IONIS PHARMACEUTICALS INC - Quarter Report: 2022 June (Form 10-Q)

UNITED STATES

1.  Basis of Presentation

We prepared the unaudited interim condensed consolidated financial statements for the three and six months ended June 30, 2022 and 2021 on the same basis as the audited financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2021. We included all normal recurring adjustments in the financial statements, which we considered necessary for a fair presentation of our financial position at such dates and our operating results and cash flows for those periods. Our operating results for the interim periods may not be indicative of what our operating results will be for the entire year. For more complete financial information, these financial statements, and notes thereto, should be read in conjunction with the audited financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2021 included in our Annual Report on Form 10-K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC.

In our condensed consolidated financial statements, we included the accounts of Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and the consolidated results of our wholly owned subsidiary, Akcea Therapeutics, Inc. and its wholly owned subsidiaries (“we”, “us” or “our”).

2.  Significant Accounting Policies

We generally recognize revenue when we have satisfied all contractual obligations and are reasonably assured of collecting the resulting receivable. We are often entitled to bill our customers and receive payment from our customers in advance of recognizing the revenue. In the instances in which we have received payment from our customers in advance of recognizing revenue, we include the amounts in deferred revenue on our condensed consolidated balance sheet.

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. ASC 808 does not address the recognition and measurement of collaborative arrangements and instead refers companies to use other authoritative accounting literature. 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 therefore are 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.

Commercial Revenue: SPINRAZA royalties and Licensing and other royalty revenue

We earn commercial revenue primarily in the form of royalty payments on net sales of SPINRAZA. We will also recognize as commercial revenue sales milestone payments and royalties we earn under our other partnerships.

Commercial Revenue: TEGSEDI and WAYLIVRA revenue, net

In January 2021 and April 2021, we entered into distribution agreements with Swedish Orphan Biovitrum AB, or Sobi, in which Sobi began commercializing TEGSEDI and WAYLIVRA in Europe and TEGSEDI in North America, respectively. 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. As a result of these agreements, we earn a distribution fee on net sales from Sobi for each medicine.

Prior to the second quarter of 2021 in North America, we sold TEGSEDI through exclusive distribution agreements with third-party logistics companies, or 3PLs, that took title to TEGSEDI. The 3PLs then distributed TEGSEDI to a specialty pharmacy and a specialty distributor, which we collectively refer to as wholesalers, who then distributed TEGSEDI to health care providers and patients. In the United States, or U.S., we had a single 3PL as our sole customer and in Canada we also had a single 3PL as our sole customer. Prior to 2021 in Europe, we sold TEGSEDI and WAYLIVRA to hospitals and pharmacies, which were our customers, using 3PLs as distributors.

Under our collaboration agreement with PTC Therapeutics International Limited, or PTC, PTC is responsible for commercializing TEGSEDI and WAYLIVRA in Latin America and Caribbean countries. Under our agreement, we started receiving royalties from PTC for TEGSEDI sales in December 2021.

Research and development revenue under collaborative agreements

We often enter into collaboration agreements to license and sell our technology on an exclusive or non-exclusive basis. Our collaboration agreements typically contain multiple elements, or performance obligations, including technology licenses or options to obtain technology licenses, research and development, or R&D, services, and manufacturing services.

See Note 6, Collaborative Arrangements and Licensing Agreements, for collaborations with substantive changes that occurred in 2022. Additionally, see Note 6, Collaborative Arrangements and Licensing Agreements, in our audited financial statements included in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2021 for a summary of each of our material collaborative agreements.

For elements of our contractual relationships that we account for under ASC 606, we use a five-step process to determine the amount of revenue we should recognize and when we should recognize it. The five-step process is as follows:

Accounting rules require us to first determine if we have a contract with our partner, including confirming that we have met each of the following criteria:

We next identify our performance obligations, which represent the distinct goods and services we are required to provide under the contract.

Often we enter into a collaboration agreement in which we provide our partner with an option to license a medicine in the future. We may also provide our partner with an option to request that we provide additional goods or services in the future, such as active pharmaceutical ingredient, or API. We evaluate whether these options are material rights at the inception of the agreement. If we determine an option is a material right, we will consider the option a separate performance obligation. Historically, we have concluded that the options we grant to license a medicine in the future or to provide additional goods and services as requested by our partner are not material rights because these items are contingent upon future events that may not occur and are not priced at a significant discount. When a partner exercises its option to license a medicine or requests additional goods or services, then we identify a new performance obligation for that item.

In some cases, we deliver a license at the start of an agreement. If we determine that our partner has full use of the license and we do not have any additional material performance obligations related to the license after delivery, then we consider the license to be a separate performance obligation.

We then determine the transaction price by reviewing the amount of consideration we are eligible to earn under the collaboration agreement, including any variable consideration. Under our collaboration agreements, consideration typically includes fixed consideration in the form of an upfront payment and variable consideration in the form of potential milestone payments, license fees and royalties. At the start of an agreement, our transaction price usually consists of only the upfront payment. We do not typically include any payments we may receive in the future in our initial transaction price because the payments are not probable and are contingent on 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.

Milestone payments are our most common type of variable consideration. We recognize milestone payments using the most likely amount method because we will either receive the milestone payment or we will not, which makes the potential milestone payment a binary event. The most likely amount method requires us to determine the likelihood of earning the milestone payment. We include a milestone payment in the transaction price once it is probable we will achieve the milestone event. Most often, we do not consider our milestone payments probable until we or our partner achieve the milestone event because the majority of our milestone payments are contingent upon events that are not within our control and/or are usually based on scientific progress which is inherently uncertain. For example, in the first quarter of 2022, we earned a $10 million milestone payment from Biogen when Biogen advanced the Phase 1/2 study for ION859, an investigational antisense medicine targeting leucine rich repeat kinase 2, or LRRK2, in patients with Parkinson’s disease. We did not consider the milestone payment probable until Biogen achieved the milestone event because advancing ION859 was contingent on Biogen advancing a Phase 1/2 study and was not within our control. We recognized the milestone payment in full in the period the milestone event was achieved because we did not have any remaining performance obligations related to the milestone payment.

Next, we allocate the transaction price to each of our performance obligations. When we have to 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. We then allocate the transaction price to each performance obligation based on the relative stand-alone selling price. We do not reallocate the transaction price after the start of an agreement to reflect subsequent changes in stand-alone selling prices.

We may engage a third party, independent valuation specialist to assist us with determining a stand-alone selling price for collaborations in which we deliver a license at the start of an agreement. We estimate the stand-alone selling price of these licenses using valuation methodologies, such as the relief from royalty method. Under this method, we estimate the amount of income, net of taxes, for the license. We then discount the projected income to present value. The significant inputs we use to determine the projected income of a license could include:

We typically estimate the selling price of R&D services by using our internal estimates of the cost to perform the specific services. The significant inputs we use to determine the selling price of our R&D services include:

For purposes of determining the stand-alone selling price of the R&D services we perform and the API we will deliver, accounting guidance requires us to include a markup for a reasonable profit margin.

We recognize revenue in one of two ways, over time or at a point in time. We recognize revenue over time when we are executing on our performance obligation over time and our partner receives benefit over time. For example, we recognize revenue over time when we provide R&D services. We recognize revenue at a point in time when our partner receives full use of an item at a specific point in time. For example, we recognize revenue at a point in time when we deliver a license or API to a partner.

For R&D services that we recognize over time, we measure our progress using an input method. The input methods we use are based on the effort we expend or costs we incur toward the satisfaction of our performance obligation. We estimate the amount of effort we expend, including the time we estimate it will take us to complete the activities, or costs we incur in a given period, relative to the estimated total effort or costs to satisfy the performance obligation. This results in a percentage that we multiply by the transaction price to determine the amount of revenue we recognize each period. This approach requires us to make numerous estimates and use significant judgement. If our estimates or judgements change over the course of the collaboration, they may affect the timing and amount of revenue that we recognize in the current and future periods.

The following are examples of when we typically recognize revenue based on the types of payments we receive.

We recognize royalty revenue, including royalties from SPINRAZA sales, in the period in which the counterparty sells the related product and recognizes the related revenue, which in certain cases may require us to estimate our royalty revenue.

Under our distribution agreements with Sobi we concluded that our performance obligation is to provide services to Sobi over the term of the agreement, which includes supplying finished goods inventory to Sobi. We are also responsible for maintaining the marketing authorization for TEGSEDI and WAYLIVRA in major markets and for leading the global commercial strategy for each medicine. We view this performance obligation as a series of distinct activities that are substantially the same. Therefore, we recognize as revenue the price Sobi pays us for the inventory when we deliver the finished goods inventory to Sobi. We also recognize distribution fee revenue based on Sobi’s net sales of TEGSEDI and WAYLIVRA. Under our agreements with Sobi, Sobi does not generally have a right of return.

Prior to our distribution agreements with Sobi, we recognized TEGSEDI and WAYLIVRA commercial revenue in the period when our customer obtained control of our products, which occurred at a point in time upon transfer of title to the customer. We classified payments to customers or other parties in the distribution channel for services that were distinct and priced at fair value as selling, general and administrative, or SG&A, expenses in our condensed consolidated statements of operations. We classified payments to customers or other parties in the distribution channel that did not meet those criteria as a reduction of revenue, as discussed further below. We excluded from revenues taxes collected from customers relating to TEGSEDI and WAYLIVRA commercial revenue and remitted these amounts to governmental authorities.

Under our distribution agreements with Sobi, Sobi is responsible for any applicable reserves.

Prior to our distribution agreements with Sobi, we recorded TEGSEDI and WAYLIVRA commercial revenue at our net sales price, or transaction price. We included in our transaction price estimated reserves for discounts, returns, chargebacks, rebates and other allowances that we offered within contracts between us and our customers, wholesalers, distributors, health care providers and other indirect customers. We estimated our reserves using the amounts we have earned or we could claim on the associated sales. We classified our reserves as a reduction of accounts receivable when we were not required to make a payment or as a current liability when we were required to make a payment. In certain cases, our estimates included a range of possible outcomes that were probability weighted for relevant factors such as our historical experience, contractual and statutory requirements, specific known market events and trends, industry data and forecasted customer buying and payment patterns. Overall, our reserves reflected our best estimates under the terms of our respective contracts. When calculating our reserves and related TEGSEDI and WAYLIVRA commercial revenue, we only recognized amounts to the extent that we considered it probable that we would not have to reverse a significant amount of the cumulative sales we previously recognized in a future period. Under our agreements with Sobi, we transferred all reserves to Sobi. See our revenue recognition policy in Note 1, Organization and Significant Accounting Policies, of our audited financial statements included in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2021 for additional details regarding how we accounted for the reserves related to TEDSEDI and WAYLIVIRA product sales prior to our agreements with Sobi.

When we enter into a collaboration agreement and receive an upfront payment, we typically record the entire upfront payment as deferred revenue if our only performance obligation is for R&D services we will provide in the future. We amortize the upfront payment into revenue as we perform the R&D services. For example, under our collaboration agreement with Roche to develop IONIS-FB-L_Rx for the treatment of complement-mediated diseases, we received a $75 million upfront payment in the fourth quarter of 2018. We allocated the upfront payment to our single performance obligation, R&D services. We are amortizing the $75 million upfront payment using an input method over the estimated period of time we are providing R&D services.

We are required to include additional consideration in the transaction price when it is probable. We typically include milestone payments for R&D services in the transaction price when they are achieved. We include these milestone payments when they are achieved because typically there is considerable uncertainty in the research and development processes that trigger these payments. Similarly, we include approval milestone payments in the transaction price once the medicine is approved by the applicable regulatory agency. We will recognize sales-based milestone payments in the period in which we achieve the milestone under the sales-based royalty exception allowed under accounting rules.

We recognize milestone payments that relate to an ongoing performance obligation over our period of performance. For example, in the second quarter of 2022, we achieved a $20 million milestone payment from Roche when we advanced the Phase 2 study in patients with dry age-related macular degeneration, or AMD, under our collaboration agreement with Roche to develop IONIS-FB-L_Rx. We added this payment to the transaction price and allocated it to our R&D services performance obligation for IONIS-FB-L_Rx. We are recognizing revenue related to this milestone payment over our estimated period of performance. As a result, we recorded a cumulative catch-up adjustment of $13.8 million to increase revenue as of June 30, 2022 for this payment. We estimate we will satisfy our performance obligation in the fourth quarter of 2023.

Conversely, we recognize in full those milestone payments that we earn based on our partners’ activities when our partner achieves the milestone event and we do not have a performance obligation. For example, in the first quarter of 2022, we recognized $18 million in milestone payments when Biogen advanced two targets under our 2013 strategic collaboration. We concluded that the milestone payments were not related to our R&D services performance obligation. Therefore, we recognized the milestone payments in full in the first quarter of 2022.

We generally recognize as revenue the total amount we determine to be the relative stand-alone selling price of a license when we deliver the license to our partner. This is because our partner has full use of the license and we do not have any additional performance obligations related to the license after delivery. For example, in the fourth quarter of 2021, we earned a $60 million license fee from Biogen when Biogen licensed ION306, an investigational medicine in development to treat SMA.

We recognize sublicense fee revenue in the period in which a party, who has already licensed our technology, further licenses the technology to another party because we do not have any performance obligations related to the sublicense. For example, in the fourth quarter of 2020, we earned a $41.2 million sublicense fee from Alnylam Pharmaceuticals for its sublicense of our technology to Sanofi Genzyme.

Amendments to Agreements

From time to time we amend our collaboration agreements. When this occurs, we are required to assess the following items to determine the accounting for the amendment:

If we conclude the goods and/or services in the amendment are distinct from the performance obligations in the original agreement and at a stand-alone selling price, we account for the amendment as a separate agreement. If we conclude the goods and/or services are not distinct and are sold at a stand-alone selling price, we then assess whether the remaining goods or services are distinct from those already provided. If the goods and/or services are distinct from what we have already provided, then we allocate the remaining transaction price from the original agreement and the additional transaction price from the amendment to the remaining goods and/or services. If the goods and/or services are not distinct from what we have already provided, we update the transaction price for our single performance obligation and recognize any change in our estimated revenue as a cumulative adjustment.

Multiple agreements

From time to time, we may enter into separate agreements at or near the same time with the same partner. We evaluate such agreements to determine whether we should account for them individually as distinct arrangements or whether the separate agreements should be combined and accounted for together. We evaluate the following to determine the accounting for the agreements:

Our evaluation involves significant judgment to determine whether a group of agreements might be so closely related that accounting guidance requires us to account for them as a combined arrangement.

For example, in the second quarter of 2018, we entered into two separate agreements with Biogen at the same time: a new strategic neurology collaboration agreement and a stock purchase agreement, or SPA. We evaluated the Biogen agreements to determine whether we should treat the agreements separately or combine them. We considered that the agreements were negotiated concurrently and in contemplation of one another. Based on these facts and circumstances, we concluded that we should evaluate the provisions of the agreements on a combined basis.

Eplontersen Collaboration with AstraZeneca

In December 2021, we entered into a joint development and commercialization agreement with AstraZeneca to develop and commercialize eplontersen for the treatment of transthyretin amyloidosis, or 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. Under the terms of the agreement, we received a $200 million upfront payment in 2021.

We evaluated our eplontersen collaboration under ASC 808 and identified four material components: (i) the license we granted to AstraZeneca in 2021, (ii) the co-development activities that we and AstraZeneca are performing, (iii) the co-commercialization activities that we and AstraZeneca are performing and (iv) the co-medical affairs activities that we and AstraZeneca are performing.

We determined that we had a vendor-customer relationship within the scope of ASC 606 for the license we granted to AstraZeneca and as a result we had one performance obligation.  For our sole performance obligation, we determined the transaction price was the $200 million upfront payment we received. We recognized the upfront payment in full in 2021 because we did not have any remaining performance obligations after we delivered the license to AstraZeneca.

We also concluded that the co-development activities, the co-commercialization activities and the co-medical affairs activities are within the scope of ASC 808 because we and AstraZeneca are active participants exposed to the risks and benefits of the activities under the collaboration and therefore do not have a vendor-customer relationship. AstraZeneca is responsible for 55 percent of the costs associated with the ongoing global Phase 3 development program. Because we are leading the Phase 3 development program, we made an accounting policy election to recognize as non-customer revenue the cost-share funding from AstraZeneca, net of our share of AstraZeneca’s development expenses, in the same period we incur the related development expenses. As 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., we made an accounting policy election to recognize cost-share funding we receive from AstraZeneca related to commercial and medical affairs activities as reductions of our SG&A expense and R&D expense, respectively. Refer to Item 2, Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations, for further details on the financial statement impacts of our eplontersen collaboration with AstraZeneca.

Contracts Receivable

Our contracts receivable balance represents the amounts we have billed our partners or customers and that are due to us unconditionally for goods we have delivered or services we have performed. When we bill our partners or customers with payment terms based on the passage of time, we consider the contracts receivable to be unconditional. We typically receive payment within one quarter of billing our partner or customer.

As of June 30, 2022, approximately 69.9 percent of our contracts receivables were from three significant customers. As of December 31, 2021, approximately 93.8 percent of our contracts receivables were from two significant customers.

Unbilled SPINRAZA Royalties

Our unbilled SPINRAZA royalties represent our right to receive consideration from Biogen in advance of when we are eligible to bill Biogen for SPINRAZA royalties. We include these unbilled amounts in other current assets on our condensed consolidated balance sheet.

Deferred Revenue

We are often entitled to bill our customers and receive payment from our customers in advance of our obligation to provide services or transfer goods to our partners. In these instances, we include the amounts in deferred revenue on our condensed consolidated balance sheet. During the three months ended June 30, 2022 and 2021, we recognized $22.6 million and $26.8 million of revenue from amounts that were in our beginning deferred revenue balance for each respective period. During the six months ended June 30, 2022 and 2021, we recognized $48.4 million and $51.4 million of revenue from amounts that were in our beginning deferred revenue balance for each respective period. For further discussion, refer to our revenue recognition policy above.

Cost of Sales

Our cost of sales includes manufacturing costs, transportation and freight costs and indirect overhead costs associated with the manufacturing and distribution of our products. We also may include certain period costs related to manufacturing services and inventory adjustments in cost of sales.

Accrued Liabilities

Our accrued liabilities consisted of the following (in thousands):

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.

Cash, Cash Equivalents and Investments

We consider all liquid investments with maturities of three months or less when we purchase them to be cash equivalents. Our short-term investments have initial maturities of greater than three months from date of purchase. We classify our short-term debt investments as “available-for-sale” and carry them at fair market value based upon prices on the last day of the fiscal period for identical or similar items. We record unrealized gains and losses on debt securities as a separate component of comprehensive income (loss) and include net realized gains and losses in gain (loss) on investments in our condensed consolidated statement of operations. We use the specific identification method to determine the cost of securities sold.

We also have equity investments of less than 20 percent ownership in publicly and privately held biotechnology companies that we received as part of a technology license or partner agreement. At June 30, 2022, we held equity investments in three publicly held companies and eight privately held companies.

We are required to measure and record our equity investments at fair value and to recognize the changes in fair value in our condensed consolidated statement of operations. We account for our equity investments in publicly held companies based on observable inputs such as quoted prices in active markets for identical assets. We account for our equity investments in privately held companies at their cost minus impairments, plus or minus changes resulting from observable price changes in orderly transactions for the identical or similar investment of the same issuer. We recorded an immaterial amount of fair value adjustments related to our equity investments for the six months ended June 30, 2022 and 2021.

Inventory Valuation

We reflect our inventory on our condensed consolidated balance sheet at the lower of cost or net realizable value under the first-in, first-out method, or FIFO. We capitalize the costs of raw materials that we purchase for use in producing our medicines because until we use these raw materials, they have alternative future uses, which we refer to as clinical raw materials. We include in inventory raw material costs for medicines that we manufacture for our partners under contractual terms and that we use primarily in our clinical development activities and drug products. We can use each of our raw materials in multiple products and, as a result, each raw material has future economic value independent of the development status of any single medicine. For example, if one of our medicines failed, we could use the raw materials for that medicine to manufacture our other medicines. We expense these costs as R&D expenses when we begin to manufacture API for a particular medicine if the medicine has not been approved for marketing by a regulatory agency. Our raw materials - commercial inventory includes API for our commercial medicines. We capitalize material, labor and overhead costs as part of our raw materials - commercial inventory.

We review our inventory periodically and reduce the carrying value of items we consider to be slow moving or obsolete to their estimated net realizable value based on forecasted demand compared to quantities on hand. We consider several factors in estimating the net realizable value, including shelf life of our inventory, alternative uses for our medicines in development and historical write-offs.

Our inventory consisted of the following (in thousands):

Leases

We determine if an arrangement contains a lease at inception of the arrangement. As of June 30, 2022, we only had operating leases. We recognize a right-of-use operating lease asset and associated short- and long-term operating lease liability on our condensed consolidated balance sheet for operating leases greater than one year. Our right-of-use assets represent our right to use an underlying asset for the lease term and our lease liabilities represent our obligation to make lease payments arising from the lease arrangement. We recognize our right-of-use operating lease assets and lease liabilities based on the present value of the future minimum lease payments we will pay over the lease term. We determine the lease term at the inception of each lease, and in certain cases our lease term could include renewal options if we concluded we were reasonably certain that we will exercise the renewal option. When we exercise a lease option that was not previously included in the initial lease term, we reassess our right-of-use asset and lease liabilities for the new lease term.

As our leases do not provide an interest rate implicit in the lease, we used our incremental borrowing rate, based on the information available on the date we adopted Topic 842 (January 2019), as of the lease inception date or at the lease option extension date in determining the present value of future payments. We recognize rent expense for our minimum lease payments on a straight-line basis over the expected term of our lease. We recognize period expenses, such as common area maintenance expenses, in the period we incur the expense.

In January 2022, we entered into a sublease agreement for our office space located in Boston, Massachusetts. The sublease commenced in January 2022 when the office space was ready for our tenant’s occupancy. We are subleasing this space under a non-cancelable operating sublease with a sublease term ending in November 2028 with no option to extend the sublease. Under the sublease agreement we provided a seven-month free rent period, which commenced in January 2022. We will receive lease payments over the sublease term totaling $9.6 million. We are recognizing sublease payments as other income on a straight-line, gross basis over the term of our sublease.

Research, Development and Patent Expenses

Our research and development expenses include wages, benefits, facilities, supplies, external services, clinical trial and manufacturing costs and other expenses that are directly related to our research and development operations. We expense research and development costs as we incur them. When we make payments for research and development services prior to the services being rendered, we record those amounts as prepaid assets on our condensed consolidated balance sheet and we expense them as the services are provided.

We capitalize costs consisting principally of outside legal costs and filing fees related to obtaining patents. We amortize patent costs over the useful life of the patent, beginning with the date the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, or foreign equivalent, issues the patent. We review our capitalized patent costs regularly to ensure that they include costs for patents and patent applications that have future value. When we identify patents and patent applications that we are not actively pursuing, we write off any associated costs.

Income Taxes

We account for income taxes using the asset and liability method, which requires the recognition of deferred tax assets and liabilities for the expected future tax consequences of events that have been recognized in our financial statements or tax returns. In addition, deferred tax assets are recorded for the future benefit of utilizing net operating losses and research and development credit carryforwards. We record a valuation allowance when necessary to reduce our net deferred tax assets to the amount expected to be realized.

We apply the authoritative accounting guidance prescribing a threshold and measurement attribute for the financial recognition and measurement of a tax position taken or expected to be taken in a tax return. We recognize liabilities for uncertain tax positions based on a two-step process. The first step is to evaluate the tax position for recognition by determining if the weight of available evidence indicates that it is more likely than not that the position will be sustained on audit, including resolution of related appeals or litigation processes, if any. The second step requires us to estimate and measure the tax benefit as the largest amount that is more than 50 percent likely to be realized upon ultimate settlement.

We are required to use significant judgment in evaluating our uncertain tax positions and determining our provision for income taxes. Although we believe our reserves are reasonable, we can provide no assurance that the final tax outcome of these matters will not be different from that which we have reflected in our historical income tax provisions and accruals. We adjust these reserves for changing facts and circumstances, such as the closing of a tax audit or the refinement of an estimate. To the extent that the final tax outcome of these matters is different than the amounts recorded, such differences may impact the provision for income taxes in the period in which we make such determination.

We are also required to use significant judgment in determining any valuation allowance recorded against our deferred tax assets. In assessing the need for a valuation allowance, we consider all available evidence, including scheduled reversal of deferred tax liabilities, past operating results, the feasibility of tax planning strategies and estimates of future taxable income. We base our estimates of future taxable income on assumptions that are consistent with our plans. The assumptions we use represent our best estimates and involve inherent uncertainties and the application of our judgment. Should actual amounts differ from our estimates, the amount of our tax expense and liabilities we recognize could be materially impacted. We record a valuation allowance to reduce the balance of our net deferred tax assets to the amount we believe is more-likely-than-not to be realized.

We do not provide for a U.S. income tax liability and foreign withholding taxes on undistributed foreign earnings of our foreign subsidiaries.

Long-lived Assets

We evaluate long-lived assets, which include property, plant and equipment, right-of-use assets and patent costs, for impairment on at least a quarterly basis and whenever events or changes in circumstances indicate that we may not be able to recover the carrying amount of such assets.

Use of Estimates

We prepare our condensed consolidated financial statements in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the U.S. that require us to make estimates and assumptions that affect the amounts reported in our condensed consolidated financial statements and accompanying notes. Actual results could differ from our estimates.

Basic and Diluted Net Loss Per Share

Basic net loss per share

We calculated our basic net loss per share for the three and six months ended June 30, 2022 and 2021 by dividing our net loss by our weighted-average number of common shares outstanding during the period. Our basic net loss per share for the three months ended June 30, 2022 and 2021 were $0.74 and $0.57, respectively. Our basic net loss per share for the six months ended June 30, 2022 and 2021 were $1.20 and $1.21, respectively.

Diluted net loss per share

For the three and six months ended June 30, 2022 and 2021, we incurred a net loss; therefore, we did not include dilutive common equivalent shares in the computation of diluted net loss per share because the effect would have been anti-dilutive. Common stock from the following would have had an anti-dilutive effect on net loss per share:

For the three and six months ended June 30, 2021, common stock that we could have issued from our 1 percent convertible senior notes, or 1% Notes, would also have had an anti-dilutive effect on net loss per share.

Additionally as of June 30, 2022, we had warrants related to our 0% and 0.125% Notes outstanding. We will include the shares issuable under these warrants in our calculation of diluted earnings per share when the average market price per share of our common stock for the reporting period exceeds the strike price of the warrants.

Convertible Debt

We account for each of our convertible debt instruments as a single unit of accounting, a liability, because we concluded that the conversion features do not require bifurcation as a derivative under ASC 815, Derivatives and Hedging, or ASC 815, and our convertible debt instruments were not issued at a substantial premium. We record the entire debt issuance costs as a contra-liability on our condensed consolidated balance sheet at issuance and we amortize them over the contractual term using an updated effective interest rate. As such, the ending balances for our 0% and 0.125% Notes represent the principal balance of each convertible debt instrument less debt issuance costs. We amortize debt issuance costs for our 0% and 0.125% Notes over the respective contractual term using an effective interest rate of 0.5 percent for each note. Refer to Note 7, Convertible Debt, for further details on our convertible debt instruments.

Call Spread

In conjunction with the issuance of our 0% Notes and 0.125% Notes in April 2021 and December 2019, respectively, we entered into call spread transactions, which were comprised of purchasing note hedges and selling warrants. We account for the note hedges and warrants as separate freestanding financial instruments and treat each instrument as a separate unit of accounting. We determined that the note hedges and warrants do not meet the definition of a liability using the guidance contained in ASC Topic 480, therefore we account for the note hedges and warrants using the Derivatives and Hedging – Contracts in Entity’s Own Equity accounting guidance contained in ASC 815. We determined that the note hedges and warrants meet the definition of a derivative, are indexed to our stock and meet the criteria to be classified in shareholders’ equity. We recorded the aggregate amount paid for the note hedges and the aggregate amount received for the warrants as additional paid-in capital in our condensed consolidated balance sheet. We reassess our ability to continue to classify the note hedges and warrants in shareholders’ equity at each reporting period.

Segment Information

We operate as a single segment, Ionis operations, because our chief decision maker reviews operating results on an aggregate basis and manages our operations as a single operating segment.

Stock-based Compensation Expense

We measure stock-based compensation expense for equity-classified awards, principally related to stock options, RSUs, PRSUs and stock purchase rights under our ESPP based on the estimated fair value of the award on the date of grant. We recognize the value of the portion of the award that we ultimately expect to vest as stock-based compensation expense over the requisite service period in our condensed consolidated statements of operations. We reduce stock-based compensation expense for estimated forfeitures at the time of grant and revise in subsequent periods if actual forfeitures differ from those estimates. We use the Black-Scholes model to estimate the fair value of stock options granted and stock purchase rights under our ESPP.

On the grant date, we use our stock price and assumptions regarding a number of variables to determine the estimated fair value of stock-based payment awards. These variables include, but are not limited to, our expected stock price volatility over the term of the awards, and actual and projected employee stock option exercise behaviors.

We recognize compensation expense for stock options granted, RSUs, PRSUs and stock purchase rights under the ESPP using the accelerated multiple-option approach. Under the accelerated multiple-option approach (also known as the graded-vesting method), we recognize compensation expense over the requisite service period for each separately vesting tranche of the award as though the award were in substance multiple awards, which results in the expense being front-loaded over the vesting period.

In December 2020, we amended and restated the Akcea 2015 equity plan, including renaming the plan as the Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. 2020 Equity Incentive Plan, or 2020 Plan. As a result, all employees are now under an Ionis stock plan and subject to the same Black-Scholes assumptions.

For the six months ended June 30, 2022 and 2021, we used the following weighted-average assumptions in our Black-Scholes calculations:

Employee Stock Options:

ESPP:

RSU’s:

The fair value of RSUs is based on the market price of our common stock on the date of grant. The RSUs we have granted to employees vest annually over a four-year period. The RSUs we granted to our board of directors prior to June 2020 vest annually over a four-year period. RSUs granted after June 2020 to our board of directors fully vest after one year. The weighted-average grant date fair value of RSUs granted to employees for the six months ended June 30, 2022 was $34.38 per share.

PRSU’s:

Beginning in 2020, we added PRSU awards to the compensation for our Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Brett Monia. Beginning in 2022, we added PRSU awards to the compensation for our other Section 16 officers. Under the terms of the grants, one third of the PRSUs may vest at the end of three separate performance periods spread over the three years following the date of grant (i.e., the one-year period commencing on the date of grant and ending on the first anniversary of the date of grant; the two-year period commencing on the date of grant and ending on the second anniversary of the date of grant; and the three-year period commencing on the date of grant and ending on the third anniversary of the date of grant) based on our relative total shareholder return, or TSR, as compared to a peer group of companies, and as measured, in each case, at the end of the applicable performance period. Under the terms of the grants no number of PRSUs is guaranteed to vest and the actual number of PRSUs that will vest at the end of each performance period may be anywhere from zero percentto 150 percent of the target number depending on our relative TSR.

We determined the fair value of the PRSUs using a Monte Carlo model because the performance target is based on our relative TSR, which represents a market condition. We are recognizing the grant date fair value of these awards as stock-based compensation expense using the accelerated multiple-option approach over the vesting period. The weighted-average grant date fair value of PRSUs granted to our Section 16 officers for the six months ended June 30, 2022 and 2021 were $42.28 and $77.17 per share, respectively.

The following table summarizes stock-based compensation expense for the three and six months ended June 30, 2022 and 2021 (in thousands).

As of June 30, 2022, total unrecognized estimated stock-based compensation expense related to non-vested stock options, RSUs and PRSUs was $54.3 million, $61.6 million and $4.4 million, respectively. Our actual expenses may differ from these estimates because we will adjust our unrecognized stock-based compensation expense for future forfeitures. We expect to recognize the cost of stock-based compensation expense related to our non-vested stock options, RSUs and PRSUs over a weighted average amortization period of 1.3 years, 1.6 years and 1.4 years, respectively. Our stock-based compensation expense related to equity awards decreased in the first half of 2022 compared to the same period in 2021 due to decreased headcount as a result of the Akcea Merger and restructuring our commercial operations for TEGSEDI and WAYLIVRA.

Impact of Recently Issued Accounting Standards

We do not expect any recently issued accounting standards to have a material impact to our financial results.

3.  Investments

The following table summarizes the contract maturity of the available-for-sale securities we held as of June 30, 2022:

As illustrated above, at June 30, 2022, 94 percent of our available-for-sale securities had a maturity of less than two years.

All of our available-for-sale debt securities are available to us for use in our current operations. As a result, we categorize all of these securities as current assets even though the stated maturity of some individual securities may be one year or more beyond the balance sheet date.

We invest in available-for-sale securities with strong credit ratings and an investment grade rating at or above A-1, P-1 or F-1 by Standard & Poor’s, or S&P, Moody’s or Fitch, respectively.

At June 30, 2022, we had an equity ownership interest of less than 20 percent in eight private companies and three public companies with which we conduct business.

The following is a summary of our investments (in thousands):

The following is a summary of our investments we consider to be temporarily impaired at June 30, 2022 (in thousands, except for number of investments). We believe that the decline in value of these securities is temporary and is primarily related to the change in market interest rates since purchase. We believe it is more likely than not that we will be able to hold our debt securities to maturity. Therefore, we anticipate full recovery of our debt securities’ amortized cost basis at maturity.

4.  Fair Value Measurements

We use a three-tier fair value hierarchy to prioritize the inputs used in our fair value measurements. These tiers include: Level 1, defined as observable inputs such as quoted prices in active markets for identical assets, which includes our money market funds and treasury securities classified as available-for-sale securities and our investment in equity securities in publicly held biotechnology companies; Level 2, defined as inputs other than quoted prices in active markets that are either directly or indirectly observable, which includes our fixed income securities and commercial paper classified as available-for-sale securities; and Level 3, defined as unobservable inputs in which little or no market data exists, therefore requiring us to develop our own assumptions, which includes our investments in equity securities in privately held biotechnology companies. We classify most of our securities as Level 2. We obtain the fair value of our Level 2 investments from our custodian bank or from a professional pricing service. We validate the fair value of our Level 2 investments by understanding the pricing model used by the custodian banks or professional pricing service provider and comparing that fair value to the fair value based on observable market prices.

The following tables present the major security types we held at June 30, 2022 and December 31, 2021 that we regularly measure and carry at fair value. As of June 30, 2022 and December 31, 2021, one of our investments in publicly held biotechnology companies was subject to trading restrictions that extend to the third quarter of 2022; as a result, we included a lack of marketability discount in valuing this investment, which is a Level 3 input. The following tables segregate each security type by the level within the fair value hierarchy of the valuation techniques we utilized to determine the respective securities’ fair value (in thousands):

The following footnotes reference lines on our condensed consolidated balance sheet:

Convertible Notes

Our 0.125% Notes and 0% Notes had a fair value of $485.2 million and $577.0 million at June 30, 2022, respectively. We determine the fair value of our notes based on quoted market prices for these notes, which are Level 2 measurements because the notes do not trade regularly.

5.  Income Taxes

Beginning in 2022, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, or TCJA, requires taxpayers to amortize research and development expenditures over five years pursuant to Internal Revenue Code, or IRC, Section 174. Although the U.S. Congress is considering legislation that would defer the amortization requirement to later years, we have no assurance that the provision will be repealed or otherwise modified. As a result, we recorded income tax expense of $2.3 million and $0.3 million for the three months ended June 30, 2022 and 2021, respectively, and income tax expense of $3.4 million and $0.5 million for the six months ended June 30, 2022 and 2021, respectively.

6.  Collaborative Arrangements and Licensing Agreements

Strategic Partnership

Biogen

We have several strategic collaborations with Biogen focused on using antisense 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 spinal muscular atrophy, or SMA. We and Biogen are currently developing numerous investigational medicines to treat neurodegenerative diseases under these collaborations, including medicines in development to treat people with ALS, SMA, Angelman Syndrome, Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease. In addition to these medicines, our collaborations with Biogen include a substantial research pipeline that addresses a broad range of neurological diseases. From inception through June 30, 2022, we have received $3.3 billion from our Biogen collaborations.

During the three and six months ended June 30, 2022 and 2021, we earned the following revenue from our relationship with Biogen (in millions, except percentage amounts):