Rigel Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:RIGL) reported record quarterly product sales in the third quarter of 2026, helped by the launch of breast cancer treatment VEPPANU, while net income declined as spending on research and commercialization increased.
Net product sales rose 13% from a year earlier to $72.3 million, including $6.6 million from VEPPANU during approximately six weeks of commercial availability. Total revenue was $80.9 million, including $8.6 million in contract revenue.
Chief Executive Officer Raul Rodriguez said Rigel sees VEPPANU and its experimental treatment R289 as two potential engines of growth. The company plans to present updated R289 data in December and start a registrational study in lower-risk myelodysplastic syndromes, or MDS, in 2027.
VEPPANU’s Early Launch
VEPPANU became commercially available in the U.S. on August 13 after Rigel closed a global in-license agreement in June. The drug is approved for patients with ER-positive, HER2-negative, ESR1-mutated advanced or metastatic breast cancer. Rigel described it as the first FDA-approved proteolysis-targeting chimera, or PROTAC, therapy.
Rigel shipped the product to more than 100 patients and clinics during the quarter, and the majority of patients who began treatment in August had received their first refill by quarter-end, Chief Commercial Officer Dave Santos said. He told analysts that the bulk of third-quarter VEPPANU sales reflected demand rather than initial inventory stocking, although he did not provide a specific breakdown.
Santos said prescribers were present in 75% of Rigel’s sales territories during the first six weeks. Community oncologists and accounts represented approximately 70% to 80% of early business, he said.
The estimated overall prior authorization approval rate was 88%, including more than 80% for commercially insured patients and over 90% for Medicare patients, according to Santos. The median time to fill prescriptions through specialty pharmacies was four days.
Rigel plans to expand its promotional efforts and attend the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium in December. Chief Medical Officer Alison Hannah said Pfizer and Arvinas remain responsible for several ongoing vepdegestrant studies, to which Rigel will also contribute. Rigel is considering future studies or collaborations, including research in combination treatments and in patients previously treated with oral SERDs.
R289 Data and Trial Plans
Rigel plans to present updated phase 1b R289 results at the American Society of Hematology meeting on December 12, including preliminary efficacy data from the dose-expansion phase. The company expects to complete enrollment and select a recommended phase 2 dose by the end of 2026.
An abstract released ahead of the meeting focused primarily on safety. As of a July 16 cutoff, 64 patients had enrolled, with a median of three prior therapies. Hannah said the most common treatment-emergent adverse events included low-grade diarrhea and cough. No treatment-emergent adverse events led to discontinuation in the dose-expansion group, and there were no dose-limiting toxicities, she said.
Hannah cautioned against directly comparing the heavily pretreated study population with patients in earlier trials of other MDS treatments. She declined to set a target response rate, saying Rigel wants to demonstrate a well-tolerated oral treatment with durable transfusion independence.
Rigel plans to discuss a potential registrational trial with the Food and Drug Administration. Hannah said the company is also preparing an exploratory cohort of less heavily pretreated patients, but expects to have little data from that group when it meets with regulators. Rodriguez said that would not prevent the company from pursuing its planned 2027 trial.
Financial Results and Outlook
TAVALISSE remained Rigel’s largest product, generating $46 million in third-quarter sales, up 3% from a year earlier. REZLIDHIA sales rose 20% to $9.9 million, while GAVRETO sales declined 11% to $9.8 million.
Santos said TAVALISSE reached a record quarter for bottle demand, though he expects less growth for the brand going forward as the company focuses on VEPPANU. REZLIDHIA also had a record demand quarter, he said.
Total costs and expenses rose to $63.8 million from $41 million a year earlier, primarily reflecting higher development spending, product costs and expenses associated with the VEPPANU launch. Net income fell to $13.2 million from $27.9 million. Rigel ended the quarter with $99.3 million in cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments, down from $155 million at the end of 2025.
The company narrowed its full-year total revenue outlook to approximately $290 million to $295 million, from $285 million to $295 million. It expects product sales excluding VEPPANU of $255 million to $260 million, compared with its prior range of $255 million to $265 million, and approximately $35 million in contract revenue, up from an earlier expectation of $30 million. Rigel continues to expect positive net income for the full year.
Chief Financial Officer Dean Schorno said Rigel would consider when to provide VEPPANU guidance after the start of 2027, once it has greater clarity on the product’s sales trends.
About Rigel Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:RIGL)
Rigel Pharmaceuticals, Inc (NASDAQ:RIGL) is a biotechnology company focused on developing and commercializing therapies for hematologic diseases, cancer and immune-related disorders. Founded in 1996 and headquartered in South San Francisco, California, the company uses small-molecule drug discovery and kinase biology to develop medicines that address unmet medical needs.
Rigel’s primary commercial product is Tavalisse (fostamatinib disodium), an oral spleen tyrosine kinase inhibitor approved in the United States for treating thrombocytopenia in adults with chronic immune thrombocytopenia who have had an insufficient response to previous treatment.
