Gilead Sciences Inc. said its two hepatitis drugs, Sovaldi and Harvoni, generated combined sales of $4.89 billion world-wide during the fourth quarter, topping analysts' expectations for global sales of $4.45 billion.

The Foster City, Calif., biopharmaceutical company also said its board authorized the repurchase of an additional $12 billion of its shares and raised the quarterly dividend by 10%.

The latest share-buyback program will begin after the completion of Gilead's current $15 billion stock repurchase plan, which had about $8 billion remaining as of Dec. 31. The company intends to tap $5 billion of the current buyback program in the next three months. The quarterly dividend will rise to 47 cents a share, an increase of four cents a share.

Shares rose 1.5% to $83.94 in recent after-hours trading as per-share earnings, excluding certain one-time items, and revenue beat expectations.

For 2016, Gilead projected net product sales of between $30 million and $31 million, lower than the net product sales of $32.15 billion the company reported for 2015.

Gilead, which had been known for its HIV/AIDS treatments, recently has seen its sales driven by its hepatitis C drugs. Sovaldi and Harvoni are part of the latest generation of hepatitis C treatments that studies indicate cure most patients in just a few months. The two drugs, which have faced criticism over their pricing, also are facing increased competition.

The Food and Drug Administration, as expected, last month granted approval for Merck's new hepatitis C treatment, Zepatier. Last week, AbbVie said it expects $2 billion in sales of its hepatitis C drug Viekira this year, up from $1.64 billion in 2015.

Sovaldi, which initially received FDA approval in December 2013, generated sales of $1.55 billion for the quarter ended Dec. 31, a decline of 11% from a year earlier but an increase from $1.47 billion in the third quarter.

Harvoni, which combines Sovaldi with another drug and was approved in October 2014, generated fourth-quarter sales of $3.35 billion, up 59% from a year earlier and from $3.33 billion in three-month period ended Sept 30.

Analysts were expecting global sales of $1.32 billion for Sovaldi and $3.13 billion for Harvoni, according to a note by Evercore ISI analyst Mark Schoenebaum.

The latest tally brings the sales total for both drugs to $19.14 billion for 2015.

Over all, Gilead reported a profit of $4.68 billion, or $3.18 a share, up from $3.49 billion, or $2.18 a share, a year earlier. Excluding stock-based compensation and other items, per-share earnings rose to $3.32 from $2.43. Revenue increased 16% to $8.51 billion.

Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected per-share profit of $3 and revenue of $8.14 billion.

Write to Tess Stynes at tess.stynes@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

February 02, 2016 17:15 ET (22:15 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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