Denali Therapeutics

Denali Therapeutics

Biotech company developing neurodegenerative therapeutics

Overview

Denali Therapeutics develops and partners to create molecular therapeutics for neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, and ALS. Its approach combines in-house research with collaborations to identify disease-driving pathways through genetics, pathology, and cell biology, then design drugs that interact with specific molecules to treat these conditions. Unlike companies that rely on a single discovery path, Denali pairs its own science with strategic partnerships to access new technologies and share development risks, enabling faster progress. The company's goal is to defeat neurodegenerative diseases and improve patient outcomes by advancing therapies from discovery to potential commercialization through licensing, milestones, and eventual sales.

About Denali Therapeutics

Simplify's Rating
Why Denali Therapeutics is rated
B-
Rated B on Competitive Edge
Rated B on Growth Potential
Rated C on Differentiation

Industries

Biotechnology

Healthcare

Company Size

501-1,000

Company Stage

IPO

Headquarters

South San Francisco, California

Founded

2015

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Simplify's Take

What believers are saying

  • AVLAYAH generated $3.6 million in Q2 2026, with Q3 guided to $10-$12 million.
  • Coverage exceeds 50% of covered lives, and 14 state Medicaid programs list AVLAYAH.
  • Denali ended Q2 2026 with over $1.1 billion pro forma cash and securities.

What critics are saying

  • AVLAYAH’s accelerated approval depends on COMPASS confirming benefit by end-2027.
  • Takeda exited DNL593 in April 2026, and Denali pushed data to 1H 2027.
  • If TransportVehicle fails outside AVLAYAH, Denali loses its whole platform thesis.

What makes Denali Therapeutics unique

  • AVLAYAH is the first FDA-approved medicine using Denali’s TransportVehicle platform, March 2026.
  • TransportVehicle delivers antibodies, enzymes, and oligonucleotides across the blood-brain barrier.
  • Denali owns a broad neurodegeneration pipeline: Alzheimer’s, FTD-GRN, Parkinson’s, Pompe.

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Funding

Total Funding

$1.4B

Above

Industry Average

Funded Over

5 Rounds

Post IPO Equity funding comparison data is currently unavailable. We're working to provide this information soon!
Post IPO Equity Funding Comparison
Coming Soon

Benefits

Health Insurance

401(k) Retirement Plan

Employee Stock Purchase Plan

Stock Price

Growth & Insights and Company News

Headcount

6 month growth

-1%

1 year growth

0%

2 year growth

0%
Yahoo Finance
Aug 7th, 2026
Denali raises Q3 revenue guidance to $10M–$12M as AVLAYAH earns $3.6M in first full quarter

Denali Therapeutics reported $3.6 million in net product revenue from AVLAYAH during the second quarter, marking its first full commercial quarter for the Hunter syndrome treatment. The company guided third-quarter revenue to $10 million–$12 million as access expands. Commercial policies now cover more than 50% of covered lives, with 14 state Medicaid programmes publicly listing AVLAYAH. The US addressable market includes roughly 375 currently eligible paediatric patients. Denali advanced two Alzheimer's programmes, DNL628 and DNL921, into clinical development, with initial data expected in 2027. The company delayed DNL593 data to the first half of 2027 for additional biomarker observations. Following the $195 million sale of its Priority Review Voucher, Denali's cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities exceeded $1.1 billion.

MarketBeat
Aug 6th, 2026
Denali Therapeutics Q2 earnings call highlights.

Denali Therapeutics Q2 earnings call highlights. August 6, 2026 Key points. * AVLAYAH generated $3.6 million in its first full commercial quarter for Hunter syndrome, with payer policies covering more than 50% of covered lives. Denali guided to $10 million-$12 million in third-quarter revenue as access and treatment starts expand. * Denali advanced two Alzheimer's programs, DNL628 and DNL921, into clinical development, with initial data expected in 2027. The company also delayed DNL593 data to the first half of 2027 to gather additional biomarker observations. * Following the $195 million sale of its Priority Review Voucher, Denali's pro forma cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities exceeded $1.1 billion, supporting commercialization, clinical programs and manufacturing expansion. * Five stocks we like better than Denali Therapeutics. Denali Therapeutics NASDAQ: DNLI reported $3.6 million in net product revenue from AVLAYAH during the second quarter of 2026, its first full quarter of commercial availability, as the company expanded payer access and advanced two Alzheimer's disease programs into clinical development. Chief Executive Officer Ryan Watts described the period as "a transformative quarter" for Denali, citing the early AVLAYAH launch, progress across the Transport Vehicle platform and a strengthened cash position following the July sale of a rare pediatric disease Priority Review Voucher. AVLAYAH launch gains early momentum. AVLAYAH, approved by the FDA earlier this year for Hunter syndrome, is Denali's first commercial product and the first approved medicine developed using its Transport Vehicle platform, which is designed to help biologic medicines cross the blood-brain barrier. The therapy is intended to reach both peripheral tissues and the brain. Chief Commercial Officer Katie Peng said the U.S. addressable market includes roughly 375 currently eligible prevalent pediatric patients, based on Denali's estimate of approximately 500 prevalent Hunter syndrome patients in the country and the FDA-approved label. The company estimates about 2,000 patients are addressable globally. Denali said commercial policies covering more than 50% of covered lives had been established by the end of the second quarter. Fourteen state Medicaid programs publicly listed AVLAYAH as covered, while other patients have obtained access through prior authorizations, appeals and medical exceptions, according to the company. Peng said Denali reached about 80% of targeted healthcare organizations through field engagements, scientific exchanges, webinars and treatment-center support. The company also said it had engaged with more than 100 families through launch webinars and patient services, representing more than one-quarter of the eligible U.S. population. The company expects third-quarter AVLAYAH net product revenue of $10 million to $12 million. Peng said the forecast reflects growing physician and family engagement, improving payer coverage and progress moving patients through reimbursement and infusion processes. Discover more Stock Split Calculator Options Profit Calculator Cryptocurrency News Denali did not disclose patient-start or prescription-form figures, saying revenue guidance provides a clearer indicator of launch progress because individual treatment journeys vary and dosing is weight-based. Peng said the majority of patients starting treatment so far were not former clinical-trial participants, though Denali expects clinical-trial participants to transition to commercial treatment by the end of the year. For a 10-kilogram patient at maintenance dosing, AVLAYAH costs roughly $270,000 annually, Peng said. For a 30-kilogram patient, the annual cost is about $800,000. The label includes dose escalation, with the company indicating physicians have been provided an expected four-week escalation period at each step, although treatment decisions are individualized. Pipeline updates include Alzheimer's programs. Denali said DNL628, an investigational tau-targeting antisense oligonucleotide, and DNL921, an investigational anti-amyloid beta antibody, have entered clinical development for Alzheimer's disease. The company expects initial clinical biomarker data from the DNL628 Phase I-B study in the first half of 2027, while initial safety and clinical proof-of-concept data for DNL921 are expected in 2027. Watts said the programs are designed to use the company's blood-brain barrier delivery technology to improve distribution of therapies throughout the brain. DNL628 is being evaluated in people with biomarker-confirmed early Alzheimer's disease for safety, dose selection, tau effects and imaging measures. Denali submitted a clinical trial application for DNL921 during the first half of 2026. The company also pushed back its expected data timing for DNL593, a progranulin replacement therapy for frontotemporal dementia caused by progranulin mutations, or FTD-GRN. Denali now expects data from the ongoing Phase I/II study in the first half of 2027, rather than by the end of 2026. Watts said the company chose to allow additional observation time in the study's open-label extension to better characterize effects across biomarkers, including neurofilament light chain. The FDA granted orphan drug designation to DNL593 for FTD-GRN during the week of the earnings call. Denali also said its Phase II/III COMPASS study of AVLAYAH is scheduled to conclude at the end of 2027. The company expects the study to support full approval and potentially expand the product label to include adults in the United States, as well as support potential global launches. Financial position and expenses. Denali ended the second quarter with approximately $940 million in cash equivalents and marketable securities. In July, it received $195 million from the sale of the Priority Review Voucher awarded after AVLAYAH's approval, bringing pro forma cash equivalents and marketable securities to more than $1.1 billion. Research and development expense declined to $97 million from $102.7 million a year earlier, primarily reflecting the timing of AVLAYAH commercial-supply manufacturing in the prior-year period and lower external spending on small-molecule programs. Selling, general and administrative expense rose to $36.3 million from $32.3 million, driven primarily by investments supporting the AVLAYAH launch. Chief Operating and Financial Officer Alexander Schuth said the company plans to allocate capital toward AVLAYAH commercialization, preparations for a potential 2027 launch of DNL126, clinical development programs, manufacturing capabilities and potential partnerships. Denali does not plan to manufacture AVLAYAH at its Salt Lake City facility and instead intends to expand production with Lonza in Portsmouth, including a move to 6,000-liter scale. About Denali Therapeutics (NASDAQ:DNLI). Denali Therapeutics is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on developing therapies for neurodegenerative diseases. The company's research leverages a proprietary Blood-Brain Barrier Transport Vehicle (TV) platform designed to enable large molecules, including antibodies and enzymes, to penetrate the central nervous system. Denali's approach includes small molecules, monoclonal antibodies and gene therapy candidates aimed at key drivers of disorders such as Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and frontotemporal dementia. Among Denali's lead programs is an orally delivered leucine-rich repeat kinase 2 (LRRK2) inhibitor for Parkinson's disease, and an anti-TREM2 antibody designed to modulate microglial activity in Alzheimer's patients. This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to [email protected]. Continue following MarketBeat Before you consider Denali Therapeutics, you'll want to hear this. MarketBeat keeps track of Wall Street's top-rated and best performing research analysts and the stocks they recommend to their clients on a daily basis. MarketBeat has identified the five stocks that top analysts are quietly whispering to their clients to buy now before the broader market catches on... and Denali Therapeutics wasn't on the list. While Denali Therapeutics currently has a Moderate Buy rating among analysts, top-rated analysts believe these five stocks are better buys. Discover the next wave of investment opportunities with our report, 7 Stocks That Will Be Magnificent in 2026. Explore companies poised to replicate the growth, innovation, and value creation of the tech giants dominating today's markets.

Yahoo Finance
May 8th, 2026
Denali's AVLAYAH approved by FDA as first drug to cross blood-brain barrier, launches with strong momentum

Denali Therapeutics reported first quarter 2026 results, highlighting FDA approval of AVLAYAH™ (tividenofusp alfa-eknm) for Hunter syndrome on 25 March 2026. The treatment is the first medicine to leverage the transferrin receptor to cross the blood-brain barrier. AVLAYAH launched in the US with first patients treated in April, less than one month after approval. The company has established distribution channels, a patient support hub, and engaged major health systems and payers. Denali is advancing its clinical pipeline for lysosomal storage and neurodegenerative diseases. The company dosed its first patient with DNL628 (OTV:MAPT) targeting tau for Alzheimer's disease and is progressing DNL593 (PTV:PGRN) in a Phase 1/2 study for frontotemporal dementia, with data expected by end of 2026.

PR Newswire
Apr 20th, 2026
Orsini becomes exclusive specialty pharmacy partner for Denali's Hunter syndrome therapy AVLAYAH

Orsini has been selected as the exclusive specialty pharmacy and home infusion partner for Denali Therapeutics' AVLAYAH (tividenofusp alfa-eknm), an FDA-approved enzyme replacement therapy for treating neurologic manifestations of Hunter syndrome in paediatric patients. AVLAYAH is a brain-penetrant therapy designed to break down glycosaminoglycans, sugar molecules that accumulate in patients with mucopolysaccharidosis type II (MPS II), a genetic metabolic condition causing progressive cellular damage affecting physical abilities, organ function and cognitive development. Orsini will provide comprehensive home infusion support, allowing patients to receive therapy at home under healthcare provider supervision. The treatment marks the fifth MPS therapy in Orsini's Neurology Centre of Excellence, which has served MPS patients for over 16 years.

Yahoo Finance
Apr 17th, 2026
Denali Therapeutics gains 25.4% on FDA approval of Avlayah for Hunter syndrome

Denali Therapeutics' shares have risen 25.4% year to date, outperforming the industry's 2.7% gain. The rally follows FDA accelerated approval of Avlayah (tividenofusp alfa-eknm) for treating Hunter syndrome, marking the first new therapy for this rare disorder in nearly 20 years. Avlayah, an enzyme replacement therapy for paediatric patients, showed a 91% reduction in cerebrospinal fluid heparan sulfate levels in trials. The approval includes a Rare Pediatric Disease Priority Review Voucher. Continued approval depends on verification in the ongoing global phase II/III COMPASS study, which could expand the drug's commercial potential. Denali's pipeline includes DNL126 for Sanfilippo syndrome type A and DNL628 for Alzheimer's disease, positioning the company for sustained growth in rare neurodegenerative diseases.

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