Basis of Presentation (Policies)

6 Months Ended

Jun. 30, 2020

Basis of Presentation [Abstract]

Basis of Presentation

We prepared the unaudited interim condensed consolidated financial statements for the three and six months ended June 30, 2020 and 2019 on the same basis as the audited financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2019. We included all normal recurring adjustments in the financial statements, which we considered necessary for a fair presentation of our financial position at such dates and our operating results and cash flows for those periods. Our operating results for the interim periods may not be indicative of what our operating results will be for the entire year. For more complete financial information, these financial statements, and notes thereto, should be read in conjunction with the audited financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2019 included in our Annual Report on Form 10-K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC.

Consolidation

In the condensed consolidated financial statements, we included the accounts of Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and the consolidated results of our majority-owned affiliate, Akcea Therapeutics, Inc. and its wholly owned subsidiaries. We formed Akcea in December 2014. In July 2017, Akcea completed an initial public offering, or IPO. Since Akcea’s IPO, our ownership has ranged from 68 percent to 77 percent. At June 30, 2020, our ownership of Akcea was approximately 76 percent. We reflect changes in our ownership of Akcea in our financial statements in the period the change occurs. For example, we reflected an increase in our ownership when we received 6.9 million shares of Akcea common stock as payment for the sublicense fee Akcea owed us for Pfizer’s license of vupanorsen (formerly AKCEA-ANGPTL3-L_Rx) in the fourth quarter of 2019.