Companies that foster an environment that supports professional growth are more likely to thrive and successfully adopt digital innovation. Here are the 100 best places to work in Europe—and how they stay that way.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals ranks 94 on Fortune 100 Best Companies to Work For – Europe 2026 list.

Fortune 100 Best Companies To Work For – Europe

With a combined revenue of $21 trillion and $2.1 trillion in profits, the 2026 Fortune 500 is the definitive list of America's largest companies.

Fortune 500

This year's 100 Best Companies to Work For are rebuilding the social contract at work so people feel supported, trusted, and future-ready as they undergo that transition.

100 Best Places to Work 2026_Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc

Employees say:"Vertex is a company that truly cares, from the top down, about the mission for bringing transformative therapies to patients and about its employees. The benefits offered here are unparalleled, as are the opportunities for growth and development. This is a truly special place to be."

Fortune 100 Best Companies to Work For

See which workplaces made this year's list.

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Employees say:&nbsp;"The Vertex 101 and other scientific and commercial learning series is awesome! The 'leading edge' is also a great connection point for the average employee that is appreciated and 'humanizes' the C-Suite. Finally, the continued learning series that provides development in management and job skills is one of a kind and shows the investment Vertex makes for its employees as workers and people in general."

Best Large Workplaces in Biotechnology and Pharmaceuticals

Almost $20 trillion in revenue—and a record-breaking $1.87 trillion in profits. Introducing the 2025 Fortune 500, the definitive list of the biggest companies in America.

The top companies on our list have one thing in common: Staff largely trust leadership to see them as well-rounded people and reward them for a job well done.

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Employees say: "This organization is like none other. Patients are at the center of everything we do. Secondly, the care and compassion we have for each other, both personal and professional, is unprecedented in the industry. The executive team and management are always seeking ideas and ways to innovate process to better serve the patients and the team."

The companies on this annual list make a conscious effort to be supportive, inclusive workplaces.

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Employees say:"I love the professional, mutual respect, and care for the employees that is demonstrated on a daily basis. The commitment to patients and focus on innovation across all departments, make it very easy to be committed to and passionate about our work. In addition, the truly inclusive and diverse culture, is very modern and refreshing."

100 Best Large Workplaces for Women

GPTW BioPharma Large 2024-Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc

Employees say:"This organization is like none other. Patients are at the center of EVERYTHING we do. Secondly, the care and compassion we have for each other, both personal and professional is unprecedented in the industry. The executive team and management is always seeking ideas and ways to innovate process to better serve the patients and the team."

Fortune partners with global people analytics firm Great Place to Work to analyze survey feedback representing employees from companies across the U.S.

GPTW Millennials-2024-Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc_US1__20240522184224_4

Employees say:"Vertex makes products that are truly life-changing for patients. People here recognize the importance of what we do, work hard, and are always looking for ways to do things better. Leadership recognizes the value of the employees and goes the extra mile to give recognition and ensure that the benefits we receive are at the top of our industry."

100 Best Large Workplaces for Millennials

Industries included in the sector are insurance and managed care, medical products and facilities, pharmacy services, and pharmaceutical companies.

Fortune Sector Leaders: Health Care

The Fortune 500, in its 70th year in 2024, ranks the biggest U.S. companies by revenue.

Creating a more empathetic workplace looks like staying loyal to workers, emphasizing D&I initiatives, and paying well.

100 Best Companies 2024-Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc

Vertex, a global biotechnology company, invests in the scientific pursuit of medicines and treatments for serious diseases. It currently has ongoing clinical and research programs that treat underlying causes of cystic fibrosis, and recently <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/30/health/vertex-pain-medicine-non-opioid.html">announced</a> progress toward a nonopioid investigational drug to treat moderate to severely acute pain.&nbsp; &nbsp;Flexible remote work, two weeks off in addition to paid vacation time, and commuting benefits are on the list of employee benefits. The company also encourages employees to get involved in volunteer opportunities by organizing an annual Global Day of Service, through which the company matches up to $5,000 per year to nonprofits of an employees’ choosing. The group’s CEO, Reshma Kewalramani, hosts small gatherings of employees through a meeting she calls Lemonade and Pretzels, to answer employee questions.&nbsp;

The 200 companies on this list are transforming industries from the inside out.

America's Most Innovative Companies

Building a culture of trust and transparency is essential to help everyone thrive, especially in rocky economic times.

100 BEST COMPANIES 2023-Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc

The global biotechnology company invests in innovation in order to develop medicines for people with serious diseases. The company culture values recognizing the efforts of its employees. 
<ul> 
 	<li>When a major milestone is achieved, such as the FDA approving one of its medicines, Vertex brings in patients who will benefit from the drug, along with their families, to share their stories and ring a giant antique fire bell to commemorate the occasion.</li> 
 	<li>New managers take part in Lead, a 12-week immersive leadership development program designed to better help them manage a team.</li> 
 	<li>The company offers global synchronous days off, where all employees are off at the same time, ideally meaning no overflowing inbox or missed deadlines when they return, letting them truly enjoy the time away. Additionally, all of Vertex shuts down for two weeklong periods each year, letting employees focus on themselves, spend time with loved ones, and recharge.</li> 
 	<li>The company’s mentoring program uses a matching tool to facilitate pairings based on how closely aligned a mentee’s development goals are to a mentor’s strengths. As a result, people with different lived experiences and perspectives are connected, and mentors grow from the experience as well.</li> 
</ul>

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Employees say: 
 
"The company goes out of their way to ensure employees are allowed to have non-work time—like creating 'synchronous days' so that people taking a day off will not be bothered by others still working that day. They also make sure to engage the employees with all major accomplishments and have regular formal and informal discussions across employee groups to ensure all voices are heard."

GPTW Women 2023-Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc

Employees say: 
 
"Vertex is nothing like anywhere I've ever worked. When you walk into the building, you can just feel that something special is happening there. It has a 'pulse' of people passionate about helping patients and innovating at high speeds. It is a privilege to work here!"

Fortune partnered with Great Place to Work to analyze survey feedback representing nearly half a million U.S. employees.

GPTW Millennial Large 2023-Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc

Employees say: 
 
"People care about each other. The management cares about employees with great benefits about work-life balance! The work we do means a great deal to a lot of people/patients, and I'm so proud to work here!"

The Fortune 500, in its 69th year in 2023, ranks the biggest U.S. companies by revenue.

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Employees say: 
 
“This company puts our own personal career development as a higher priority than any other place I have worked. I have never done an individual development plan at any other company, never worked at a place that offered gigs and rotations like Vertex does, or had some many opportunities to work on side projects that align with my own interests. Our benefits are also unmatched in my experience, the stock offerings, opportunities for bonuses, health coverage (HSA particularly), and maternity leave as well as commuter benefits are incredibly generous.”

GPTW Women 2022-Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc

Employees say: 
 
“This company puts our own personal career development as a higher priority than any other place I have worked. I have never done an individual development plan at any other company, never worked at a place that offered gigs and rotations like Vertex does, or had some many opportunities to work on side projects that align with my own interests.”

This year’s Fortune 500 marks the 68th running of the list.

This year’s Fortune 500 marks the 67th running of the list.

The biopharmaceutical company makes its debut on the Fortune 500 this year, riding the wave of a 49% year-over-year revenue increase in 2020—driven primarily by its cystic fibrosis drugs Kaftrio and Trikafta.

Collectively, the ranked companies produced a three-year average shareholder return of 33%, vs. 19% for the S&P 500.

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100 Fastest-Growing Companies

Explore this year's ranking of the 50 companies with the best long-term growth potential.

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In the fall of 2019, Vertex launched Trikafta, the latest of its breakthrough therapies for people with cystic fibrosis. Capable of treating up to 90% of those who suffer from the progressive, life-threatening disease, the drug has already been used to treat thousands of patients in the U.S. and recently won approval in the EU. The company’s sales—$4.2 billion in 2019—have averaged 35% annual growth over the past three years. One setback: The biotech’s stock fell 23% in October after it scrapped a new drug in Phase II clinical trials.

The Future 50

This year's Fortune 500 marks the 66th running of the list.

Collectively, the ranked companies produced a three-year average shareholder return of 19%, vs. 11% for the S&P 500.

Fastest Growing Companies 2020-06-Vertex Pharmaceuticals

Fortune's proprietary methodology allows us to zero in on the 50 global firms that are best poised to deliver—and continue delivering—above average gains.

This year's Fortune 500 marks the 65th running of the list.

Welcome to the inaugural Fortune Future 50, our new ranking of companies best positioned for breakout growth.

This year's Fortune 500 marks the 64th running of the list.

Fastest-growing Companies

Revenue 3 Yr Growth Rank

Revenue 3 Yr Annual Growth Rate

EPS 3 Yr Growth Rank

EPS 3 Yr Annual Growth Rate

Total Return 3 Yr Rank

Total Return 3 Yr Annual Rate

Beat S&P 500 3 Yr Return

Current Streak

Years on List

Sector

Future 50

Overall Score

Culture rank

Process rank

Product rank

Best Workplaces For Women

Industry Vertical

Founded

# Work Sites

Best Companies

Rank last year

Years on list

U.S. employees

U.S. job openings

Year founded

Benefits

Subsidized childcare

Compressed work weeks

Option to work remotely

Minimum requirement in-office attendance (days per week)

Mental health coverage

Free mental health sessions (per year)

Free backup childcare time off (days)

Maximum $ amount covered for fertility services

Fully paid maternal leave (days)

Fully paid paternal leave (days)

Fully paid adoptive leave (days)

Maternal leave in addition to regular time off (days)

Paid days off for volunteering

Best Workplaces In Biopharma

Sites

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Total Stockholder Equity ($M)

Profit Ratios

Profit as % of Revenues

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Earnings Per Share (last Fiscal Year)

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Total Return

Total Return to Investors (last year)

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Best Companies To Work For Europe

CEO/Top executive

Group headquarters

HQ location

GPTW national list

Woman CEO

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Vertex Pharmaceuticals, a biotechnology company, develops and commercializes therapies for serious chronic conditions such as cystic fibrosis, which damages the lungs, digestive system, and other organs. Vertex also developed Casgevy, one of two gene therapies approved for the treatment of sickle cell anemia, a rare and painful blood disorder. Casgevy is also the first FDA-approved therapy that utilizes CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing technology.

Q2 2026

Q1 2026

Q4 2025

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Q1 2025

Q4 2024

Vertex Pharmaceuticals (VRTX): Company Profile, Stock Price, News, Rankings

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Vertex Pharmaceuticals

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Good day, and welcome to the Vertex Pharmaceuticals second quarter 2026 earnings call. All participants will be in a listen-only mode. Should you need assistance, please signal a conference specialist by pressing the star key followed by zero. After today's presentation, there will be an opportunity to ask questions. To ask a question, you may press star then one on your touch tone phone. To withdraw your question, please press star then two. Please note this event is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to Ms. Susie Lisa. Please go ahead.

Good evening all. My name is Susie Lisa, and as the Senior Vice President of Investor Relations, it is my pleasure to welcome you to our second quarter 2026 financial results conference call. On tonight's call making prepared remarks, we have Dr. Reshma Kewalramani, Vertex's Chief Executive Officer and President, Charlie Wagner, Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer, and Duncan McKechnie, Chief Commercial Officer. We recommend that you access the webcast slides as you listen to this call.

The call is being recorded, and a replay will be available on our website. We will make forward-looking statements on this call that are subject to the risks and uncertainties discussed in detail in today's press release and in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

These statements, including without limitation, those regarding Vertex's marketed medicines for Cystic Fibrosis, sickle cell disease, beta thalassemia, and moderate to severe acute pain, our pipeline, the proposed acquisition of Crinetics Pharmaceuticals, and the expected benefits of that transaction and Vertex's future financial performance are based on management's current assumptions. Actual outcomes and events could differ materially. I would also note that select financial results and guidance that we will review on the call this evening are presented on a non-GAAP basis. I'll now turn the call over to Reshma.

Thanks, Susie. Good evening all, and thank you for joining us on the call today. Vertex's second quarter performance was excellent with strong momentum in the commercial portfolio, rapid progress across our R&D pipeline, and the announcement of the definitive agreement to acquire Crinetics Pharmaceuticals, which brings rare endocrine diseases as a fifth pillar to Vertex. Second quarter total revenue grew 12% year-over-year, driven by the strength of our Cystic Fibrosis portfolio and the growing contributions from our newer products, CASGEVY and JOURNAVX. As I've previously highlighted, this is a year of execution for Vertex across commercial, clinical, and regulatory, and on each of those fronts, we advanced significantly in the second quarter. Commercially, we delivered strong revenue growth across all diseases, made meaningful progress in reimbursed access, and continued to execute on near-term launch planning to drive the next phase of growth.

Clinically, we continue to make significant progress in advancing our pipeline, including completing enrollment in the AGLOW phase II study of VX-407 in ADPKD, tracking to complete enrollment in the AMPLITUDE phase III study in AMKD by the end of this year, and reporting results from the interim analysis cohort of AMPLITUDE in the beginning of 2027. We also remain on track to release results later this year from a proof of concept study in DM1 and an expanded population for AMKD in the AMPLIFY trial, as well as the initial patient data from VX-828 in CF. On the regulatory front, the BLA for POVI and IgAN was accepted in the U.S. with a November 30th PDUFA date. We achieved expanded labeling in record time for CASGEVY in patients ages two to 11 in the U.S.

I'm very pleased to share that as we continue to dose the phase I/II/III study of exemlcel in Type 1 Diabetes, the IND was cleared for the blood type O islet cells in our T1D program, VX-017. We expect initiation of the VX-017 phase I/II study in the near term. Finally, with the announced acquisition of Crinetics Pharmaceuticals, we look forward to multiple benefits of the deal. Establishing a fifth pillar in rare endocrine diseases, adding to our innovative R&D pipeline, accelerating revenue growth, and enhancing long-term earnings. Tonight, I'll limit my R&D comments to new news in CF, renal, and Type 1 Diabetes, and close with some additional remarks regarding the Crinetics acquisition. Let me start with CF, where we continue to extend our market leadership. Data we presented at ECFS reinforced that ALYFTREK best restores CFTR function amongst the available CFTR modulators.

In particular, among children with CF under 12 years of age, the majority across all eligible genotypes achieve a sweat chloride less than 30 millimoles, which is the median among CF carriers. This is remarkable because at these sweat chloride levels, CF carriers do not exhibit the manifestations of disease. In addition, we have initiated global regulatory submissions for ALYFTREK in children ages two to five. Global regulatory submissions for TRIKAFTA in patients ages one to two are also in progress. Turning to our next wave in CF and VX-828, our next generation 3.0 CFTR modulator recently completed dosing in the patient cohort and data are expected in the second half of this year. Behind VX-828, we continue to advance additional correctors in the next gen 3.0 family, and both VX-581 and VX-272 are in healthy volunteer studies. Let me close on CF with this.

Our ultimate goal has been consistent for two plus decades: to bring patients to carrier levels of sweat chloride. Frankly, ALYFTREK's remarkable results, where nearly 2/3 of younger patients achieved sweat chloride levels less than 30 millimole per liter, and for patients ages 12+, more than 75% achieved sweat chloride levels within the carrier range of CFTR function means we are very close to that goal. Given the improvements in sweat chloride, ppFEV1, pulmonary exacerbations, hospitalizations, lung transplant, and survival that we have seen in patients in clinical trials and/or the real world, we recognize that the unmet need is far lower today, and the bar for any medicine to beat ALYFTREK is very, very high. Thus, as we develop our next gen 3.0 and beyond programs, we will evaluate multiple regimens in phase I and cohorts of patients with CF.

We will only advance assets into phase II and beyond that show promise to beat ALYFTREK. In other words, to bring even more patients to sweat chloride levels less than 30 across all genotypes with once daily dosing and excellent drug-like properties, including drug-drug interactions. Anything less would not be competitive. Moving now to our renal franchise, where we have four programs in mid- and late-stage development. Povetacicept in IgAN and primary membranous nephropathy, inaxaplin in APOL1-mediated kidney disease, and VX-407 in ADPKD or Autosomal Dominant Polycystic Kidney Disease. Let me start with the most advanced program and significant milestone. In late May, the FDA accepted our BLA for POVI and IgAN and assigned a PDUFA date of November 30th of this year.

As a reminder, the RAINIER phase III interim analysis was a home run, delivering statistically significant and clinically meaningful results across the primary and all secondary endpoints with a favorable safety profile and consistency in the primary endpoint of change from baseline in proteinuria across all groups. We are in the final stages of launch readiness. Duncan will provide more details regarding our approach and excitement to go to market with POVI's differentiated profile of potentially best-in-class efficacy, a well-tolerated safety profile, and patient-centric administration through small volume, once monthly dosing via an auto-injector at home. We are also advancing POVI internationally. We have completed the regulatory submission for accelerated approval of POVI in IgAN in Saudi Arabia, where POVI has received breakthrough designation. Turning to POVI in membranous nephropathy, our OLYMPUS phase II/III pivotal trial is well underway.

The phase II portion is complete, the phase III portion initiated last quarter. I'm pleased to share that the IDMC has completed its review and selected the phase III dose, 80 mg subcutaneously every four weeks. We hold fast track, orphan drug designation, and EMA Prime designations for POVI in membranous. Stepping briefly outside of renal, on POVI in myasthenia gravis, I'm also pleased to share that the 30-patient, phase II proof of concept study is on track to complete enrollment by the end of this year. Recall, this study evaluates 80 mg and 240 mg doses of POVI versus placebo for 12 weeks. Turning now to inaxaplin in AMKD. On AMPLITUDE, our pivotal phase II/III study in AMKD, we completed enrollment of the interim analysis cohort in September of last year and are on track to complete full enrollment by the end of this year.

The interim analysis will be conducted following 48 weeks of treatment, we remain on track to share these IA results in early 2027. If positive, we would be positioned to file for potential accelerated approval in the U.S. thereafter. AMPLIFIED is our phase IIB basket study of inaxaplin in AMKD patients with either lower proteinuria or AMKD patients with diabetes. Expanded patient populations not studied in AMPLITUDE. The AMPLIFIED study has completed enrollment and dosing, and we expect to share results this fall. Lastly in the renal portfolio is VX-407 in ADPKD or Autosomal Dominant Polycystic Kidney Disease. Our AGLOW phase II study has completed enrollment. This is a proof of concept study with up to 52 weeks of treatment. We are excited about the potential for VX-407 in ADPKD and look forward to sharing more information as dosing continues and the data matures.

Let me now touch on Type 1 Diabetes. We had very constructive meetings with the FDA following our voluntary pause in order to conduct a manufacturing analysis of exemlcel. As we shared on our Q1 call, we have resumed dosing patients in the exemlcel phase I, II, III study. The new news today is that the FDA has cleared the IND for VX-017, our type O or universal donor cell product. VX-017 has a similar target product profile to exemlcel, but is designed for people of all blood types, and we expect the VX-017 phase I, II study to initiate in the near term. By designing and bringing to market VX-017, another allogeneic, off-the-shelf, glucose-responsive, insulin-producing, fully differentiated islet cell therapy, in this case, for any blood type, we anticipate doubling our market opportunity from about 60,000 to about 120,000 patients.

A silver lining to the pause we took in the exemlcel type A program is that the type O program time differential versus exemlcel has shortened. Type O is making rapid progress, and thus we are considering options to further streamline our regulatory strategy and commercialization approach. We expect to provide updated T1D plans, including timelines, later this year. We also continue to progress our serial innovation work focused on improved immunosuppression and hypoimmune programs to make our potentially one and done curative therapy available to even more patients with Type 1 Diabetes. Let me close with a few words on our announced acquisition of Crinetics Pharmaceuticals, which we detailed in a separate call last month. Crinetics is an excellent strategic fit for Vertex, with its focus on serious endocrine diseases, high unmet need, validated targets, and well-understood causal biology, as well as a strong people and culture fit.

We believe the two lead assets, paltusotine and atumelnant, together represent a peak sales opportunity of about $5 billion. Both are small molecules that address serious diseases for patients treated by a concentrated group of specialized endocrinologists. This fits directly within Vertex's proven efficient specialty commercial model. We enter this transaction from a position of strength. We view CF as a long duration franchise with sustained growth. We continue to expect both CASGEVY and JOURNAVX to be multi-billion dollar assets, and we anticipate our emerging renal franchise could one day rival CF in revenue. In addition, we have a broad and deep pipeline in earlier stages of development. The Crinetics acquisition will add to this innovation pipeline and enhance our revenue growth and long-term earnings profile by adding a fifth commercial pillar in rare endocrine diseases.

The transaction is expected to close in the third quarter. We really look forward to welcoming the talented Crinetics team to Vertex. With that, I'll turn the call over to Duncan for a commercial update.

Thanks very much, Reshma. Our commercial story this quarter is one of building momentum across each of our franchises, supported by the appropriate investments to drive growth. We are very excited for the close of the Crinetics acquisition and for Vertex to establish a new pillar in specialty endocrine diseases like acromegaly, CAH, and Cushing's syndrome. Crinetics Q2 results were excellent, with strong growth in paltusotine revenue and patients treated, but I will hold any further comments until after the deal closes. Tonight, let me start with CF. CF continues to perform very well. Global CF revenue grew 11% year-over-year in the second quarter, with balanced growth across the U.S. and internationally, and continued strength from both ALYFTREK and TRIKAFTA. ALYFTREK performance has been excellent and crossed another significant milestone, exceeding $1 billion in revenue in the first half of 2026.

In the U.S., we continue to see patients initiating ALYFTREK who are new to therapy, returning to therapy, and patients switching from TRIKAFTA. The majority of ALYFTREK revenue continues to come from these TRIKAFTA switch patients, which reflects the benefits of ALYFTREK and our success establishing ALYFTREK as the new standard of care. We are pleased with the pace at which physicians and patients are embracing ALYFTREK, given its improved sweat chloride profile and once daily dosing. We have seen accelerated uptake of ALYFTREK from the recent approvals in rare mutations, as well as patients rolling off our open label extension studies. Outside the U.S., the ALYFTREK European launches remain very strong. With no requirement for augmented liver monitoring in the E.U., we are seeing rapid uptake by patients in Europe transitioning from TRIKAFTA or one of our other CFTR modulators.

In fact, in Germany and the U.K., more than one in three eligible CF patients are now benefiting from ALYFTREK. Globally, the CF growth drivers for the remainder of 2026 are clear. Continued ALYFTREK uptake, the label expansion into rare mutations, younger patients, and additional geographies. Shifting to heme and CASGEVY, where the momentum continues to build. During the second quarter, we delivered $76 million in CASGEVY revenue, reflecting approximately 75% sequential growth versus quarter one 2026 and over 150% year-over-year growth. This was in line with our expectations based on our visibility into patient scheduling patterns. The strength of the CASGEVY franchise continues to build.

New data on CASGEVY at EHA with simultaneous publication in "The New England Journal of Medicine" demonstrated its transformative potential in pediatric patients as well as durable benefits, reinforcing the importance of early intervention to prevent the complications of sickle cell disease and beta thalassemia in children. Stemming from this compelling data, last month, CASGEVY became the first and only gene therapy FDA approved to treat children as young as two years old in both sickle cell disease and beta thalassemia. CASGEVY received supplemental approval in the U.S. in a record 53 days post-filing, and our first pediatric patient has already initiated therapy and conducted cell collection. Outside the U.S., CASGEVY regulatory submissions in the five to 11 age group are now complete in Saudi Arabia and the United Kingdom.

On the reimbursement front, we're seeing strong trends in initiations in Germany after reaching a historic reimbursement agreement there, as well as continued strong uptake in the U.K., Italy, and the Middle East following the negotiations of sustainable access agreements. The CASGEVY story continues to be one of an increasingly robust pipeline of patients initiating the treatment journey. There were more CASGEVY infusions in the first half of 2026 than in all of 2025. Second quarter 2026 was also the third sequential quarter with more than 100 patient initiations, which enhances our visibility to continued growth for the rest of this year and early 2027 as patients continue to move through cell collection, editing, and infusion. Quarter-to-quarter variability in CASGEVY revenue will continue and reflects the timing of patient infusions as people choose to receive their infusions when it best suits them.

As we look forward, we expect continued CASGEVY momentum with the pipeline of patients at every stage continuing to build. CASGEVY is well-positioned to contribute meaningfully to our $500 million non-CF revenue goal this year and to achieve its standalone multibillion-dollar potential. Turning to JOURNAVX in moderate to severe acute pain, where our launch continues to gain traction. In the second quarter, JOURNAVX generated $50 million in revenue, reflecting sequential revenue growth of approximately 70% and sequential prescription growth of approximately 45% versus quarter one 2026. Unpacking Q2 performance, revenue was positively impacted by channel build after we'd seen a drawdown in quarter one. At this stage in an acute product launch, we continue to expect some quarterly volatility in inventory build and drawdown as full line wholesalers and retail channel buying patterns normalize to reflect formulary adoption, physician awareness, and seasonality in elective surgeries.

We are building a pain franchise for the long term and are focused on the following four critical markers of success: prescription growth, breadth and depth of prescribers, the addition of JOURNAVX to hospital and IDN pathways, and broad payer coverage. These are the building blocks of a sustainable, long-term, multi-billion-dollar business. We are extremely pleased with the prescription growth we continue to build, which is ahead of our forecast for 2026. The breadth and depth of prescriptions across a wide range of settings of care, as well as the clinical impact of JOURNAVX, continue to be very strong and all augur well for the long-term growth of JOURNAVX in acute pain. The consequence of this rapid prescription growth is that we are seeing greater use of the PSP program than we forecast as securing unrestricted payer access and physician education catches up with prescription growth.

Let me break down what I mean by that. At this point, we have a total of 260 million lives covered out of a total possible of approximately 320 million. Of the 260 million covered lives, 180 million of them have unrestricted coverage. This means that there are 60 million lives yet to be covered and about 80 million lives who have coverage, but with some form of restriction, making some of them eligible for the PSP program. These restrictions are usually very minor in nature, such as a 14-day quantity limit or a prior authorization to indication. As we continue to educate physicians and their office staff about the quantity limits and prior authorizations, we expect the PSP to be triggered less frequently and therefore more revenue to be recognized.

Let me now provide you with some more details on prescriptions, prescribers, and access before concluding our thinking on the PSP program and gross to net. In terms of prescriptions, quarter two 2026 JOURNAVX prescriptions totaled approximately 535,000 and just over 900,000 for the first half of 2026. The prescriptions continue to be split roughly 50/50 between the hospital and retail channels. In both channels, monthly prescriptions were approximately 50,000 in January and doubled to approximately 100,000 in each channel in June. In terms of prescribers, we added approximately 18,000 new HCP prescribers to JOURNAVX in Q2 2026 and are pleased that JOURNAVX is now on 1,400 hospital and 130 IDN pathways in terms of formulary, protocol, or order sets. These are important metrics as we seek to convert practices and continue to embed the use of JOURNAVX among our target physicians.

We've also made further progress with respect to access. We recently signed agreements to expand reimbursed access to JOURNAVX with two additional Medicare Part D plans effective from July 1st. With these additions, three of the big four Medicare Part D plans now provide covered access alongside the three large commercial PBMs. As mentioned, this brings the total covered lives for JOURNAVX to approximately 260 million out of a total possible of 320 million, and within that, approximately 180 million lives with unrestricted access. Our goal continues to be to ensure the prescribing experience for physicians and patients is as seamless as possible in a market where the delivery of the medicine is highly time sensitive. We will continue to work to educate physicians to navigate the minimal quantity limits and prior authorizations that exist and secure ever broader coverage.

In the meantime, we will maintain the PSP program so that patients who are prescribed JOURNAVX can get it. We continue to see this as a strategic choice as we seek to convert physician practices away from decades of reliance on opioids to ongoing and sustained use of JOURNAVX for many years to come. As a result, we continue to expect gross to net to normalize in line with other branded oral medicines, but now in the first half of 2027. To conclude on pain, we also continue to be on track to exceed our goal of more than tripling the 550,000 prescriptions and more than tripling revenue from 2025 into 2026, as well as delivering more than $500 million in revenue from CASGEVY and JOURNAVX combined in 2026. Let me conclude with an update on our commercial readiness in renal and specifically POVI in IgAN.

With the FDA's acceptance of our BLA and the November 30th PDUFA date, we are in the final stages of commercial launch preparation. We're investing in our renal franchise and the nephrology community for the long term, given our innovative pipeline of multiple potentially transformative kidney disease medications that address the underlying causes of serious renal conditions. Our goal is for POVI to be physicians' first choice among disease-modifying therapies for IgAN. And we know from our market research and from nephrologist feedback that physicians are looking for treatments that meaningfully and rapidly reduce proteinuria, have a favorable tolerability profile, and offer a seamless treatment experience from access through patient support to convenient dosing. We believe POVI has the winning trifecta of efficacy, tolerability, and ease of use for patients and physicians alike.

With dual BAFF/APRIL inhibition, POVI has clear best-in-class potential and delivers effectively on all the needs we've heard from the community in research and advisory boards, making it the ideal first choice after baseline therapy with ACE/ARBs and SGLT2s. We have completed the hiring of our renal field force, of whom about 90% have nephrology experience and was built with the breadth of our renal pipeline in mind. We anticipate that we will have the largest field force among the novel APRIL or APRIL-BAFF therapies for IgAN. Our payer conversations are also proceeding well. In the U.S., approximately 70% of patients with IgAN have commercial coverage. From our engagements with payers, their awareness of IgAN and the new BAFF/APRIL inhibitors is high. Payers understand the unmet need, have a good understanding of the KDIGO guidelines, and how the new therapies fit into treatment pathways.

Payers are also very aware of the strength of the POVI phase III interim analysis data and POVI's November 30th PDUFA date. Our market access teams continue to actively engage with payers to prepare for the upcoming launch of POVI. Additionally, we will provide robust patient support programs drawing on our decades of experience in CF. POVI in IgAN is the first component of our emerging renal franchise, and we're excited to bring it to nephrologists and to their patients. We believe POVI's trifecta of efficacy, tolerability, and ease of use delivers exactly what nephrologists are seeking. Just as we've done for over a decade in CF, POVI's success will be driven by a field force delivering a high science cell fueled by a potentially best-in-class product, broad reimbursement, and robust high-quality patient programs.

We are very excited to commercialize POVI and IgAN and begin building our multibillion-dollar renal franchise at Vertex. I'll now turn the call over to Charlie to review the financials.

Thanks, Duncan. As Reshma noted, Vertex's second quarter results demonstrate our consistent strong performance and attractive growth profile. Second quarter 2026 total revenue of $3.3 billion increased 12% year-over-year, with growth balanced between the U.S. and international markets. As expected, Q2 2026 revenue growth reflects an approximate 170 basis point benefit from foreign exchange rates. Q2 2026 global CF revenue grew 11% year-over-year, and new disease areas also contributed, with CASGEVY delivering $76 million compared to $30 million in Q2 of 2025, and JOURNAVX's revenue of $50 million compared to $12 million in Q2 of 2025. As a reminder, Q2 2025 results also included $21 million of collaboration revenue. Q2 2026 U.S. CF revenue grew 9% year-over-year, led by strong volume growth from ALYFTREK uptake, continued performance from TRIKAFTA, and higher realized net price.

Outside the U.S., CF revenue grew 12% year-over-year, driven by strong ALYFTREK launches, timing of orders in certain geographies, as well as the benefit from FX. Note that global CF revenue growth for the first half of 2026 was 8%, including the benefit of prior year U.S. price increases and foreign exchange. We expect both of these factors to contribute less to growth in the second half of the year. Our second quarter 2026 gross margin was 85.6%, an expected sequential step down from Q1 of 2026. This step down reflects the impact of product mix as well as manufacturing network investments in various products.

As our new products, particularly CASGEVY, increase in revenue contribution with higher cost of goods sold than our small molecule CF products, we continue to expect full year gross margin of just under 86%, roughly in line with this quarter's result. The impact from product mix and manufacturing network investment costs will be more pronounced in the second half than they were in the first half of 2026. Turning to operating expenses. We continue to invest appropriately given the attractive opportunity presented by our ongoing and near-term launches, as well as our attractive mid and late-stage pipeline. Second quarter non-GAAP R&D expense of $889 million increased 1% year-over-year, with steady progress across multiple phase III studies and the earlier stage pipeline.

Non-GAAP SG&A expense of $520 million increased 45% year-over-year, driven primarily by commercial investments split roughly evenly between pain and renal. We also recorded $21 million in acquired IPR&D expense in the quarter. Note that while R&D continues to account for nearly 2/3 of our operating expenses, the modest growth rate reflects that we are in a period where we can redeploy dollars from programs that wind down to fund programs that are new or scaling up. In contrast, much of our commercial spending is to build new businesses and thus is incremental, as reflected in the higher year-over-year growth rates when compared to R&D spending. Our second quarter 2026 non-GAAP effective tax rate was 21.1%, including some one-time expenses.

Year-to-date, our non-GAAP effective tax rate was 20.4% within our guidance range of 19.5%-20.5%. Our second quarter 2026 non-GAAP earnings per share of $4.73 represents 5% growth versus prior year, reflecting strong revenue growth as well as investments in our pipeline and commercial capabilities. Turning to the balance sheet. We ended the quarter with approximately $13.6 billion in cash and investments. During the second quarter, we deployed approximately $455 million to repurchase roughly 1 million shares. This activity reflects our ongoing commitment to returning value to shareholders while maintaining the flexibility to act on strategic growth opportunities. Of course, our top priority for capital deployment remains investing in innovation, as evidenced by our recent announcement to acquire Crinetics for approximately $8.8 billion net of cash acquired.

Turning to guidance. Given our strong first half performance and the momentum across the business, we are raising our full year 2026 total revenue guidance to a range of $13.1 billion-$13.2 billion. 2026 revenue guidance reflects continued strong performance from the CF franchise, including ALYFTREK and TRIKAFTA, as well as growing year-over-year contributions from CASGEVY and JOURNAVX. We continue to expect revenue of $500 million or greater from our non-CF products. Our outlook also continues to include an expected 150 basis point benefit from foreign exchange net of our hedging program.

As I previously mentioned, we continue to expect full year gross margin of just under 86%. On operating expenses, we are reiterating our combined non-GAAP operating expense guidance of $5.65 billion-$5.75 billion, though we now expect to be at the high end of that range. This reflects continued investment in our late-stage clinical pipeline and the commercial infrastructure and activities that support our new launches and revenue diversification. We continue to expect our non-GAAP effective tax rate to be in the range of 19.5%-20.5% for the full year 2026. I would note that today's guidance does not yet reflect the pending Crinetics acquisition, which is expected to close in the third quarter. Given the anticipated timing, we expect the impact to 2026 revenue and non-GAAP operating expenses to be relatively modest. We will provide updated guidance for 2026 around the time of closing.

As a reminder, we expect to fund the transaction through a combination of cash on hand and proceeds from a $4.5 billion term loan. We expect the transaction to become accretive to non-GAAP operating income in 2029. In summary, Vertex delivered strong second quarter results. Our commercial launches and diversification are gaining momentum. We continue to invest with discipline in both innovation and commercialization. Overall, our financial performance and outlook remain compelling. With expanding CF leadership, hemon pain scaling, renal on the doorstep of launch, and the addition of a fifth pillar in specialty endocrine through the pending Crinetics acquisition, Vertex is exceptionally well-positioned for continued growth. Our high success rate in R&D and our disciplined specialty commercial model allow us to maintain industry-leading margins even as we step up investments to support our launches and pipeline.

With this unique profile, we are well-positioned to continue expanding our impact for patients, investors, and all stakeholders. We look forward to updating you on our continued progress across multiple disease areas with key upcoming milestones detailed on slide 19. I'll ask Susie to begin the Q&A period.

Will do. We will now begin the question-and-answer session. To ask a question, you may press star then one on your touch tone phone. If you are on a speakerphone, please pick up your handset before pressing the keys. If at any time your question has been addressed and you would like to withdraw your question, please press star then two. Our first question for today will come from Salveen Richter with Goldman Sachs. Please go ahead.

Good afternoon. Thanks for taking my questions. Two for me. One is, you announced that the phase II/III OLYMPUS study for POVI in pMN is going to move to phase III with an 80 mg dose every four weeks. Can you frame what signal this was based on and whether you or the DSMB, or what you or the DSMB saw in the phase IIB portion to move forward? On the pain front, it was really nice to see the progress here. Maybe help us understand where the bottlenecks lie now or what needs to be worked on with regard to formulary as well as the payer dynamics as you look at copay, et cetera. Thank you.

Sure thing, Salveen. Let me kick us off with the first question, which is about POVI in membranous. The phase II's complete. The phase III was already initiated, you might recall, a couple of months ago as we designed it as a seamless phase II/III. The DSMB was asked to base their decision, and it was their decision because we do not have access to the unblinded data to look at on efficacy PLA2R, which is the biomarker equivalent in membranous as Gd-IgA1 is to IgAN. Of course, they had full access to the safety results as they made their decision. I suppose in many ways it's not surprising that they picked the 80 mg dose given the RUBY-3 results, where you could see that the 80 mg had a very nice reduction in PLA2R. That's how the decision was made.

Study's well on its phase III portion. We look forward to getting that study enrolled and completed. Duncan, I'm going to turn it over to you for a little commentary on JOURNAVX scripts and what more we're working on.

Thank you. Good afternoon, Salveen. As you know, our goal with JOURNAVX is to fundamentally transform how pain is treated and to move physician practices away from decades of reliance on opioids. In terms of our progress, we're very pleased with the prescription numbers that we're seeing. We're also very pleased with the increased number of hospitals that have adopted JOURNAVX, now 1,400 or so, with 130 IDNs having it on formularies. We have also now secured two additional Medicare Part D plans to cover JOURNAVX starting from July the 1st. Overall, our progress is going very well. I would add that those prescriptions are coming from a broad range of physician types and being used in a broad range of pain types consistent with our label.

In terms of the payer side and access, we're very pleased with the coverage that we've secured to date. 260 million lives, and that's ahead of those two Medicare Part D plans coming in. I would say we have obviously more work to do to secure the final elements of access for JOURNAVX. We also have to make sure that those patients whose physicians might have, say, a quantity limit are able to navigate that in order to ensure the patient can secure access. In the meantime, we have the PSP program in place and anticipate that we'll continue to see prescriptions transition to increasing growth in revenue in the second half of 2026. Indeed, as we've communicated before, that our gross to net will ultimately normalize at the same level as other oral branded medicines in the pharmaceutical arena.

We're very happy with the progress. We have a little bit more work to do. We are very happy with where we're at right now in terms of physician adoption, payer coverage, and hospital usage.

The next question will come from Geoff Meacham with Citibank. Please go ahead.

Hey, guys. Afternoon. Thanks for the question. Have two quick ones. The first one in CF on VX-828 or the other assets in phase I. What are some of the clinical attributes you're looking for? I wasn't sure if you're looking for perhaps a nominally better treatment effect or if there is a potential to not need liver monitoring, for example, in future combos. Second question on JOURNAVX. You guys have had substantial discussions with payers, hospital systems, physicians on acute pain. In these conversations, have you gotten any perspectives or context on DPN? Like what the clinical profile needs to show as we look to the data end of the year or beginning of next year, or what the access and reimbursement could look like in this setting. Thank you.

Sure thing, Geoff. Let me take the second question first. On JOURNAVX, we have been hyper-focused on JOURNAVX and acute pain to make sure that we get all of those reimbursement contracts done and get access. I think it would be just very fair to say we've spent all of our time hyper-focused on acute pain. We'll have more to say on where we are with DPN, the data, what payers are looking for, what doctors are looking for, et cetera, in the coming months. For here now, it's acute pain. On VX-828 and the next-gen molecules, just to give you all of the numbers, VX-828 is the first of the next gen. The second and third are VX-581 and VX-272. We are looking for potential improvement in efficacy, i.e.

More people who can get down to less than 30 millimoles. Of course, we're looking for safety as well. The monitoring will depend on what the results in the clinical trial are. Sure, there's opportunity for monitoring to be different with this VX-828 program. It just depends on what the actual results are through the clinical trial program. Last thing to say, once daily dosing, really good-looking DDIs as well as other drug-like properties remain really important as I mentioned in my prepared remarks.

The next question will come from Jessica Fye with JPMorgan. Please go ahead.

Hey, guys. Good afternoon. Thanks for taking my question. Maybe for Reshma, I'm curious if you expect to see material differentiation on eGFR across the new IgAN products like POVI and its competitors. If so, over what time horizon do you think any differentiation on that endpoint would become apparent? Thank you.

Sure thing, Jess. As we've discussed before, in IgAN in particular, you could say this for homogeneous proteinuria kidney diseases in general, good reductions in proteinuria should, based on everything we know, result in stabilization of GFR. I expect that to be the case with APRIL/BAFF inhibitors as well. I think, so that your question is asking a very important second point, and to me, the most important point. What is the differentiation we can expect between various molecules if you have more reduction in proteinuria or hematuria or in the case of IgA nephropathy, Gd-IgA1, these inciting antibodies? I think for that, the answer is, it's really about time to ESRD. That's to say time to dialysis, transplantation, or death.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals (VRTX) Q2 2026 Earnings Call Transcript

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