ARS Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:SPRY) outlined a revised commercial and spending strategy during its second-quarter 2026 earnings call, with new President and CEO Donn Casale emphasizing provider-focused promotion for its neffy intranasal epinephrine product, lower operating expenses and an expected path to cash-flow breakeven by the end of 2027.
Casale, hosting his first earnings call as CEO, said the company has established three priorities: targeted healthcare-provider commercial execution, financial discipline and pipeline expansion beginning with chronic spontaneous urticaria, or CSU.
Neffy Revenue and Market Share Growth
Neffy’s total U.S. market share reached 5% during the quarter, compared with 2.5% a year earlier, according to Casale. In the company’s field-sales targeted universe, market share rose to 8% from 4% in the prior-year period. ARS also reported more than 16,000 unique neffy prescribers during the quarter, more than triple the prior-year level.
Casale said neffy is sold into what he described as a prevention-based market, because patients are prescribed the rescue therapy and carry it before an allergic event occurs. As a result, he said provider behavior is particularly important to adoption.
“Closing the gap relies less on broad consumer awareness and far more on changing long-established provider prescribing habits,” Casale said.
The company has completed an expansion of its field sales organization and intends to focus the team on high-value prescribers representing 44% of the total market opportunity. Casale said neffy holds approximately 8% market share in the field-targeted universe, compared with about 1% in the non-targeted universe.
ARS plans to begin reporting both total market share and share within its field-targeted call universe each quarter. Casale said the company expects steady share gains over successive quarters rather than an immediate increase.
Commercial Strategy Shifts Away From Broad Consumer Advertising
Casale said ARS invested heavily at launch in broad direct-to-consumer advertising, including linear and closed-circuit television. While those efforts built awareness, he said such advertising can be expensive and may not consistently convert into utilization in a prevention-oriented market.
Going forward, ARS plans to emphasize provider engagement and use more targeted consumer and provider channels, including social media and search. The company said it will continue to pursue expanded commercial and Medicaid coverage, while focusing on provider conviction after formulary access is secured.
ARS said commercial coverage currently stands at 90%, with 57% of covered lives not requiring prior authorization. Casale said the company’s strategy is now centered on helping providers recognize the clinical gap that neffy is intended to address rather than primarily activating consumers.
The company also named Meg Smith as chief commercial officer. Casale said Smith brings more than 25 years of executive commercial experience and will lead the next stage of the neffy launch.
Expense Reductions and Cash-Flow Breakeven Target
Total operating expenses were $95.1 million in the second quarter, including $12.8 million in cost of goods sold. Selling, general and administrative expense was approximately $77.6 million, reflecting the company’s previous broad consumer-awareness strategy.
ARS said it has adjusted aggregate SG&A and research and development expense expectations for the second half of 2026 to a range of $114 million to $126 million, including approximately $14 million to $16 million of stock-based compensation. Cash-based SG&A and R&D expenses are expected to be between $100 million and $110 million in the second half, representing more than a 40% reduction in cash-based SG&A expense from the first half of the year.
Casale said the company expects the spending trend to continue through 2027. ARS ended the second quarter with $143.8 million in cash equivalents and short-term investments and said its revised expense base, combined with expected revenue and market-share growth, supports a goal of reaching cash-flow breakeven by the end of 2027.
Chief Financial Officer Kathy Scott said gross margin was about 62% in the second quarter and slightly above 64% year to date. She attributed the level to reserves for short-dated product, manufacturing inefficiencies as production scales and costs associated with ex-U.S. product launches. Scott said the company expects gross margin to improve over time, particularly as it streamlines and expands manufacturing in 2027.
CSU Readout Moves to Early 2027
ARS is also advancing neffy’s intranasal epinephrine platform in CSU, a condition for which Casale said there are no FDA-approved on-demand products to manage acute flares. The company views the program as a potential additional growth opportunity that could use existing commercial infrastructure and overlap with targeted prescribers for neffy.
The interim data readout for the company’s Phase IIb CSU trial is now expected in the first quarter of 2027, rather than by the end of 2026. Casale said enrollment in the interim patient population has been completed, but the study design requires patients to experience and document three separate flare episodes and treat them with placebo and varying doses of intranasal epinephrine.
Casale said the revised timing reflects the time needed for patients to complete those episodes and does not alter the company’s view of the program’s potential. ARS also disclosed that it entered a license agreement in July for worldwide rights to certain intellectual property, which Casale described as an early-stage opportunity to consider a franchise line extension.
About ARS Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:SPRY)
ARS Pharmaceuticals, Inc, a biopharmaceutical company, develops treatments for severe allergic reactions. The company is developing neffy, a needle-free and low-dose intranasal epinephrine nasal spray for the emergency treatment of Type I allergic reactions, including anaphylaxis. It serves healthcare professionals, patients, and caregivers. ARS Pharmaceuticals, Inc was founded in 2015 and is headquartered in San Diego, California.
