Pacira BioSciences NASDAQ: PCRX reported second-quarter 2026 revenue growth, led by higher sales of its EXPAREL, ZILRETTA and iovera° products, while highlighting expanded payer coverage, pipeline progress and the completed sale of iovera° to Zimmer Biomet.
Total second-quarter revenue rose 6% from the prior-year period to $192.4 million, according to Chief Financial Officer Shawn Cross. The company reported GAAP net income of $4.7 million, or $0.12 per diluted share, and adjusted EBITDA of approximately $48.7 million.
EXPAREL net product sales increased 3% to $147.8 million, while volume grew approximately 4%. Cross said the difference between volume and revenue growth reflected vial mix and discounting associated with the company’s third group purchasing organization, which began operating in mid-2025. Pacira expects that gap to narrow as it laps the prior-year impact.
EXPAREL Gains Share Despite Elective-Procedure Softness
Chief Executive Officer Frank Lee said EXPAREL continued to gain penetration across market segments even as macroeconomic pressure affected certain elective soft-tissue procedures, particularly in hospital inpatient settings. The company said EXPAREL volumes are approximately 60% orthopedic and 40% soft tissue.
Chief Commercial Officer Brendan Teehan said orthopedic procedures remained relatively stable during the quarter, while elective soft-tissue procedures slowed, with the declines more pronounced in inpatient hospitals. He attributed the trend in part to softer consumer healthcare spending and broader economic uncertainty affecting deferrable procedures.
Pacira said it is concentrating on ambulatory surgery centers, hospital outpatient settings and procedures it considers more resilient to macroeconomic conditions. Teehan said EXPAREL significantly outpaced the broader market in ambulatory surgery centers, where procedure volumes were modestly higher overall.
The company also cited progress on reimbursement. UnitedHealthcare expanded EXPAREL coverage to provide separate reimbursement outside the surgical bundle, adding approximately 40 million covered lives. Pacira said EXPAREL now has separate reimbursement for more than 150 million covered lives, or roughly half of medically insured lives in the United States, and remains on track toward its year-end target of 160 million.
During the question-and-answer session, Lee said Pacira’s outlook does not assume a broad recovery in elective procedures. Instead, the company expects growth from outpatient settings, commercially reimbursed procedures, payer wins and continued share gains.
ZILRETTA, iovera° and Partnership Developments
ZILRETTA sales rose 4% to $32.6 million in the quarter. Teehan said growth reflected commercial investments made last year, including a dedicated ZILRETTA sales force and the company’s partnership with Johnson & Johnson. UnitedHealthcare also placed ZILRETTA on its preferred drug list, eliminating prior authorization requirements, according to Pacira.
iovera° sales grew 21% to $6.8 million. Pacira completed the divestiture of the product to Zimmer Biomet on July 31. Under the transaction, Pacira is eligible to receive up to $140 million, including $70 million upfront and up to $70 million in revenue-based milestones.
Lee said the transaction sharpens Pacira’s focus on becoming an innovation-driven biopharmaceutical company and allows it to direct capital toward higher-return opportunities. Pacira will continue collaborating with Zimmer Biomet on the iovera° spasticity program, with potential additional compensation tied to clinical and regulatory success.
The company also said LG Chem recently submitted a regulatory filing for EXPAREL in South Korea. Pacira expects revenue from that arrangement to begin in 2027 and plans to provide updates on additional international commercial partnerships during the second half of the year.
Pipeline Readouts Expected by Year-End
Pacira said it expects three top-line clinical readouts by year-end: a registrational study of iovera° in spasticity, a Phase III study of ZILRETTA in shoulder osteoarthritis, and Part A of the Phase II ASCEND study for PCRX-201 in knee osteoarthritis.
Enrollment has been completed in the iovera° spasticity registrational study, while enrollment has opened for Part B of the PCRX-201 Phase II trial. Part A randomized 49 patients to two PCRX-201 dose groups or a saline control. All participants received an intra-articular corticosteroid before treatment, with safety as the primary objective and efficacy endpoints assessed at weeks 38 and 52.
Chief Medical Officer Jonathan Slonin said the Part A data are expected at the end of the year and are designed to provide safety insights and assess efficacy trends. Pacira expects to report additional data sets during 2027.
The company also said it has established a U.S.-based commercial manufacturing process for PCRX-201 and has begun a pilot efficacy study in canine osteoarthritis. In addition, Pacira plans to begin Phase II development later this year for PCRX-2002, a hydrogel formulation of ropivacaine intended to provide rapid-onset and long-acting postsurgical analgesia from a single instillation into the surgical field.
Guidance Updated Following iovera° Sale
Pacira lowered its full-year total revenue guidance to $735 million to $760 million from a previous range of $745 million to $770 million, reflecting the iovera° divestiture. The company maintained its EXPAREL net product sales outlook of $600 million to $620 million.
The company reduced its full-year SG&A guidance to $310 million to $330 million, from $320 million to $340 million, and narrowed stock-based compensation guidance to $54 million to $59 million. Pacira reiterated guidance for non-GAAP gross margin of 77% to 79% and non-GAAP research and development expense of $105 million to $115 million.
Pacira ended the quarter with $251 million in cash and investments, before the $70 million upfront payment from the Zimmer Biomet transaction. Cross said the company expects the fourth quarter to be its largest dollar contributor for EXPAREL sales, following historical seasonal patterns.
About Pacira BioSciences (NASDAQ:PCRX)
Pacira BioSciences, Inc is a specialty pharmaceutical company focused on developing and commercializing non-opioid, non-addictive pain management and regenerative health solutions. The company's flagship product, EXPAREL, is a bupivacaine liposome injectable suspension designed to provide long-lasting postsurgical analgesia. EXPAREL is used by clinicians across a broad range of surgical procedures to reduce reliance on opioid medications and to help manage acute postoperative pain.
In addition to its marketed offering, Pacira maintains an active pipeline of investigational products aimed at addressing unmet needs in pain management and inflammation control.
This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.
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