ESPR Stock: Insider Activity, Filings & Research
Esperion Therapeutics, Inc. (ESPR) — Drillr’s hub for ESPR insider activity, SEC filings, earnings signals and AI research. Over the trailing 3 months, ESPR insiders filed 0 open-market buys and 3 sales (SEC Form 4).
ESPR insider trading activity (SEC Form 4)
| Date | Insider | Type | Shares | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jun 1, 2026 | Fischer Seth H. Z.director | Grant | 79,873 | — |
| Jun 1, 2026 | CARROLL J MARTINdirector | Grant | 79,873 | — |
| Jun 1, 2026 | Hoffman Robert E.director | Grant | 79,873 | — |
| Jun 1, 2026 | Shepard Jaydirector | Grant | 79,873 | — |
| Jun 1, 2026 | THOMPSON JOHN CRAIGdirector | Grant | 79,873 | — |
| Mar 18, 2026 | Looker Benjaminofficer: Chief Legal Officer | Sell | 5,708 | $2.70 |
| Mar 18, 2026 | Koenig Sheldon L.director, officer: President and CEO | Sell | 25,578 | $2.72 |
| Mar 18, 2026 | Halladay Benjaminofficer: Chief Financial Officer | Sell | 6,424 | $2.71 |
| Mar 16, 2026 | Koenig Sheldon L.director, officer: President and CEO | Grant | 723,760 | — |
| Mar 16, 2026 | Halladay Benjaminofficer: Chief Financial Officer | Grant | 221,270 | $2.44 |
| Mar 16, 2026 | Looker Benjaminofficer: Chief Legal Officer | Grant | 300,840 | — |
| Mar 16, 2026 | Halladay Benjaminofficer: Chief Financial Officer | Grant | 247,430 | — |
| Mar 16, 2026 | Koenig Sheldon L.director, officer: President and CEO | Grant | 647,460 | $2.44 |
| Mar 16, 2026 | Looker Benjaminofficer: Chief Legal Officer | Grant | 269,230 | $2.44 |
| Jan 21, 2026 | Looker Benjaminofficer: General Counsel | Sell | 1,689 | $2.88 |
Source: ESPR SEC Form 4 filings, latest Jun 1, 2026. For informational purposes only — not investment advice.
Esperion Therapeutics, Inc. company profile
Overview
Esperion Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:ESPR) is a pharmaceutical company founded in 2008 and headquartered in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The company went public in 2013 and focuses on developing and commercializing medicines for patients with elevated low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol, commonly known as "bad cholesterol." Esperion has successfully brought two cholesterol-lowering drugs to market and continues expanding its pipeline while building international partnerships to grow its global footprint.
Business
Esperion operates in the specialty pharmaceutical industry, specifically targeting cardiovascular disease prevention through cholesterol management. The company's core products are NEXLETOL (bempedoic acid) and NEXLIZET (bempedoic acid combined with ezetimibe), both oral medications designed to lower LDL cholesterol levels in patients. To understand these products, it's important to know that high LDL cholesterol is a major risk factor for heart disease and stroke. While statins are the most commonly prescribed cholesterol-lowering drugs, many patients cannot tolerate them due to side effects like muscle pain, or they don't achieve adequate cholesterol reduction with statins alone. Esperion's drugs work through a different mechanism called ATP citrate lyase (ACLY) inhibition, which blocks cholesterol production in the liver without affecting muscle tissue. NEXLETOL contains only bempedoic acid, while NEXLIZET combines bempedoic acid with ezetimibe (a drug that blocks cholesterol absorption in the intestines). Both products received FDA approval for cardiovascular risk reduction in 2024, expanding their market from the original 10 million eligible patients to approximately 70 million patients. The drugs can be used alone or in combination with statins, making them particularly valuable for patients who are statin-intolerant or need additional cholesterol lowering beyond what statins provide. The company generates revenue through three main streams: 1. U.S. product sales (approximately 45-50% of total revenue), 2. Collaboration revenue from international partnerships (approximately 30-40%), and 3. Royalty payments from European sales through partner Daiichi Sankyo Europe (approximately 10-15%).
Competitive moat
Esperion's competitive moat is moderate but strengthening, built primarily around its unique mechanism of action and growing clinical evidence base. The company's ACLY inhibitor technology represents a differentiated approach to cholesterol lowering that works independently of statins, creating value for the significant population of statin-intolerant patients and those requiring additional LDL reduction beyond statin therapy. The regulatory moat provides some protection, as the FDA approval process for cardiovascular drugs is lengthy and expensive, requiring large outcome studies. Esperion's CLEAR Outcomes trial, which demonstrated cardiovascular risk reduction, represents a substantial investment that competitors would need to replicate. The company has also secured multiple patents protecting its formulations and manufacturing processes. However, the moat faces several challenges. Competition comes from established statin therapies, which remain the gold standard and are available generically at low cost. More significantly, PCSK9 inhibitors like Repatha and Praluent offer more dramatic LDL reductions, though they require injections and carry higher costs. The cholesterol management market is also seeing innovation in areas like small interfering RNA therapies and other novel mechanisms. Potential disruption could emerge from next-generation cholesterol therapies, particularly oral PCSK9 inhibitors currently in development by multiple companies, or from combination therapies that offer superior efficacy or convenience. The company's partnerships help mitigate some competitive risks by providing geographic diversification and shared development costs, but Esperion remains vulnerable to larger pharmaceutical companies with greater resources and broader cardiovascular portfolios. The moat strength ultimately depends on continued clinical evidence generation and successful market penetration before more convenient or effective alternatives become available.
Risks & safety
Esperion presents moderate financial risk with improving but still concerning cash flow dynamics. **Cash and Solvency:** - Cash position: $114.6 million as of Q1 2025 - Quarterly cash burn: approximately $20-25 million in operating cash flow - Current ratio: 1.18, indicating tight near-term liquidity - Total liabilities of $750 million significantly exceed assets of $324 million - Debt-to-equity ratio of -0.70 reflects negative shareholder equity **Valuation Metrics:** - Trading at negative P/E ratios due to ongoing losses - EV/EBITDA of -5.54 (negative due to negative EBITDA) - Price-to-book ratio of -0.66 (negative book value) - Market cap of approximately $242 million **Other Considerations:** - Revenue growing 63% year-over-year but company remains unprofitable - Operating expenses guidance of $215-235 million annually - Dependence on continued partnership milestone payments and royalty monetization for funding - Positive EBITDA achieved in full year 2024 ($7.6 million) suggests approaching operational breakeven
Recent development
Over the past few years, Esperion has executed several strategic pivots that have transformed the company from a struggling cholesterol drug developer into a growing commercial-stage pharmaceutical company. The most significant development was the completion of the CLEAR Outcomes cardiovascular trial in 2023, which demonstrated that NEXLETOL and NEXLIZET reduce cardiovascular events by approximately 13-15%. This led to FDA approval for expanded labels in 2024, dramatically increasing the addressable patient population from 10 million to 70 million patients. The company has aggressively expanded its commercial infrastructure, growing its sales force from 60-65 representatives to 150 representatives, and adding 15 field reimbursement specialists to help navigate insurance coverage challenges. Esperion has also launched consumer awareness campaigns and secured significant improvements in payer coverage, achieving over 165 million covered lives and removing prior authorization requirements with major insurers. International expansion has accelerated through strategic partnerships. The company resolved litigation with Daiichi Sankyo Europe and received a $100 million settlement, while European sales continue growing with over 472,500 patients now treated. New partnerships were established with CSL Seqirus for Australia/New Zealand, Neopharm for Israel, and regulatory submissions were filed in Canada. The Japanese partner Otsuka is expected to receive approval in the second half of 2025. On the pipeline front, Esperion has introduced a novel Primary Sclerosing Cholangitis (PSC) program and is developing triple combination products targeting a 2027 launch that could achieve greater than 60% LDL cholesterol reduction. The company monetized future European royalties for $304.7 million to strengthen its balance sheet and fund continued expansion. These developments position Esperion as a more diversified cardiovascular company rather than a single-product cholesterol specialist.
ESPR company profile · for informational purposes only — not investment advice.
Track ESPR with Drillr
SEC filings, earnings calls, insider activity, alt-data signals — all queryable through Drillr's AI terminal and MCP API.
Try Drillr for free