Segment Information and Concentration of Business Risk

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2015

Segment Information and Concentration of Business Risk [Abstract]

Segment Information and Concentration of Business Risk

In 2015, we began reporting our financial results in two reportable segments, Ionis Core, previously referred to as Drug Discovery and Development, and Akcea Therapeutics, our wholly owned subsidiary. Segment loss from operations includes revenue less operating expenses attributable to each segment.

In our Ionis Core segment, we are exploiting a novel drug discovery platform we created to generate a broad pipeline of first-in-class or best-in-class drugs for us and our partners. Our Ionis Core segment generates revenue from a multifaceted partnering strategy.

We formed Akcea to develop and commercialize drugs for cardiometabolic disorders. Moving our lipid drugs into a company that we own and control ensures that our core focus at Ionis remains on innovation while allowing us to maintain control over and retain more value from our lipid drugs. To date, Akcea has not earned any revenue.

The following is our segment information for 2015 (in thousands):

2015	Ionis Core			Akcea Therapeutics			Elimination of Intercompany Activity			Total
Revenue:
Research and development	$	285,608		$	—		$	(4,248	)	$	281,360
Licensing and royalty		2,343			—			—			2,343
Total segment revenue	$	287,951		$	—		$	(4,248	)	$	283,703
Loss from operations	$	(21,378	)	$	(54,384	)	$	—		$	(75,762	)
Total assets	$	1,004,150		$	55,354		$	(103,399	)	$	956,105

The following is our segment information for 2014 and 2013 (in thousands) revised for comparative purposes to show operating expense for Akcea-related projects in 2014 and 2013:

2014	Ionis Core			Akcea Therapeutics			Total
Revenue:
Research and development	$	202,514		$	—		$	202,514
Licensing and royalty		11,647			—			11,647
Total segment revenue	$	214,161		$	—		$	214,161
Loss from operations	$	(26,033	)	$	(21,697	)	$	(47,730	)

2013	Ionis Core			Akcea Therapeutics			Total
Revenue:
Research and development	$	147,380		$	—		$	144,194
Licensing and royalty		3,091			—			3,091
Total segment revenue	$	150,471		$	—		$	147,285
Loss from operations	$	(38,764	)	$	(12,902	)	$	(51,666	)

We have historically funded our operations from collaborations with corporate partners and a relatively small number of partners have accounted for a significant percentage of our revenue. Revenue from significant partners, which is defined as 10 percent or more of our total revenue, was as follows:

	2015		2014		2013
Partner A		37 %		58 %		25 %
Partner B		33 %		0 %		0 %
Partner C		12 %		17 %		24 %
Partner D		11 %		4 %		3 %
Partner E		2 %		13 %		20 %
Partner F		0 %		0 %		22 %

Contracts receivables at December 31, 2015 and December 31, 2014 were comprised of approximately 99 percent for each year from two and three significant partners, respectively.