Akebia Therapeutics Highlights Dialysis Push, New Dosing Plan, and Rare Kidney Pipeline

Biotech firm outlines commercial priorities and pipeline progress at industry summit

Published on Feb. 12, 2026

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Akebia Therapeutics executives outlined the company's commercial focus on expanding adoption of its anemia drug VAFSEO in U.S. dialysis centers, including efforts to address early discontinuation challenges through a shift to three-times-weekly (TIW) dosing. The company also highlighted plans to advance a rare kidney disease pipeline featuring the drugs praliciguat and AKB-097.

Why it matters

As a key player in the kidney disease treatment market, Akebia's progress with VAFSEO and its pipeline could have significant implications for dialysis providers, patients, and the broader nephrology landscape. The company's ability to drive VAFSEO adoption and demonstrate the potential of its rare disease candidates will be closely watched by investors and industry observers.

The details

Akebia CEO John Butler described the company's 'purpose-driven' focus on improving lives of people with kidney disease. He noted Akebia has two commercial products: the phosphate binder Auryxia and the anemia drug VAFSEO. Butler said the VAFSEO launch has seen 'very, very strong initial uptake,' but the dialysis market's protocol-driven nature has presented challenges, including higher-than-expected discontinuation rates as nurses and 'anemia managers' stopped therapy when patients experienced an initial dip in hemoglobin. To address this, Akebia supported a shift to TIW dosing in some centers, which the company says has reduced the share of patients not receiving a second prescription. Akebia also highlighted upcoming data readouts, including the VOCAL study comparing VAFSEO to Mircera and the VOICE study comparing VAFSEO to Epogen, that it believes will support broader VAFSEO adoption and potential future label updates. On the pipeline side, Akebia is advancing praliciguat in focal segmental glomerulosclerosis (FSGS) and the in-licensed complement inhibitor AKB-097 in a basket study for rare kidney diseases.

  • Akebia launched VAFSEO in January 2025.
  • Akebia expects data from the VOCAL study by the end of 2026.
  • Akebia expects database lock for the VOICE study by the end of 2026, with results planned for early 2027.

The players

John Butler

CEO of Akebia Therapeutics.

Steve Burke

Chief Medical Officer of Akebia Therapeutics.

Erik Ostrowski

CFO of Akebia Therapeutics.

VAFSEO

Akebia's hypoxia-inducible factor prolyl hydroxylase inhibitor (HIF-PHI) approved to treat anemia in chronic kidney disease patients on dialysis.

Auryxia

Akebia's phosphate binder that has been contributing revenue as it nears the end of its life.

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What they’re saying

“We must not let individuals continue to damage private property in San Francisco.”

— Robert Jenkins, San Francisco resident (San Francisco Chronicle)

“Fifty years is such an accomplishment in San Francisco, especially with the way the city has changed over the years.”

— Gordon Edgar, grocery employee (Instagram)

The takeaway

Akebia's efforts to drive VAFSEO adoption in dialysis and advance its rare kidney disease pipeline highlight the company's focus on addressing unmet needs in the nephrology space. The upcoming data readouts and potential label updates for VAFSEO, as well as progress with praliciguat and AKB-097, will be closely watched as indicators of Akebia's ability to execute on its strategic priorities.