What's The Market Potential For Relypsa Now That AstraZeneca's ZS-9 Is Indefinitely On Hold?

In late May, shares of Relypsa Inc (NASDAQ: RLYP) soared when the FDA rejected AstraZeneca plc (ADR) (NYSE: AZN)’s hyperkalemia drug ZS-9. The market is betting that the rejection will be good news for Relypsa’s Veltassa, which also treats hyperkalemia.

Slingshot Insights recently held an expert call related to the impact the FDA ruling will have on Relypsa. The expert was the chief of cardiology and co-director of the Heart Institute at Stony Brook University.

The expert explained how there are two main groups of hyperkalemia diagnoses: acute and chronic. According to the expert, there was significant enthusiasm for ZS-9 to treat the acute population. However, he doesn’t believe Veltassa will be widely used to treat patients in this population. Instead, he believes the largest end-market for Veltassa will be in treatment of chronic kidney disease.

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“It’s a very different world that we live in that acceptance of new things is relatively more difficult, unless it’s in the guidelines and there are data to show the benefit,” the expert explained.

The expert then discussed both drugs’ market potential and the chances that the two drugs will capture these markets.

The entire conference call from July 7 discussing Veltassa and ZS-9 can be accessed online here.

Disclosure: The author holds no position in the stocks mentioned.