Heron Therapeutics Q2 2026 Earnings Report

Heron Therapeutics EPS Results

• Actual EPS: -$0.03
• Consensus EPS: -$0.01
• Beat/Miss: Missed by -$0.03
• One Year Ago EPS: N/A

Heron Therapeutics Revenue Results

• Actual Revenue: $37.67 million
• Expected Revenue: $42.19 million
• Beat/Miss: Missed by -$4.52 million
• YoY Revenue Growth: N/A

Heron Therapeutics Announcement Details

• Quarter: Q2 2026
• Date: 8/10/2026
• Time: Before Market Opens
• Conference Call Date: Monday, August 10, 2026
• Conference Call Time: 8:30AM ET

Heron Therapeutics (NASDAQ:HRTX) is a commercial-stage biotechnology company focused on developing and commercializing therapies in pain management and supportive care for patients undergoing medical and surgical procedures. The company’s research is dedicated to addressing unmet needs in oncology supportive care and post-operative pain management through innovative drug formulations designed to improve patient outcomes and reduce reliance on opioids.

Heron’s first approved therapy, SUSTOL (granisetron) extended-release injection, received U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval in 2016 for the prevention of acute and delayed chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting in patients receiving moderately emetogenic chemotherapy. The company also advanced HTX-019, an injectable emulsion formulation of aprepitant, which obtained FDA approval as the first non-polyethylene glycol formulation for acute CINV prophylaxis in adults.

The company’s most advanced pipeline candidate is HTX-011, an investigational, long-acting, non-opioid local anesthetic that combines bupivacaine and low-dose meloxicam. HTX-011 is designed to provide extended post-operative analgesia and has been evaluated in Phase III trials across multiple surgical settings. In addition to HTX-011, Heron is developing other drug candidates to address various analgesic and supportive care needs and is exploring strategic collaborations to broaden the commercial reach of its portfolio.

Founded in 2011 and headquartered in Redwood City, California, Heron Therapeutics completed its initial public offering in 2015 and is listed on Nasdaq under the ticker HRTX. The company primarily serves the U.S. market and is pursuing global partnerships to expand its geographic footprint. Heron’s leadership team comprises industry veterans with expertise in clinical development, regulatory affairs and commercialization, supporting the company’s mission to deliver innovative treatments that enhance patient care.

Heron Therapeutics Q2 2026 Earnings Call Transcript

Key Takeaways

• Negative Sentiment: Heron withdrew its 2026 financial guidance of $173 million-$183 million in net product sales and $10 million-$20 million in adjusted EBITDA, citing uncertainty around potential generic CINVANTI entry, reduced spending, and strategic alternatives.
• Negative Sentiment: CINVANTI revenue was $21.8 million, down approximately 10% year over year amid branded competition. Heron is appealing a June court decision and preparing for potential generic competition, although management said launch timing and manufacturing and reimbursement factors remain uncertain.
• Positive Sentiment: The acute-care portfolio continued to grow: ZYNRELEF revenue increased 35% year over year to $11.1 million, while APONVIE rose 74% to $4.2 million and reached 23% share of the surgical NK1 segment.
• Neutral Sentiment: Second-quarter revenue increased to $37.7 million from $34.7 million in the first quarter, with adjusted EBITDA of $3.2 million; however, the company posted a $5.5 million net loss and ended the quarter with $42.7 million in cash and short-term investments.
• Negative Sentiment: To preserve liquidity and meet revised debt requirements, Heron paused planned second-half sales-force expansion, tightened spending, and agreed to pay down up to $17.5 million of principal under its amended Hercules credit facility. The company is also evaluating strategic alternatives without a set timetable or assurance of a transaction.

Presentation

[Operator]

Good day. Thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Heron Therapeutics second quarter 2026 earnings conference call. At this time, all participants are on a listen only mode. After the speaker's presentation, there'll be a question and answer session. To ask a question during the session, you'll need to press star one one on your telephone. You'll then hear an automated message advising your hand is raised. To withdraw your question, please press star one one again. Please be advised today's conference is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to speaker today. Melissa Jarel, please go ahead.

[Melissa Jarel, VP of Legal at Heron Therapeutics]

Thank you, operator. Good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining us on the Heron Therapeutics conference call today to discuss the company's financial results for the second quarter of 2026. With me today from Heron are Craig Collard, Chief Executive Officer, Ira Duarte, Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer, Bill Forbes, Executive Vice President, Chief Development Officer, Mark Hensley, Chief Operating Officer, and Kevin Warner, Senior Vice President, Medical Affairs Strategy and Engagement. For those of you participating via conference call, slides are made available via webcast and can also be accessed via the investor relations page of our website following the conclusion of today's call. Before we begin, let me quickly remind you that during the course of this conference call, the company will make forward-looking statements. We caution you that any statement that is not a statement of historical fact is a forward-looking statement.

[Melissa Jarel, VP of Legal at Heron Therapeutics]

This includes remarks about the company's projections, expectations, plans, beliefs, and future performance, all of which constitute forward-looking statements for the purposes of the safe harbor provision under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements are based on judgment and analysis as of the date of this conference call and are subject to numerous important risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements. The risks and uncertainties associated with the forward-looking statements made in this conference call and webcast are described in the safe harbor statement in today's press release and in Heron's public periodic filings with the SEC.

[Melissa Jarel, VP of Legal at Heron Therapeutics]

Except as required by law, Heron assumes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements to reflect future events or actual outcomes and does not intend to do so. With that, I would now like to turn the call over to Craig Collard, Chief Executive Officer of Heron.

[Craig Collard, CEO at Heron Therapeutics]

Thanks, Melissa. Hello, everyone, and welcome to Heron Therapeutics' second quarter 2026 earnings call. Net revenue for the quarter was $37.7 million. That is growth from the first quarter, but it is below what we expected of ourselves. CINVANTI sales were up compared to Q1 in a highly competitive market, and ZYNRELEF grew 35% year-over-year, but both were slower than we anticipated. Turning to slide four, let me walk through the key updates from the quarter. The acute care franchise delivered revenue growth of 44% year-over-year. ZYNRELEF grew 35%, with average daily units growing 19% year-over-year. APONVIE grew 74% year-over-year and reached 23% share of the surgical NK1 segment, up two points from the first quarter. CINVANTI came in at $21.8 million, up from $20.5 million in the first quarter.

[Craig Collard, CEO at Heron Therapeutics]

Mark will add more color in a moment to the commercial performance. Beyond the commercial results, what I want to spend the rest of my time on today is what we have done about the quarter and how we are proceeding moving forward. First, we reset the balance sheet. As we disclosed today, we amended our credit facility with Hercules. When the June decision from the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware regarding certain patents covering CINVANTI changed the outlook for the company, we went to our lender. The amendment resets our covenants through 2027 to match our new plan and reduces our principal. The terms are in the filing. Second, we tightened our spending. After the June court decision, we paused the salesforce expansion we had planned for the second half of this year, and we are holding spending tightly while the competitive picture clarifies.

[Craig Collard, CEO at Heron Therapeutics]

Our spending decisions follow what the business demonstrates, not a plan that events have overtaken. Third, we are defending our oncology franchise. We have filed our appeal based on the June decision. The generic is not launched, but we are preparing for potential generic competition to CINVANTI. We have a defense strategy built around the clinical profile of the product, our customer relationships, and our contracting position, and we are executing it now before we needed it. Last, we are considering strategic alternatives as we continue to execute our current plan. The company has not set a timetable for this process. There can be no assurances that it will result in any transaction, and the company does not intend to comment further on such matters unless and until it determines that additional disclosure is appropriate or required by law.

[Craig Collard, CEO at Heron Therapeutics]

Before I turn things over to Mark, I want to recognize the entire Heron team. This has been a demanding stretch, a hard quarter, a court decision we disagree with, and a lot of change, and this team has stayed focused on patients and customers through all of it. I will now turn the call over to Mark to cover our commercial performance. Go ahead, Mark.

[Mark Hensley, COO at Heron Therapeutics]

Thanks, Craig. Starting on slide six with the overall net sales picture. Total net sales of $37.7 million in the second quarter, up from $34.7 million in the first quarter. On the acute care side, $15.3 million combined. ZYNRELEF at $11.1 million, up from $10.2 million, and APONVIE at $4.2 million, up from $3.4 million. On the oncology side, $22.3 million combined, CINVANTI at $21.8 million and SUSTOL at $0.5 million, continuing the planned wind down.

[Mark Hensley, COO at Heron Therapeutics]

As always, ordering and channel patterns move quarter to quarter. The cleaner read on adoption is average daily units and ordering accounts, which is what I will focus on. Turning to slide seven. There are two charts on this slide. Average daily units on the left, ordering accounts on the right, and both continue their upward trend. Net sales were $11.1 million, up 9% from the first quarter and up 35% from a year-ago. The number I would anchor on is demand. Average daily units grew 19% year-over-year. Lastly, I would add, IGNITE 2.0 is active across 3,150 accounts, up from 2,260 in IGNITE 1.0. This remains a site-by-site, case-by-case adoption curve. Unit growth was real this quarter, but it was below the rate we planned, and the work now is converting that access into cases and protocols in the accounts we are already in.

[Mark Hensley, COO at Heron Therapeutics]

Moving to APONVIE. The same two views for APONVIE, and both charts show the steady climb. Net sales were approximately $4.2 million, up 74% from a year-ago and up 26% from the first quarter. Share in the NK1 segment reached 23%, up two points sequentially. Average daily units grew 59% year-over-year, and ordering accounts in June were up 42% from June of last year. P&T approvals now stand at 1,810 accounts, representing 6.7 million medium to high-risk procedures annually. Demand through the quarter was steady. Now turning to CINVANTI. Average daily units on the left have held a consistent level of utilization over the past two years, and ordering accounts on the right, 1,241 in June, are in line with the 12-month average of about 1,200. Net sales were $21.8 million, up from $20.5 million in the first quarter and down about 10% from a year-ago.

[Mark Hensley, COO at Heron Therapeutics]

That year-over-year decline is the branded competition we have discussed on prior calls. The more recent picture is one of stability. Utilization has held steady, and share in June was 25%, in line with its 12-month average. The REIGNITE work on formulary position and our contracting relationships are the levers we control, and they are the foundation of how we would compete against any future entrant. Lastly, SUSTOL continues its planned wind down, as we've discussed on prior calls. To wrap up the commercial section, ZYNRELEF average daily units grew 19% year-over-year. APONVIE reached 23% share of the NK1 segment. CINVANTI declined year-over-year against branded competition, but has held steady in recent months. The defensive contracting and formulary work is in place. That is the demand picture as it stands. I will now turn the call over to Ira to cover our financials. Go ahead, Ira.

[Ira Duarte, EVP and CFO at Heron Therapeutics]

Thank you, Mark. Craig has addressed the quarter directly. What is within our control is how we manage the business in response. Disciplined management of our balance sheet and our spending is what is important moving forward. Our full results are shown on this slide. I will cover the highlights. Net revenues for the quarter were $37.7 million, compared to $34.7 million in the first quarter of 2026 and $37.2 million in the comparable prior year quarter, with gross margin coming in at 69.3%. R&D expense was $2.7 million, and SG&A expense was $25.4 million, bringing total operating expenses to $28.1 million, including stock-based compensation and depreciation. Our operating loss was $2 million, and net loss was $5.5 million, compared to a net loss of $2.4 million for the comparable prior year quarter. Adjusted EBITDA was $3.2 million, up from $2.2 million in the comparable prior year quarter.

[Ira Duarte, EVP and CFO at Heron Therapeutics]

We ended the quarter with $42.7 million in cash equivalents and short-term investments. Following the June court decision, we negotiated an amendment with our lender that waives the June 30th covenants and resets the schedule to match our operating plan. As part of that amendment, we agreed to a principal reduction that comes in two steps. $13.5 million paid at the amendment's execution plus associated fees, and a potentially further $4 million reduction scheduled on or before September 15th, for a total potential principal reduction of $17.5 million. Reflecting those payments, our pro forma cash is approximately $28.5 million and approximately $24.3 million after the September payment. The amendment sets monthly minimum revenue and EBITDA covenants through December 2027, along with a minimum cash covenant. The agreement is filed with our 10-Q.

[Ira Duarte, EVP and CFO at Heron Therapeutics]

We are withdrawing our full year 2026 guidance of $173 million-$183 million in net product sales and $10 million-$20 million in adjusted EBITDA. Three things make an annual number unreliable right now. None of them is about a single quarter. First, the June court decision. The timing and terms of potential generic entry against CINVANTI, our largest product, are not events we can forecast. Any annual number would embed an assumption we are not in a position to make. Second, the actions we took ourselves after that decision. We paused the sales force expansion that our plan had assumed for the second half. We tightened spending. Our prior guidance was built on that investment plan. It is not the plan we are currently executing on. Third, as Craig mentioned, we are considering strategic alternatives, which our amended credit agreement also reflects.

[Ira Duarte, EVP and CFO at Heron Therapeutics]

Any one of these items on its own would make an annual number unreliable. This is a forecasting decision, not a statement about the underlying business. We would make the same decision regardless of the quarter's results. In place of guidance, we will report our cash position, our spending, and our covenant compliance every quarter. With that, we will open the call up for questions.

[Operator]

Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, if you have a question or a comment at this time, please press star one one on your telephone. If your question has been answered and you're wishing to remove yourself from the queue, please press star one one again. We'll pause for a moment while we compile our Q&A roster. Our first question comes from Brandon Folkes with H.C. Wainwright. Your line is open.

[Brandon Folkes, Analyst at H.C. Wainwright]

Hi. Thanks for taking my question. Maybe just three from me. Can you elaborate on your confidence in meeting the updated debt covenants should a CINVANTI generic come to market? Maybe just staying on CINVANTI, if and when a generic does launch, any reason the erosion should not look like the SUSTOL erosion curve? You called out it was below expectations. Can you just help us think about what is driving this below expectation performance recently? Are surgeons just not sort of warm to the detail? Are they just very sticky on the alternatives they use? Just any drive and color in terms of what is the hurdle there on ZYNRELEF and potentially, what can a strategic partner who's well-capitalized do differently? Thank you.

[Craig Collard, CEO at Heron Therapeutics]

Yeah. Hi, Brandon. Let me take first on the Hercules amended agreement. The way we looked at CINVANTI, again, we took a very conservative approach with how we looked at the generic launch. In reality, there's a number of factors here that are at play. First of all, we don't know when the product does come to market. We know that there's some manufacturing challenges with this product as we go through them ourselves. It's a sterile process. It's an emulsion. All of that takes time to scale in order to meet market demand. Keep in mind, we're moving about 750,000-800,000 units a year. I don't think anyone wants to launch a at scale. Secondly, there's the reimbursement piece. Do they fall under our J-code or do they fall under their own J-code?

[Craig Collard, CEO at Heron Therapeutics]

Again, that can determine share as well. It could change sort of the market dynamic. There's a number of moving pieces, but the way we viewed this was in a really conservative kind of earlier launch scenario with Hercules on the covenant side. Again, I think we're very covered there because I do think this may take a bit longer than maybe we modeled out. I think from that standpoint, our lenders felt very comfortable. I'll turn it over to Mark on the second piece about ZYNRELEF and kind of what's going on with the quarter.

[Mark Hensley, COO at Heron Therapeutics]

Yeah, thanks for the question, Brandon. On ZYNRELEF, the product grew 9% quarter-over-quarter. As you're aware, in Q1, the market itself was down, we expected to recover from that quite strongly in Q2. We didn't quite get to our expectations in the second quarter, certainly that's on us to rectify. I wouldn't point to anything necessarily about the product. Certainly, the market itself is a little bit slow this time of year, as you can look back at slide seven in the earnings deck, you see a really nice run-up in the back half of the year for the market and for ZYNRELEF and other products in that market. We still expect that to occur. Certainly, Q2 is on us from an execution perspective, and we'll work to fix that in the third quarter.

[Operator]

Thank you. One moment for our next question. Our next question comes from Serge Belanger with Needham. Your line is open.

[Serge Belanger, Analyst at Needham]

Hi, good morning. Thanks for taking my questions. I guess first one for Craig on potential generic CINVANTI. I know there's still a lack of clarity on a potential launch here, but I believe you have a couple settlement agreements around CINVANTI with some other players. Curious what the impact would be for those potential launches on those players if Azurity does launch a generic product. Secondly, regarding ZYNRELEF, maybe for Mark, just curious what you're seeing in terms of surgical volumes and just the overall volume of procedures over the second quarter. I believe your competitor reported some macro volatility that impacted healthcare spending. Just curious if you're seeing kind of the same thing. Thanks.

[Craig Collard, CEO at Heron Therapeutics]

Yeah, Serge, regarding CINVANTI, whether it launches or doesn't launch, it will have no impact at all on the settlement. That should not change.

[Mark Hensley, COO at Heron Therapeutics]

As far as ZYNRELEF goes, kind of macro impacts, look, I think we still continue to make progress on P&T wins throughout the quarter. Maybe we weren't as impacted as much by that situation, or at least I didn't hear that much about it in particular. Really, it's just about time of pull-through. We were a little bit slower on a few things in the quarter than we expected, and certainly hope to see those continue to pull through in the back half of the year.

[Serge Belanger, Analyst at Needham]

Thank you.

[Operator]

I'm not showing any further questions at this time. I'd like to turn the call back over to Craig for any further remarks.

[Craig Collard, CEO at Heron Therapeutics]

No, thanks everyone for joining the call this quarter, and we'll talk to you next quarter. Thank you.

[Operator]

Thank you, ladies and gentlemen. This concludes today's presentation. We thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect, and have a wonderful day.

Participants

Executives

• Melissa Jarel, VP of Legal
• Mark Hensley, COO
• Ira Duarte, EVP and CFO

Analysts

• Craig Collard, CEO at Heron Therapeutics
• Brandon Folkes, Analyst at H.C. Wainwright
• Serge Belanger, Analyst at Needham