditions, or that the degree of compliance with the policies or procedures may deteriorate.

/s/ Ernst & Young LLP

San Diego, California

February 22, 2023

Item 9B. Other Information

Not applicable.

Item 9C. Disclosure Regarding Foreign Jurisdictions that Prevent Inspections

Not applicable.

PART III

Item 10. Directors, Executive Officers and Corporate Governance

We incorporate by reference the information required by this Item with respect to directors and the Audit Committee from the information under the caption “ELECTION OF DIRECTORS,” including in particular the information under “Nominating, Governance and Review Committee” and “Audit Committee,” contained in our definitive Proxy Statement, which we will file with the Securities and Exchange Commission within 120 days after the end of the fiscal year ended December 31, 2022, or the Proxy Statement.