Gilead Sciences falls as hepatitis C drug sales crash
US drugmaker Gilead Sciences turned in a disappointing set of results from the first quarter of the year and failed to raise its forecast.
Gilead Sciences Inc.
$65.27
13:05 25/04/24
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12:15 25/04/24
California-based Gilead reported a strong performance from blood cancer therapy Yescarta though this was overshadowed by a recent FDA approval for a similar treatment by rival Novartis.
For the full-year, Gilead reiterated its guidance on net product sales of $20bn to $21bn on its new effective tax rate of around 21% to 23%.
Sales of Gilead's flagship hepatitis C drugs dropped by a much greater-than-expected 59% across the period to $1.05bn, while sales of other antiviral and HIV drugs rose just 1.83% to $3.33bn.
Gilead's hep-C drugs had been on the downward spiral for some time as a result of heightened competition from other companies.
Sales of Yescarta, the cancer cell therapy taken over by Gilead as part of its $12bn acquisition of Kite Pharma last year, hit $40m for the quarter, blowing away analysts' expectations of $23m.
As of 1615 BST, Gilead shares were down 3.6% to $64.49.