Summary
- AKBA’s stock price dipped quite a bit from June to December 2018 on relatively no material news.
- The start of 2019 has seen a nice recovery, but there is still a bit more to go just to get back to the pre-merger price.
- The long-term commercial prospects of Auryxia and vadadustat remain unchanged.
Source: AKBA website
On March 18, Akebia Therapeutics (NASDAQ:AKBA) announced preliminary results for the full-year 2018. This was its first post-merger earnings announcement.
When the merger with Keryx Biopharmaceuticals (formerly NASDAQ:KERX) was announced on June 28, 2018, the stock price dropped about 10%. Our original (and still current) thesis was that the commercial prospects of the combined companies should be no less than the sum of the commercial prospects of the individual companies. The drop in AKBA created a quick recovery play opportunity, as the stock recovered over the next month.
