Shares of Ardelyx (NASDAQ: ARDX) were soaring 8.9% as of 2:57 p.m. EDT on Wednesday. The big jump came after the company announced that its Japanese partner, Kyowa Kirin, has begun four late-stage clinical studies evaluating Ardelyx's lead candidate tenapanor in treating hyperphosphatemia, a disorder where there's an abnormally high level of phosphate in the blood.
Kyowa Kirin's initiation of multiple phase 3 studies is good news for Ardelyx in a couple of ways. For one thing, it triggered a $5 million milestone payment. More importantly, it gets the two collaboration partners even closer to potential regulatory approval for tenapanor in Japan.
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