Pacira BioSciences (NASDAQ:PCRX) executives used the company’s fourth-quarter and full-year 2025 earnings call to highlight what CEO Frank Lee described as a “transformative year,” pointing to renewed EXPAREL volume momentum, strengthened intellectual property protection, expanded reimbursement coverage, and a pipeline entering a “data-rich” period.
Lee said the company finished 2025 with $726 million in revenue and the highest gross margins in its history, while treating more than 2.5 million patients. Management framed the progress around its “5×30” strategy, which targets helping 3 million patients annually by 2030, improving margins, advancing pipeline programs, and adding strategic partnerships.
Commercial momentum driven by NOPAIN Act and broader payer coverage
Teehan and Lee emphasized progress on reimbursement outside bundled surgical payments. The company exceeded its internal goal and ended 2025 with 102 million covered lives with CMS or commercial coverage outside the surgical bundle, citing payers including Aetna, Cigna, TRICARE, and Humana. Teehan added that the figure climbed to about 110 million within the first month of 2026 and said Pacira intends to continue expanding coverage.
Pacira’s access efforts have focused on high-volume markets. Teehan said payer coverage expanded in the company’s top five states, which account for roughly 40% of EXPAREL volumes, and that fourth-quarter volumes in those markets were up more than 7% compared with 2024.
Management also discussed pricing and contracting. Teehan said contracted business drove high single-digit volume growth in the second half of 2025, about double the growth rate seen in the first half. CFO Shawn Cross noted that EXPAREL revenue growth has been partially offset by discounting tied to the company’s third group purchasing organization (GPO) agreement going live. Cross said Pacira expects the gap between volume and revenue growth in the first half of 2026 to be similar to the second half of 2025, narrowing after the third GPO agreement anniversaries mid-year.
Fourth-quarter results: EXPAREL growth, flat ZILRETTA, modest iovera° gains
Cross reported fourth-quarter EXPAREL sales of $155.8 million, up from $147.7 million in the prior-year quarter. He said volume growth of approximately 7% was partially offset by a shift in “bio mix” and discounting from the third GPO agreement, with each factor having a roughly equal impact.
Fourth-quarter ZILRETTA sales were $33 million, which Cross said was essentially flat versus 2024. For iovera°, fourth-quarter sales were $7 million, up from $6.5 million a year earlier.
Asked about ZILRETTA’s flat performance, Lee said Pacira had prioritized EXPAREL in 2025 and restructured its sales forces, creating separate teams for ZILRETTA and iovera°, which he said caused disruption that impacted sales. Teehan said the J&J MedTech partnership has now moved into 2026 with clear growth objectives and incentive compensation tied to performance, and he described target selection where J&J will lead accounts with existing relationships. Lee previously noted on the call that J&J’s sales force is fully trained and “triples our reach for ZILRETTA in the U.S.”
Margin performance and operating expenses
On profitability, Cross said consolidated fourth-quarter non-GAAP gross margin improved to 80% from 79% a year ago. He attributed 2025 gross margin performance to better-than-expected yields from Pacira’s enhanced, larger-scale 200-liter EXPAREL facilities, which lowered per-unit costs. He added that higher production volumes put the company ahead of its six-month inventory target, leading Pacira to adjust production volumes with the expectation of exiting the year at targeted inventory and steady-state production.
Cross said the company expects a “steady increase” in annual gross margins over time through continuous improvement initiatives and reiterated alignment with the 5×30 objective of a five percentage point improvement by 2030 over the 76% non-GAAP gross margin reported in 2024.
Expenses increased in the quarter. Cross reported fourth-quarter non-GAAP R&D expense of $34.4 million, up from $22.0 million a year earlier, driven by a $5 million upfront payment to AmacaThera for the in-licensing of PCRX-2002, ongoing Phase 2 development of PCRX-201, and costs for ZILRETTA and iovera° registrational studies. Fourth-quarter non-GAAP SG&A expense was $91.9 million versus $70.6 million in the prior-year quarter, impacted by unanticipated business development due diligence and litigation costs.
Pacira ended the quarter with $238 million in cash and investments. Cross said the company executed an additional $50 million in share repurchases during the fourth quarter, retiring approximately 2 million shares and reducing shares outstanding to approximately 41 million at year-end. He added that $150 million remained on the buyback authorization as of December 31, running through the end of the year.
IP updates and new ex-U.S. partnership with LG Chem
Lee highlighted intellectual property developments around EXPAREL, including a “volume-limited settlement with Fresenius” that he said provides runway visibility through 2039. He also said Pacira expanded its IP estate to 21 patents across two families, compared with a single patent when the first Paragraph IV was filed.
Pacira also announced a partnership with LG Chem to commercialize EXPAREL in select Asia-Pacific countries, starting with South Korea and Thailand. Lee said regulatory filings are anticipated this year, and the agreement includes an upfront payment, transfer pricing, and tiered royalties. Management forecast revenue contributions from the agreement beginning in 2027 and extending through the life of Pacira’s patents in the 2040s.
Pipeline: upcoming milestones for PCRX-201, PCRX-2002, ZILRETTA, and iovera°
Management outlined several 2026 clinical milestones:
- An interim analysis in the first half of the year to inform next steps in a study of ZILRETTA in shoulder osteoarthritis.
- A mid-year interim analysis and top-line results before year-end from an iovera° study in spasticity.
- 52-week data from Part A of the Phase 2 ASCEND study of PCRX-201 expected by year-end.
Lee positioned PCRX-201, derived from Pacira’s HCAd platform, as a locally administered, non-integrating IL-1 blockade gene therapy approach. He emphasized that ASCEND is a two-part Phase 2 study with safety as the primary objective and is not powered for efficacy, though the company will look for efficacy trends as secondary endpoints. Chief Medical Officer Jonathan Slonin said Pacira will evaluate endpoints related to pain, stiffness, and function, including NRS pain scores, WOMAC pain and stiffness measures, and functional indicators such as KOOS and activities of daily living.
Lee added that Part A includes an active steroid comparator and said Pacira expects to begin enrolling Part B around mid-year with a commercially viable manufacturing process. Part B is expected to enroll approximately 90 patients.
Separately, Lee said Pacira is planning a Phase 2 study of PCRX-2002 in bunionectomy patients expected to begin later this year. He described PCRX-2002 as a longer-acting, easy-to-administer ropivacaine-based polymer gel that the company believes could complement EXPAREL, particularly in procedures where nerve blocks are not ideal.
2026 guidance: revenue growth outlook and expense expectations
Cross provided 2026 guidance calling for total revenue of $745 million to $770 million, including EXPAREL sales of $600 million to $620 million. ZILRETTA and iovera° are assumed to be in line with 2025, with updates expected as the company gains visibility into the J&J partnership and other initiatives. The company also expects $7 million in revenue from its EXPAREL veterinary licensing agreement.
Additional guidance included non-GAAP gross margins of 77% to 79%, non-GAAP R&D expense of $105 million to $115 million, and non-GAAP SG&A expense of $320 million to $340 million. Cross also guided to stock-based compensation of $54 million to $62 million and said depreciation expense is expected to be approximately $30 million for those modeling adjusted EBITDA.
In Q&A, executives characterized EXPAREL guidance as a “good starting point,” citing market softness in elective procedures and weather-related impacts expected early in the year. Lee also reiterated that longer-term growth expectations include contributions from partnerships in the U.S. and, beginning in 2027, from ex-U.S. EXPAREL sales.
About Pacira BioSciences (NASDAQ:PCRX)
Pacira BioSciences, Inc is a specialty pharmaceutical company focused on developing and commercializing non-opioid, non-addictive pain management and regenerative health solutions. The company’s flagship product, EXPAREL, is a bupivacaine liposome injectable suspension designed to provide long-lasting postsurgical analgesia. EXPAREL is used by clinicians across a broad range of surgical procedures to reduce reliance on opioid medications and to help manage acute postoperative pain.
In addition to its marketed offering, Pacira maintains an active pipeline of investigational products aimed at addressing unmet needs in pain management and inflammation control.
