UTHR United Therapeutics Corporation
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United Therapeutics Corporation Q3 F2026 Earnings Call Transcript
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Conference Operator
Good morning and welcome to the United Therapeutics Corporation third quarter 2026 corporate update. My name is Krista and I will be your conference operator today. All participants on the call portion of this webcast will be in a listen only mode until the question and answer portion of this earnings call. If you would like to ask a question during that time, simply press star then the number one on your telephone keypad. and if you would like to withdraw your question, simply press star one again. Please note that this call is being recorded. I will now turn the webcast over to Harry Silvers, Investor Relations at United Therapeutics.
Harry Silvers
Investor Relations
Thank you, Krista. Good morning, everyone. It is my pleasure to welcome you to the United Therapeutics Corporation third quarter 2026 corporate update webcast. Marks today will include forward-looking statements, representing our expectations or beliefs regarding future events. These statements involve risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially. Our latest SEC filings, including forms 10K and 10Q, contain additional information on these risks and uncertainties. We assume no obligation to update forward-looking statements. Today's remarks may discuss the progress and results of clinical trials or other developments with respect to our products. These remarks are intended solely to educate investors and are not intended to serve as the basis for medical decision making or to suggest that any products are safe and effective for any unapproved or investigational uses. Full prescribing information for the products is available on our website. Accompanying me on today's call are Dr. Martine Rothblatt, our chairperson and chief executive officer, Michael Benkowitz, our president and chief operating officer, James Edgemond, our chief financial officer and treasurer, Dr. Leigh Peterson, our Executive Vice President of Product Development and Xenotransplantation, and Pat Poisson, our Executive Vice President of Strategic Development. Note that James Edgemond and I will participate in a fireside chat and one-on-one sessions at the UBS Global Biopharma Conference and Jeffries Global Healthcare Conference in London on November 16th and 17th, respectively. Additionally, members from our management team will participate in a fireside chat and one-on-one meetings at the 45th Annual JPMorgan Healthcare Conference in San Francisco in January of next year. Our scientific, commercial, and medical affairs teams will be present at Phenomenal Hope 2026 on December 4th in Boston and at the Pulmonary Vascular Research Institute Annual Congress in Bangkok in late January of next year. Now, I will turn the webcast over to Martine for an overview of our development pipeline and business activities. Martine?
Martine Rothblatt
Chairperson and Chief Executive Officer
Thank you, Harry, and good morning everyone. We have slides available for reference, and I encourage you to review those at your leisure. I'm not going to speak directly to the slides. As we look back on the third quarter, I'm incredibly proud of what our teams have accomplished. We executed at a high level across our business and across our company, delivering for patients while advancing one of the most ambitious growth strategies in biotechnology. The significance of this quarter extends beyond any individual result or milestone. It reflects the broader transformation underway at United Therapeutics as we build a comprehensive cardiopulmonary and respiratory medicine franchise capable of reaching dramatically more patients than ever before. For most of our history, UT has been known as a pulmonary hypertension company. Today, that legacy serves as the foundation for a much bigger UT. Over the next several years, we expect to introduce wave after wave of innovation across multiple therapeutic and device platforms, from nebulized and dry powder therapies to soft mist inhalers, once daily medicines, and combination products. We have 14 programs in development. Together, these advances are intended to address some of the largest unmet needs in pulmonary fibrosis and pulmonary hypertension. We are building an integrated portfolio designed around the needs of individual patients. Our strategy is to keep innovating so we can offer more patients the right therapy in the right format at the right time. The scale of that opportunity extends far beyond our historic pulmonary hypertension market. Across IPS, PPF, and PHCOPD alone, we are pursuing patient populations totaling approximately 1 million people in the United States. Supporting this strategy are significant and durable competitive advantages. Our portfolio features extensive intellectual property protections, including fibrosis-related patents, device protections, and composition of matter protection for Relinopak. many of which extend into the 2040s. Just as important, our market advantages include decades of expertise, extensive engagement with physicians, specialized commercialization capabilities, manufacturing investments, and a proven ability to bring complex drug-device combinations to market. We are building on our strengths through the philosophy that has guided us for years. Approve, then improve. We first establish a therapy as quickly as possible because our patients do not have time. Then we continue to enhance convenience, administration, and treatment experience through new devices, formulations, and next-generation medicines. This disciplined approach creates a pipeline in which every new product builds on the foundation established by the last and provides improvements for the next. And as compelling as our cardiopulmonary and respiratory franchises are, They represent only one pillar of our long-term vision. In parallel, we continue to advance our manufactured organ alternatives programs and build the infrastructure we need to address one of medicine's greatest unmet needs. We believe this platform has the potential to revolutionize transplantation over the next decade, just as our therapies have revolutionized pulmonary hypertension over the past two decades. When I step back, I see a United Therapeutics stronger than at any point in our history, with a growing commercial business, late stage assets of significant potential, multiple upcoming launches, and a clear strategy for creating value over the long term. In closing, thank you to our fellow Unitarians, patients, physicians, shareholders, and our other stakeholders for helping us fulfill our purpose. and with that, I'll turn the call over to our president, Michael Benkowitz, for an overview of our commercial performance for the quarter.
Michael Benkowitz
President and Chief Operating Officer
Mike? Thanks, Martine, and good morning, everybody. For the third quarter of 2026, we delivered record total revenue of $833 million and record tibetan revenue of $504 million, highlighted by strong sequential growth and underlying demand. Three months ago, I said confidence is earned through execution, not projections. This quarter's results, our best quarter ever, demonstrate that, execution, and reinforce our conviction that our business has regained meaningful momentum. A huge shout out to all of our commercial, commercial operations, and medical teams for their hard work, persistence, and performance. Tyvesia's performance was driven by strong underlying demand, as the patient metrics we highlighted last quarter translated into commercial results. Starts, referrals, patient demand, increased dosing, and physician engagement all continue to support growth and emphasize the value of differentiated products, discipline execution, a clear understanding of physician and patient needs, and our expertise and support in the field of pulmonary hypertension. Most importantly, we see meaningful room to grow from here. The investments we made earlier this year in resources and sharpening our messaging are working as intended by expanding our reach, deepening physician engagement, increasing disease awareness, and driving greater penetration across PAH and PHILD. We have greater conviction in our strategy than ever. Elsewhere, the recent court decision upholding our intellectual property together with the settlement we reach provide important clarity and reinforce the long-term durability of our base business. The terms of our settlement were highly favorable for United Therapeutics, ultimately removing PHILD from the eutropia label, preventing its promotion and marketing into that indication, and prohibiting liquidity from encouraging off-label usage, which we will be monitoring very closely. With no direct branded competition on the horizon, we can remain focused on growing the large, under-penetrated PHILD market. Based upon the provisions contemplated in the settlement and damages structure, near-term expectations for transitions from utropy to Tyvesia should be moderate. The larger opportunity in PHILD continues to remain focused on expanding physician awareness, identifying more eligible patients, and growing new prescriptions. That gives Tyvesia a long runway for largely uncontested growth. Stepping back, Our story is not about stabilizing our business. It is about building on renewed momentum from our durable commercial foundation with two of the most important potential launches in our history still ahead. Once approved, we expect Nebulize Tyveso and IPF and Rolena PEG and PAH will each address significant unmet need. Both are supported by compelling clinical data and both have the potential to become multi-billion dollar growth drivers for United Therapeutics. These opportunities do not replace our current growth story, they accelerate it. In closing, our base business is performing, our commercial strategy is working, our competitive position is strong, and we expect to enter 2027 with substantially more momentum than we had entering 2026. To highlight this continued momentum, we received over 1,000 referrals for a UT product in October, the most ever received in a single month. We remain focused, accountable, and committed to continue delivering compelling results. and as proud as we are of this quarter, we believe we are just beginning the full scale of what we are determined to achieve. And with that, I'll pass the call back to Harry to run the Q&A.
Harry Silvers
Investor Relations
Thanks, Michael. Thanks, Martine. Great updates from both of you. Just before I pass the call back to the operator, please, just a reminder to everyone, try to limit yourself to one question. Operator, you can start.
Krista
Conference Operator
Thank you. We will now begin the question and answer session. If you would like to ask a question, please press star 1 on your telephone keypad to raise your hand and join the queue. And if you would like to withdraw your question, again, press star 1. Your first question comes from Joseph Thaum with TDTowin. Please go ahead.
Joseph Thome
Analyst, TD Cowen
Hi there. Good morning. Congrats on the quarter and thanks for taking my question. Maybe could you talk a little bit more about the patient switch dynamic now that PHLD will be off the label for eutropia? What are sort of your expectations of current eutropia patients switching over? And maybe for new start markets, you mentioned that you are monitoring their off-label use potential. Can you just kind of go into how you're doing that in the field? Thank you.
Harry Silvers
Investor Relations
Thanks for the question, Joe. Gonna pass this one to Michael.
Michael Benkowitz
President and Chief Operating Officer
Sure, yeah, so Joe, thanks for the question. You know, on the patient switches, per the terms of the settlement agreement, we sort of contemplated, well, we didn't, there was no requirement or expectation that patients would have to switch from eutropia to tyvesial DPI, and so we kind of contemplated that in the damages structure, as I mentioned, and so You know, I think obviously, you know, we're going to continue to talk about the benefits and the differentiation of DPI relative to eutropia, but it's really going to be, I think, a physician and patient decision as to whether or not they want to transition their existing patients over to tibias or DPI. But that's not something that's going to be required per the terms of the settlement. So, like I said, I think what you're going to see is if if you've got patients on eutropia that for whatever reason are having issues, obviously Tyvesa remains an option that you can switch, but I think if a patient's doing well on eutropia, there's not really going to be, I think, a push on the part of doctors to switch patients over. As I said, the real opportunity here is with new prescriptions and continuing to penetrate the PHILD market, which we're starting to see with the benefit of the expanded Salesforce. In terms of monitoring that, I'm not going to really get into sources and methods of how we're going to do that, but I think we have pretty good visibility into how things are playing out in terms of prescriptions and indications. We're just going to keep an eye on that and see how that plays out along with what we're hearing in the market through our interactions with physicians.
Harry Silvers
Investor Relations
Thanks, Michael. Operator, next question.
Krista
Conference Operator
Your next question comes from the line of Olivia Breyer with Cantor. Please go ahead.
Olivia Brayer
Analyst, Cantor
Hi, good morning, guys. Thank you for the question. Michael, I just quickly wanted to follow up on PHLD. Are you guys actually seeing any acceleration in new starts on Tyvesio in the fourth quarter, just on the back of that settlement? Or do you really expect that to become more meaningful as patients come up for reauthorization in January, just trying to kind of reconcile Your comments around October trends. And then I'm sorry, Harry, but my real question is on the softness inhaler program, where are you guys in the submission process at this point? And is a filing still on track for the end of the year? And then as you think about softness, kind of looking ahead to PHCOPD, what have you guys actually seen in the SMI product profile that's giving you so much confidence that It could succeed in this patient population just given some of the challenges that we've already or that others have experienced with prior approaches. Thank you so much. Sorry to squeeze in two.
Harry Silvers
Investor Relations
It sounded more like three. I'll give Michael the first question and then if you could pass it to Pat on the NDA expectations for SMI and then perhaps Leigh can close it off with expectations in PH COPD.
Michael Benkowitz
President and Chief Operating Officer
Yeah, Olivia, you never disappoint with your multi-question question. So on PHLD, you know, so if you kind of think about the timeline of everything, as I said, I think even before the settlement, right, going back to like mid-September, I think we saw this inflection of referrals coming in, really across both indications, PAH and PHLD for Tyveso that has persisted through the end of October. into November. In terms of working out, you know, the litigation decision, the settlement, I mean, all of that stuff really didn't really get worked out until, I guess, what was that second, third week of October or so. Still a little early to see, I think, another sort of inflection in terms of PHILD. I would expect that we're going to start to see that here over the next couple weeks. and, you know, into December and then obviously the first part of the year. So that's kind of where things are right now. I mean, we do expect to see that. You know, I've seen it, you know, I kind of monitor the daily referral trends. We have a couple days where we spiked, but, you know, I expect us to see kind of a new baseline in terms of referrals here over the next few weeks. Pat, do you want to take the other?
Pat Poisson
Executive Vice President of Strategic Development
Yep. So thanks for the question, Olivia. So we recently met with the FDA to discuss our NDA filing strategy, and that was preplanned. And following that discussion, we've now determined that additional work is going to be needed to support the application. So as a result of that, we now expect to submit the NDA in 2027 and not at the end of this year. We are actively working with our development partner to complete the necessary activities and establish an updated filing timeline. Leigh, I'll pass it on to you.
Leigh Peterson
Executive Vice President of Product Development and Xenotransplantation
Yeah, as far as PHCOPD goes, our phase two trial, as you know, we have IMD clearance for that study. And in terms of the biological rationale for PHCOPD, I mean, the pharmacology of inhaled tryprosinol is really well characterized with our commercially approved treatments for pH and pH ILD. And as you know, in these patients with group three, with group three pH, such as ILD and COPD, The inhaled troprostenol directly targets more ventilated portions of the lungs, and so that can minimize the VQ mismatch that's a concern with more systemic therapies that are also vasodilators. It's really important to note that not only do we have a more robust design in our study, but we've really, really looked very carefully at the patient population that was enrolled into the prior study, PHCLPD perfect study, and really worked hard with our steering committees to to enrich this current population through the inclusion-exclusion criteria to improve the chances of success as well as decrease the risk of this program.
Harry Silvers
Investor Relations
Thanks, Leigh. That was a great overview by all three of you. Operator, next question, please.
Krista
Conference Operator
Your next question comes from the line of Ash Verma with UBS. Please go ahead.
Leigh Peterson
Executive Vice President of Product Development and Xenotransplantation
Yeah, thanks for taking my question. So I wanted to ask about this open action indicated that you have mentioned in the queue about this API manufacturer. Can you talk about what is the contingency plan ahead of the potential regulatory approval for this? Thanks.
Harry Silvers
Investor Relations
Thanks for the question, Ash. Pat, we'll kick that over to you.
Pat Poisson
Executive Vice President of Strategic Development
Yeah, thanks Ash. So as you saw in the queue, our API supplier has an OAI compliance status as the result of an inspection earlier this year. We're actively working with them to remediate their compliance status so that it doesn't impact our PDUCA date. So that's kind of priority one. We do have some alternative plans that are progressing in parallel. but on a positive note, they've recently provided FDA updated information on their corrective actions and there's open dialogue between the parties. So we remain hopeful that this will get resolved fairly quickly but we do have contingency plans in place.
Harry Silvers
Investor Relations
Great. Thanks, Pat. Operator, next question.
Krista
Conference Operator
Your next question comes from the line of Roger Song with Jefferies. Please go ahead.
Roger Song
Analyst, Jefferies
Great. Thanks for taking the question. Maybe related to the triplets or appeal, since the bioequivalence study is not sufficient for fighting, so what is the current plan for development and finding plan for the triple appeal? Thank you.
Harry Silvers
Investor Relations
Thanks for your question, Roger. Pat, can I ask you to answer this one again?
Pat Poisson
Executive Vice President of Strategic Development
Yeah, so we had a discussion with FDA and they shared that. That was their feedback to us. And so right now, we're looking at what our options are, really, if there's an alternate path that they would accept. That's going to take us a little while. So for right now, we're just treading water and while we work on different options that we can present to them.
Harry Silvers
Investor Relations
Thank you for that. Operator, next question.
Krista
Conference Operator
Your next question comes from the line of Rowana Ruiz with Lear Inc. Partners. Please go ahead.
Rowana Ruiz
Analyst, Leerink Partners
Hey, everyone. Good morning. A quick question. Could you elaborate on what you saw as the biggest drivers behind the Tyvesa strength in the quarter and if any could increase into year end? I'm specifically focused on if there is more traction from the upsized field force or any inventory or seasonal dynamics that we should consider in addition to underlying demand growth. Thanks.
Harry Silvers
Investor Relations
Hey, Rhianna. Good morning. Thanks for your question. This one will go to Michael.
Michael Benkowitz
President and Chief Operating Officer
Sure. Yeah, thanks for the question. So no inventory or seasonal dynamics really, I think, played into the quarter. I think it's really kind of a multifactorial thing. One is just Honestly, just great execution by the sales team. I think, you know, we've talked about the last quarter, came out of the quarter with really strong momentum. We've been able to maintain that through, you know, even through October, as I talked about earlier. I think, you know, as we've talked about on prior calls, I think some of the challenges we face in the prior quarters are We'd have two really good months and then one soft month, and the two good months weren't enough to offset the soft months, so we've been kind of flat for several quarters. But now we've got, I think, really just consistent performance month to month to month, and so we're stocking good months on top of good months, and so that's really just, I think, plays into really strong execution by our commercial team. I think the other thing that we've seen is at the beginning of the year we – we introduced a 80 microgram cartridge, so one breath gives you the equivalent of 15 nebulized breaths, and then some higher dose kits. I think there's been this misinformation out there that you can't get to higher doses on Tyvesa DPI. I think we've effectively debunked that for patients that have started on Tyvesa DPI since we introduced those cartridges, we introduced those higher strength kits, like one in three patients are have achieved these higher doses, which is twice as what it was beforehand. So that's certainly, I think, played into the performance is that we're getting patients to higher dose, which helps from a revenue standpoint, but also helps from a retention standpoint because patients are obviously benefiting from the product. I think in terms of the effect of the The Salesforce expansion, I think in terms of reach and frequency, that played a role in, you know, some of the consistent performance month to month. But in terms of like what we've seen in terms of, you know, increase in referrals, increase in starts, you know, I think we, as I said, we start to see kind of this inflection point, you know, probably mid-September as a result of that. So that didn't really, you can't really, I don't know, you can draw a draw a straight line through to the revenue line for Q3. I think we'll start to see the benefit of that here in Q4 and then heading into next year. But it's clear that the expansion is working and we're seeing the benefit of that, but probably limited revenue impact of that in Q3, but we certainly expect to see that, like I said, this quarter and heading into next year.
Harry Silvers
Investor Relations
Great color. Thank you, Michael. Operator, next question.
Krista
Conference Operator
Your next question comes from the line of Jessica Fye with JP Morgan. Please go ahead.
Jessica Fye
Analyst, JPMorgan
Hey, guys. Good morning. Thanks for taking the question. Congrats on the quarter. Really quick follow-up. I think it was one of Olivia's questions. Pat, can you just expand on what was new that's needed for the soft missed filing? Thank you.
Pat Poisson
Executive Vice President of Strategic Development
Yeah, it's not necessarily anything new. It's just additional data in some areas that we need to provide. Really, it's really just that. It wasn't anything they've asked us to do in addition to what we had already planned.
Jessica Fye
Analyst, JPMorgan
Okay, so this is versus generating more data?
Pat Poisson
Executive Vice President of Strategic Development
It's just generating additional data. And I don't think we're particularly worried about it. It's just we need time to do it.
Jessica Fye
Analyst, JPMorgan
Thank you.
Harry Silvers
Investor Relations
Great. Thanks, Jess, for the question and Pat for the answer. Operator, go ahead.
Krista
Conference Operator
Your next question comes from the line of Ben Burnett with Wells Fargo. Please go ahead.
Harry Silvers
Investor Relations
Hey, thank you. I want to ask about Relenopeg and just what was behind the decision to buy out Arenas Economics to Relenopeg, and I guess how did you value that transaction? Thanks for the question, Ben. I'm going to pass this one to James. Yeah, thanks, Terry. Hi, Ben.
James Edgemond
Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer
Overall, this transaction to buy down the royalty demonstrates really our confidence in the revenue opportunity for oral Relenapag, which, as you know, has a pending new drug application under review by the FDA for pulmonary arterial hypertension, which, you know, is a PDUFA date of June 24th of next year. But in addition, the reason why we pursue this opportunity is we have conviction in the new dry powder inhalation formulations that we're developing for a variety of pulmonary indications going forward. And I would say the price was the result of really extensive negotiations, and we're not going to get into the details regarding that, but we looked at this more as an opportunistic use of capital, kind of in our overall capital allocation waterfall. So thanks for the question.
Harry Silvers
Investor Relations
Thanks for that, James. Operator, we have time for one more question. Go ahead.
Krista
Conference Operator
And that question is going to come from the line of Lisa Walter at RBC. Please go ahead.
Lisa Walter
Analyst, RBC
Oh, great. Good morning. Thanks for squeezing me in, and congrats on a strong quarter. Maybe another one on Rolanda PEG DPI. Curious if plans have changed around developing this for PAH. or is PH still part of the plan along with PHILD, IPS, and PPS? And how are you thinking about the clinical development plans for RELANAPEG DPI and these indications? Any color here would be helpful. Thanks so much.
Harry Silvers
Investor Relations
Yeah, absolutely. Good to hear your voice, Lisa. Going to pass this one over to Leigh to provide some color.
Leigh Peterson
Executive Vice President of Product Development and Xenotransplantation
Yeah, thanks for the question. So we are in the process, as you know, of conducting the IMD enabling studies, as well as planning for the phase one study in Healthy Volunteers. Now that phase one study, pharmacokinetic study safety, that will actually inform any other registrational study that we want to do. So we're initially planning on doing a PHILD study and they're very, very soon thereafter or essentially at the same time seeking approval for IPF, PPF. All of those will require some pivotal studies assessing the safety and efficacy. But again, we're confident that the mechanism both of the very, very potent drug itself and myself, the Relenopag being a very, very potent IP receptor agonist, as well as the inhaled route for these indications where there's either some fibrosis or later for COPD, but that's not in the immediate plan. But anyway, this inhaled route to minimize VQ mismatch is really probably will make and what we're calling Routh Pie, a very transformative product in these larger indications.
Harry Silvers
Investor Relations
Excellent overview, Leigh. And that will conclude the Q&A, so I'll pass it back to the operator to close us out.
Krista
Conference Operator
Thank you for participating in today's United Therapeutics Corporation's earnings webcast. A rebroadcast of this webcast will be available for replay for one week by visiting the Events and Presentation section of the United Therapeutics Investor Relations IR website at ir.uniteher.com. This now concludes today's call and you may now disconnect.