Gilead Posts Profit, Revenue Declines
February 07 2017 - 5:31PM
Dow Jones News
By Anne Steele
Gilead Sciences Inc.'s sales of hepatitis C drugs Harvoni and
Sovaldi continued to decline in the latest quarter, though sales of
its cheaper Epclusa buoyed the top line above estimates.
Shares in the biopharmaceutical company, which faces challenges
from rival drugs and pricing pressures, dropped 4.3% to $70 in
after-hours trading Tuesday.
Gilead has been dominating the market for hepatitis C drugs,
where prices for the costly medicines have decreased amid
competition from rivals AbbVie Inc., maker of hepatitis C treatment
Viekira Pak, and Merck & Co., maker of Zepatier.
During the period, Gilead reported Harvoni sales more than
halved to $1.64 billion, while Sovaldi sales plunged to $541
million from $1.55 billion. Analysts had expected Harvoni sales of
$1.61 billion and Sovaldi sales of $587 million, 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 $1.05 billion in the latest quarter,
compared with $640 million during the third quarter. Analysts
expected Epclusa sales to reach $901 million, according to
FactSet.
In all, Gilead posted a profit of $3.12 billion, or $2.34 a
share, down from $4.68 billion, or $3.18 a share, a year earlier.
Excluding acquisition-related impacts, stock-based compensation and
other items, adjusted per-share earnings declined to $2.70 from
$3.32. Revenue fell 14% to $7.32 billion.
Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected per-share profit of
$2.61 and revenue of $7.15 billion.
For 2017, the company anticipates product sales between $22.5
billion and $24.5 billion.
Write to Anne Steele at Anne.Steele@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
February 07, 2017 17:16 ET (22:16 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2017 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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