Gilead Sales of Hepatitis C Drugs Harvoni and Sovaldi Slump Under Competitive Pressure
02 November 2016 - 8:17AM
Dow Jones News
By Tess Stynes
Gilead Sciences Inc. on Tuesday said sales of hepatitis C drugs
Harvoni and Sovaldi missed expectations and slumped in the
third-quarter, as the biopharmaceutical company faces challenges
from rival drugs and pricing pressures.
For the latest quarter, Gilead reported Harvoni sales decreased
44% to $1.86 billion, while Sovaldi sales also fell 44% to $825
million. Analysts had expected Harvoni sales of $2.32 billion and
Sovaldi sales of $1.06 billion, according to FactSet.
The declines were partly offset by sales of combination
hepatitis C drug, Epclusa, which is priced lower than Harvoni and
Sovaldi and generated sales of $640 million in the latest quarter,
compared with sales of $64 million during the second quarter.
Analysts expected Epclusa sales to reach $285.6 million, according
to FactSet.
Gilead has been dominating the market for hepatitis C drugs,
where prices for the costly medicines have come down amid
competition from rivals AbbVie Inc., maker of hepatitis C treatment
Viekira Pak, and Merck & Co., maker of Zepatier.
Overall, Gilead reported a third-quarter profit of $3.33
billion, or $2.49 a share, down from $4.6 billion, or $3.06 a
share, a year earlier. Excluding acquisition-related impacts,
stock-based compensation and other items, adjusted per-share
earnings rose to $2.75 from $3.22. Revenue decreased 9.6% to $7.5
billion.
Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected per-share profit of
$2.86 and revenue of $7.45 billion.
Gilead also affirmed its 2016 product sales outlook.
Write to Tess Stynes at tess.stynes@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
November 01, 2016 17:02 ET (21:02 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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