Ladies and gentlemen, the program is about to begin. At this time, it is my pleasure to turn the program over to your host, Michael Ryskin. You may begin.
Great. Thanks to everyone for joining us. My name is Mike Ryskin , Bank of America Life Science Tools and Diagnostics analyst, and also covering animal health space. Excited for our next session with Elanco Animal Health. We're joined by Jeff Simmons, President and CEO, and Bob VanHimbergen, Executive VP and CFO. Jeff, Bob, thanks so much.
Hey, great to be here. Thank you.
We'll do the same as prior sessions. It'll be fireside chat for the duration. Investors, you can certainly feel free to send me questions, either via the Veracast portal or Bloomberg Chat, email, text, fax machine. You know how to get in touch with me. Maybe just to kick things off, you guys reported 4Q results and gave us your initial fiscal 2036 guidance just a couple of days ago, still fresh in everyone's mind. Maybe you could talk through sort of the key points of how the year played out relative to expectations, meaning last year, and sort of the key points you want to focus on as you're moving into 2026.
Yeah, maybe, and Bob, you can touch on the guidance. Thank you, Michael, and the opportunity to be here with Bank of America. We appreciate you guys a lot and what you do for the industry. Love where the animal health industry is right now, and pets and protein trends and where Elanco is. As you know, Michael, we've been very intentional the last three to five years in building what we have and where we're going, and we're excited about our investor conference we had in December on the rest of the decade. You know, our focus has been on three things: growth, innovation, cash. We've been a pretty consistent story.
Our strategy is all around an innovation, portfolio, productivity flywheel, and we ended the year delivering in above expectations on, I think, Adjusted EBITDA, you know, revenue and EPS. A real strong quarter. I would say on the growth side, probably the best quality year and quarter that we've had relative to all four quadrants growing on international, U.S., pet, farm, price, volume, all underpinned with innovation. Innovation exceeded our expectations every quarter. I think our storyline, if you remember, kind of a headline on Elanco, it is a basket of innovation that is performing like best medicine in double-digit growing markets. We don't need to go in and create markets. We're still even lower indexed in the big markets like para, derm, and cattle.
You know, Bob can talk about the balance sheet is strengthening every quarter, that just sets us up well. We lean into the algorithm of commitments we've made, we're keeping our priorities the same. We want to be a consistent, reliable deliverer of growth, innovation, cash. We want to invest appropriately, and we want to make sure that, you know, we're on the right side of expectations. We're going to be balanced, disciplined, very prudent, and we had a long track record of that for many, many years. We did hit a little air pocket, Alan's making sure we won't ever do that again. I don't know, Bob, on the guidance.
Maybe just add a little bit of color. Yeah. Jeff summarized it well. Our guide that we gave a couple of days ago was right in line with the targets we gave at Investor Day, growing mid-single-digit top-line growth, high single-digit EBITDA growth, low double-digit EPS growth. We expect to delever and get into the low threes by the end of the year. I'd say if you kind of double-click into that, you know, we did raise our innovation revenue target. We were $1.1 billion at Investor Day. We raised that to $1.15 billion, and we're seeing just a lot of momentum there. I would say the algorithm within the algorithm, what we're focused on internally is to ensure we hit the, you know, the guidance that we've given out.
Internally, within the P&L, it's ensuring that we're continuing our no-regrets launch approach on our products, continuing to fund the pipeline with R&D, and that's where Elanco Ascend is coming in to make sure that we are being operationally excellent, so we can continue to fund not only the short-term growth opportunities, but also the longer term with the pipeline. A lot of momentum, and we're being balanced with the competitive response, what that could look like and the overall macro. Again, a lot of momentum entering into 2026, and obviously, you know, we've given the guide that we feel great about, right in line with what we laid out a couple of months earlier in December.
Okay. Okay, that's a great place to start. I want to follow up on a lot of that. Obviously, we're going to spend a lot of time talking about the innovation basket. I think that's a, that's a big part of the story. I think that's been. You know, if I could drill down, what's been, you know, the key factor between IDEXX stock, Elanco stock. I'm still in the last session. Elanco stock re-rating over the last year, it's been the innovation basket, you know, really delivering, really hitting on that and how well that's done in recent quarters. Maybe just to pick on one of them. Let's start with Zenrelia.
you know, I think you've had better and better performance as the year's gone on, despite the label, as it came out originally. You've had constructive dialogue with the FDA in getting changes already, and there's, you know, potential catalyst around there mid-year. What would you say, you know, a year in, have been your learnings on it, both in terms of, you know, you've got an incumbent that's got a 10-year head start, how do you position around that? How do you position or how do you go to market around the label? How do you discuss about the label change? Sort of, what have been your takeaways over the past year, and, you know, how do you think about that opportunity going forward?
Yeah, great momentum. We're a year and a half in, really, since we've, you know, brought the product in, and we're looking at the whole decade. We got a pipeline, so we just got Befreba approved, Michael, as you know. Derm for us is. Boy, what we see between now and the end of the decade for derm is Elanco is going to be a leader in this category, and we like the marketplace. It is a marketplace that rewards efficacy. It is the most visible-... you know, pet issue. An itching dog is not only why people go to the vet, but it's also one that you can quickly determine efficacy better than you can in para and even pain.
I just kind of say the headline is, the product's got to work, it's got to work really well, and if so, even with Zenrelia, where it came into the U.S. with some limitations on the label, that may have been a gift, because it put us into the toughest cases, and we're rising right now in a really strong way. The international launch is exceeding our expectations. You know, every story from Brazil, we just had a webcast with Brazil this morning, I mean, 40% market share and climbing, you know, shortness of a market, Japan, 30%, already double-digit in Europe, in the key European markets, half the clinics now in the U.S. I mean, this uptake is climbing at a exceeding rate.
The reason for that, I think, is, and we're not even in derm season yet, I think a lot of that is efficacy, Michael. That's what the KOLs are seeing and highlighting. We're going to be adding, especially here to the U.S., with the Porfina product, that we also think has differentiation. Look, I think we'll continue to work hard on globalizing the product. Bob can talk, we're going to lean in. We're probably increasing some investment around Zenrelia now, given what we've seen. We've got good manufacturing plans to take on this increasing demand, and we're the only company out there with head-to-head data, and we know we're going to demonstrate it, you know, scientifically, we're going to demonstrate it with KOLs.
Maybe the biggest proof point is the acceptance by corporates. To have every European corporate sign on to Zenrelia and see 90% growth in our corporates in the U.S. last year compared to 13 is, I think, a real symbol of, you know, the proof points around Zenrelia. We can talk some about the label in the U.S., but we made a submission of the booster data after the PCR changed to the label. That label change helped us a lot. We picked up 2,500 clinics. We continue to pick up more, and we're in a constructive dialogue. We hope to hear from them soon, but our case is quite compelling, we believe, to move that label closer to the other 40 countries.
Cool.
Bob, you know, we'll continue to invest. Bob has spent a lot of time with Bobby and Romero on the data to make sure, you know, we're not gonna slow down on the ramp rate here.
Okay. On the, on the upcoming label, discussion or update from the FDA, that's been a lot of focus for investors. You've talked about it a number of times. Could you sort of lay out the scenarios as you see it, of what the outcome for that would be? Remind us the timing. We're kind of expecting way to Q2, maybe summer, if you've got any more clarity on timing. Just any way you could hedge the scenarios, any way you could give us a likelihood of which outcome it would be? Just going to think that could be a pretty meaningful, further, positive catalyst.
Yeah, I start with the current momentum. I mean, there's a lot of momentum in the product, so we're not you know, nothing is in our guide on a new label. The current scenario we're going to lean into, and the momentum is increasing, so we're gonna stay focused on what we have right now. I, you know, I would just say, if I just start with the facts, we've got a year and a half of good data, the efficacy. We've got 40 countries with clean labels. We've got PV pharmacovigilance data for over a year, 1 million dogs.
You know, and what we've done, we've got the PCR data where they changed the label, and now we've made a submission of the published booster data, which was done in a constructive way that actually they desired and wanted. A submission has been made. That was made in the fall. It's a little unusual, so I don't want to say it's like a new drug, a DOFA, Michael, but I do think, you know, we're hoping to hear from them soon, and we believe our case is pretty legitimate for continued label improvements. And I would just say, hey, the FDA is doing a lot on reform, great leadership under Dr.
Schell, good, constructive dialogue with the team, and I'll leave it there and just say that, you know, we're hopeful, but again, it is not something that is in our current guidance.
I'll say that, I'll say that's the hedge, Michael, right? Our guidance assumes label as is, and so that's really our hedge against potential outcomes.
Yeah
... the rest of the year.
Okay. In terms of what those outcomes could be, I think it's, you know, as you said, you already had a label update or improvement in the fall or last year, last summer. It could be similar to that, where there's a minor update, that's, you know, option one. Option two is completely remove the black box, or my understanding is option three, the FDA could come back and say, "Okay, we need even more data.
Yeah
... Let's go back and do more trials.
Yeah, yeah.
Those are the three outcomes.
I think you're right. Yeah, I do believe so.
Okay, okay. Just some fresh news overnight or last night, yesterday, Merck's Nuvimelvi was approved in the U.S. Obviously, a product we've known about for a while. You know, a lot of the focus when you think about Zenrelia ramp in the U.S. is sort of positioning Zenrelia relative to Apoquel, the major incumbent, but now you do have a third player. You guys had some really interesting commentary during the call on Tuesday about how Zenrelia has done in Europe, where Nuvimelvi is already on the market. Could you expand on that a little bit as just sort of what you see as the, you know, the pros and cons of Zenrelia relative to Nuvimelvi from the label perspective?
Bob can highlight, you know, we assumed this in the guidance. We assumed a competitive entry in the U.S., and we had it in Europe, that's all assumed. Probably, the news last night is it's probably, for us, a little bit more favorable relative to the label that came out, probably positive relative to that. I mean, let's see. Look, I think the commentary always comes back. I think I would keep it real simple. Let's not overcomplicate this. It's efficacy will be proven out in the field. It will be visible to pet owners. I think duration, breaking that bond with a pet owner because of an itch, is what needs to be corrected.
The duration and the quality of efficacy is seen in living rooms and homes all over the world, and that's where we're getting the testimonies. What I will say is, we'll start with head-to-head, which we demonstrated against the market incumbent in Europe, and I believe that now that head-to-head data is proven out, even against the new market, you know, entry in Europe, and we will, you know, we will execute accordingly the same way in the U.S., I think, and it will be determined by efficacy. I think that, you know, I don't want to get into all the details of the label right now. Everybody can see there are definitely differences, and we're gonna focus on what we have.
At the same time, we're one quarter away from launching Befreba, so I think we've got a portfolio approach, we've got a head-to-head approach, we've got 1 million dogs, and we've got a very strong label in 40 countries, and we have an approving label in the U.S. I think we've got one of the largest teams. Michael, I would even call out, we've got a distribution advantage right now. We believe our distributors are, you know, getting a lot of value from us with Quattro plus Zenrelia, and they will with Befreba, and they probably will get even more value from Befreba, and vet clinics will as well. That's, that's where we're set up, and I don't know if I can elaborate more.
Yeah. Yeah, I was just to make sure that we all understand, as Jeff mentioned, like, this was assumed in our guide that this would be coming out, so it's not a surprise to us.
Yeah
... with the commitments we've made a couple days ago.
Yeah. Like you said, you've already gone head-to-head against them in Europe and other markets, and-
Yeah
That's where you-
We are, as I said. Just to be clear, I didn't answer that. Yeah, we are outperforming them. I think that that's a combination of product, KOLs, corporates. I think our ground game is very strong. We've got the largest sales force we've had in Europe and the US in pet health ever, and we're leveraging our partners as well.
Okay. Okay. Yeah, the label definitely had some interesting tidbits in there in terms of, you know, allergic derm versus atopic derm...
Yeah
... and, you know, needing to be administered with food, things like that. There's a lot of things to dig in there.
You know, the strength you've seen with Zenrelia in international markets, I mean, I fully recognize that every market's gonna be distinct. There's different dynamics in terms of how your competitors are positioned, what type of go-to-market strategy you can or can't do in terms of advertising. The strength you're seeing in Brazil, the strength you're seeing in other markets. I mean, assuming that you can get a similar label in the U.S., like, is that an aspirational goal to achieve that with Zenrelia in the U.S.?
You know, what should we carry over from that because that is the biggest market, that is where a lot of the focus is gonna be.
Well, look, I think, you know, why we're spending a lot of time looking at the analytics to make sure that we invest, these assets are bigger than we realized, and we've got a whole portfolio of them now, as you know, Michael. It's very unusual to see we're in major markets, and now we've got best medicine, and this is a best-case kind of scenario. We're gonna make sure we're not gonna let up. We will use Ascend and other productivity initiatives to ensure that we can give you that high single-digit EBITDA. At the same time, we will keep increasing investment. If that's what it takes to get the share, we will do that. You know, these markets come...
Share comes at an expense to get it. We believe we've got the assets to get it, and we're gonna do that. Look, we've got the most experienced, most stable team in animal health. Our ground game is proven. The other thing that I think is, you know, underappreciated is we've got an omnichannel approach. 40% of pet care dollars are under some type of subscription, and we like that because that brings compliance. All that aspect of our ground game is really important, and that's where we're putting a lot of energy in Europe and U.S. and these other markets. If you've got the products that are working, make sure you've got the assets and the commercial engine to get behind them, and I think we do right now.
Yeah. As far as aspirations, I mean, Listen, we firmly believe Zenrelia is a blockbuster, and I would say it's a blockbuster in the U.S., and we expect to be a blockbuster overseas. We're gonna lean in exactly how Jeff spoke about, but you know, we're pretty excited about the efficacy of the product and what it can mean for us.
Okay, okay. Certainly, certainly something to look forward to there. You know, while we're on this topic, definitely wanna bridge to Befreba as well then. You know, you talked about a 2Q phased launch. That's something that's, you know, gonna be really exciting if that happens at the same time as a potential label update to Zenrelia. Even if it doesn't, I mean, that's still a really important incremental contributor. Similarly to how you talked about Zenrelia and framing the opportunity there, what gets you most excited about Befreba? I mean, I think that, you know, obviously, we know the. It seems like the dosing is gonna be a little bit more favorable in terms of slightly longer period relative to the incumbent there.
I don't believe we have the full label out yet in terms of the USDA has not released it. Correct me if that's wrong. Just sort of how do you see Befreba entering that market, and the opportunity, and also, you know, the opportunity between having both Befreba and Zenrelia hand in hand?
I think, I think you've got it framed very nicely. We kinda talk about where do we go on differentiation. We think we've got the three dimensions of, you know, convenience, value, efficacy. That efficacy picking up at, you know, six to eight weeks. As you know, it also came with a higher bar. It's been 10 years since the last one in this space, we had to, you know, we had to take on a lot more dogs in the trials. It, it really creates validity to this study, and that's we took a lot of that and this label to 350 veterinarians, and as I shared, 82%, 83% came back saying: "Hey, we will use this product, and especially in seasonal conditions.
Yes, there will be a portfolio effect. With Elanco now coming in, there'll be no real portfolio differences between Para and Derm with Elanco. We've got the four kind of legs to the stool now with the portfolio that we have, and Befreba further differentiates us from even the new market incumbent coming into the U.S. All of that plays well. More to come. The label's not out. We do plan to launch in Q2. It will be a phased launch like other monoclonal antibodies, and I get asked a lot of questions about manufacturing. Hey, manufacturing's tracking really well. Part of the Kindred acquisition, it's in the plant that's making the Parvo.
We've been working on this thing for a couple of years, and everything is tracking very nicely for a Q2, a Q2 launch, and probably more of a second half impact.
Yep. Okay, okay. I think, I think that's gonna, you know, meaningfully change the portfolio setup, as you can, you know, position with your customers. I want to touch on one more basket of the one more part of the innovation basket in depth before we move on, that's Quatro, obviously. Really impressive 2025. I mean, it's been a product that was anticipated for a while. It's a market that's really well known. I mean, I think the Para market is probably the best studied and best understood market in animal health, you know, relatively saturated market in the sense that there already are.
Yeah
... a lot of products, a lot of alternatives. Still really, really impressive results. There are multiple factors to the differentiation there, in what you bring with Quatro versus what Trio has or NexGard PLUS has. Still, if you could distill it for us, you think, like, you know, what really drove the success you saw in 2025? You referred to it a number of times as sort of not second in line or third in line, but first in line.
Yeah.
What was behind that?
Maybe I'll just provide a couple comments here on Quatro. It's our fastest-growing product that we've had. It's not acting like a third to market, it's acting like a first to market. The differentiation is the speed of tick kill, its tapeworm coverage, its heartworm coverage from month one. I'd say that one of the biggest differentiators is the palatability, and the fact that it's easy for a dog to take is something that certainly I think is making us see the success where we are. You know, one of the leading indicators I'd highlight, Michael, is the puppy index, and we continue to see that rise.
You know, we believe with Quatro, obviously, you know, as once your dog goes on Quatro and the success we're seeing, we expect that to continue throughout the life of the puppy and the dog. We're seeing transition from other dogs in existing clinics move over to Quatro. Listen, like, you think about just market share, I think we're the only animal health business to see market share grow in Para in the clinics this year, and it's because of the differentiation we've talked about. Jeff's talked about how we're continuing to look at DTC spend, and I meet with the team and Jeff meets with the team on the ROI on that, and we'll continue to lean in with this no-regrets approach.
We've done that, all year, and we'll continue to do that, and we're seeing that success.
Yeah.
Yeah. In the appendix of your deck, you guys always have really helpful stats, you know, revenue performance for select products. That was really informative. I mean, you've given us updates on how, you know, Quatro was tracking year to date. I think it was early September, you had a press release of it hit blockbuster status. We, you know, we have pretty good sense for how it was going, but still, really impressive to see the full year number for that entire line, the Credelio line at, like, $350 plus, $358 million, something like that. Really strong results.
Any way you could characterize, you know, how much of that has been shared gains from competitors, how much has been market expansion versus. You know, I'm sure there was some cannibalization of standalone Credelio. That's to be expected, but it seems like that was relatively modest. You know, we were kind of estimating that to be, like, 20%, 30%, not more than that. Just any way you could talk about.
Yeah, it's tracking favorable to that. I believe so. I think you're gonna see, you know, continued, I mean, I would. Credelio QUATTRO 's got a lot of room to grow, where I think both, I think another key storyline here, even with derm competition, as you know, is we're small on a relative basis. When we started Credelio QUATTRO, we said we're $300 million, you know, in this big $3 billion-$4 billion market. We're small on a relative basis. Now, we've got Best Medicine, and we've got this omnichannel approach. You know, the Bayer OTC, you know, being able to say, "Hey, we've got some leading capabilities on subscriptions, drop shipping in and outside the vet clinic," that's gonna leverage us, too. Portfolio plus capability is gonna give us, I think, leverage there to take more share. I think that's important.
I would call out also on that Credelio franchise, two other things. Credelio Cat , as I'm traveling around the world right now, meeting with all the affiliates and customers, Credelio Cat is very uniquely positioned. It's got great share growth around the world, there's a lot of runway. I mean, we've got some unique and only capabilities there. Then, you know, I think Credelio Plus has really got a good foothold, but here we come with Credelio QUATTRO internationally, and, you know, we may have some cannibalization there, Michael, but I believe the Credelio brand awareness is higher in a lot of international markets, which is gonna add very well for Quattro because, its awareness is, you know, stronger than the U.S.
When we come in saying: "Hey, we got something better than Plus," we'll cannibalize ourselves, but we're gonna take more share. We believe that, so it's good. I think we weren't thinking international was gonna be that opportunistic, but given the Best Medicine aspects of Quattro, international probably has a little better runway.
Okay. Just taking them maybe a step back from that innovation ask, especially, you know, those three that we talked about, Zenrelia, Befreba, Quattro. You know, 2025 was sort of, you know, your first year really hitting the market with those. When I think forward to 2026, in some ways, one of the things we wonder is like what the response will be, right? Like, now that Zoetis has seen your go-to-market, has seen your market positioning and the success you've had with these products, how will they respond? Now, you've got Nuvimelvi coming in, how will Merck, you know, respond, and what will BI do? What have you seen from your competitors as sort of like a punch, counterpunch?
What are you anticipating from them, and sort of how do you see that dynamic playing out?
Maybe I'll give-
Yeah.
Continue, yeah.
Maybe I'll.
Yeah, go ahead.
give a couple of comments here, Michael. listen, like, you think about the guide we gave, right? We've put various scenarios in our guide. That's why we give ranges, right? Competitive response is certainly one of them. I would tell you, we firmly believe we have best medicine, and so you know, if there's a punch we take, you know, I think that's gonna be short-lived, and you know, we'll win the long game. listen, I think the market's growing tremendously. We expect the overall animal market to grow by $20 billion over the next decade, right? We see, you know, we see the market growing. We think about us, we believe we've got best medicine. We're also investing in innovation.
We see us as a long-term win in this space, in a dynamic environment.
Yeah.
Short term, there could be something. That's again, why we have it in our wide range, but listen, I think the best medicine is gonna win at the end of the day.
Yeah, and historical relationships, I mean, this distribution relationship, you know, let's talk about the changes and stuff, but hey, we've had a long legacy of staying in a buy, sell. That's major share of voice, and we've been working on the digital and been launching some of these smaller products before these bigger products. To Bob's point, it's best medicine, it's our offering, and we do not believe it's a price game, it's a value game, and the vets want that, the pet owners want that, and we do, too. That's why. Then you've got this rising tide right now as an industry.
I'm not a believer that I think we're way over indexed on vet visits as an industry, and I think there's these other metrics I've talked about that I think are much more important.
Okay, that's helpful. We've got about 5, 10 minutes left. There's a bunch more topics I want to hit on. One is price. We've had a lot of questions and a lot of debate on this. You guys, you talked about price accelerating into 2026, which makes sense, I think both from an arithmetic perspective and a model perspective, and a portfolio perspective. Any way you can help us frame, you know, accelerating by how much, what's the right price level to take in 2026? You know, how do you balance, hey, we've got a better portfolio, new products, basket's doing well, versus, you know, counteracting what I talked about in terms of competition and some of the risks there?
I'll give you, yeah, just a couple of thoughts here. You think about, again, our algorithm, we give, you know, we gave on growing mid-single digits. Obviously, a price is a component of that. We did have price of 2% in 2025. In 2026, we're gonna be lapping the Credelio QUATTRO and Zenrelias, we're gonna get some price uplift on those products. Listen, I wanna highlight, we've taken the highest pricing in our U.S. vet clinics this year. It's the highest we've taken in 5 years, okay? Obviously, we're conscious of what a competitive response would be, we're gonna continue to price the value. I'd leave you with, like, we are, we are winning share, not because of price; we are winning share because of efficacy.
Yeah
Is there a way for you to sort of think about price? We had this conversation a couple of days ago on the earnings call of, you know, what the price is from the legacy portfolio, apples to apples, versus how much of the price is the fact that you're lapping the new product launches, and now they're factoring into the arithmetic, whereas they weren't before. Is there, like, an apples-to-apples price metric you'd give us?
There's really not. I mean, again, we'll continue to price the value, and I think as a basket of all of our products, I would assume that there's pricing taken in that, and obviously, we balance the, you know, volumes and gross to net opportunities. Net, net, we expect price to accelerate from 25, and we expect price to accelerate throughout each quarter within 26.
Okay. Okay, all right. Something you alluded to earlier, Jeff, was sort of the distribution, relationship, and how that could be a tailwind for you this coming year. I want to talk about that. Obviously, there's been a lot of news in recent weeks with Covetrus and MWI. It's been anticipated and talked about for several weeks, several months, but it finally did come through. Could you talk to us about your relationship with the major distributors? I don't know if you want to talk about those two in particular, or maybe the major ones as a basket, how you see Elanco as, you know, potentially being better positioned to win from that or to benefit from that. Also, over what timeframe?
Is this you know a change that happens, and we can see immediate tailwinds, or is this little taking years to play out?
I think today we're tied to a long history. We haven't been in and out with them and changing things. We've added the Bayer portfolio in. We've been buy, sell, which is the most optimal for them, where they buy the product, we create demand together. They can make some nice margin with us and value because they're creating value. We've got better metrics than we've ever had with the distribution channel, and that's allowed us to make sure we're spending money in the right area, getting the right value from them. This year, we come in probably leaving the best year we've had with distribution in 25 in a long time.
We're the only company, I believe, that sells pretty much all of its portfolio, buy, sell, not selective pieces and parts, and we'll continue to do that as long as they deliver the value. They're good at launching products. They're gonna get a lot of value, I think, from Elanco, which is, which is positive, right, for us as we go forward. Any scenario looking forward, we'll do what we've always done, which is we will be close and constructive with them, Bob, and their CFOs, and Bobby, and the team, and we'll look at it through a lens of value creation.
Bob, you know, you touched earlier on I think the wording you used was, you know, "We're gonna invest appropriately in 2026," and you talked about no regrets launch at the same time. You know, there's some pushes and pulls there, right? You can argue, you know, you can argue what invest appropriately means. You can argue what no regret launch means.
Yeah.
What's the right level? How are you balancing that? I guess maybe put in other ways, how much of that is a lever that you're willing to toggle, or you have a buffer to toggle to say, "Hey, like, you know, we're seeing really good traction here. We're gonna really push harder on Befreba, harder on Zenrelia, or maybe we're gonna go for a little bit more EBITDA this year." How do you balance those two in your mind?
Yeah, it's a great question. First off, I would reiterate, we're gonna hit our, you know, our guidance that we give on that high single-digit EBITDA. That's first and foremost. A big lever in this, Michael, is Ascend. All right? We firmly believe we are gonna continue a no-regrets approach, and we are gonna. If we see, again, the ROI on the investment dollars in DTC, we continue to see that data supporting the top-line growth, we will continue to lean into that. Obviously, when you get the sales, obviously, we're gonna get the EBITDA, right? I'm somewhat at some point, it starts funding itself, right?
Ascend comes in, and it's ensuring that we are doing the right things across the P&L to be more efficient, which again, funds DTC and funds the long-term R&D growth. Listen, I've said this before, and maybe not to you, but one of the, the great aspects and the success factors to Elanco is we don't have silos within the organization.
Yeah.
What that means is the entire leadership team, the organization, is aligned that, "Hey, listen, we need to do two things as priorities: grow that top line with...," and that could mean more funding DTC, and continue to fund the pipeline with R&D. All the rest of us, we have good ideas, but we're all aligned on the priorities, and that's the success that we're bringing right now.
Okay, maybe, you know, again, we're almost out of time. Maybe I'll expand it into sort of a bigger picture question or a longer-term question. You know, right now, you're heavy in launch mode, you're heavy in a ramp mode for the innovation basket, as you should be. As we think about those ramping over time, how do we think about that operating leverage framework, as these products get bigger, both on a, on a gross margin basis, as the revenue base gets bigger, but also on an OpEx basis, as maybe you've already done that initial investment? Like, should that, should that lever open up more and more in future years?
Absolutely, and, you know, think about Investor Day, some of the messages that we gave. Certainly with volume leverage, we're gonna see margin enhancement that's gonna be on the gross margin and EBITDA lines. We're gonna get the natural mix benefits associated with the basket of innovation carrying higher margin levels. Then you're gonna see the EBITDA, overall EBITDA performance coming from Ascend. We do see EBITDA margins improving 200 to 350 basis points by 2028. Then Elanco Ascend, to frame it for you, 75% of that benefit is gonna be gross margin, 25% OpEx. Again, that's a 5-year period where we expect $200 million-$250 million of net EBITDA improvement after investment, after inflation. You'll see a mix of both coming through, Michael.
Okay. That's super helpful. That's great. All right, well, unfortunately, we're out of time. I wanna thank you, Jeff and Bob, for joining us. This was a really great session. Always a pleasure. Thanks, everyone, for listening in.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you, Michael. Thank you, everybody.
Congrats again.