With 10 launches planned in the coming quarters, Gilead isn’t feeling the same acquisition urgency as its pharma peers—though the prospect of a takeover isn’t off the table.
While late-stage, big-ticket acquisitions remain possibilities for Gilead, the pharma is not as pressed as its peers to ink major deals to beef up its product pipeline.
“We may not have the urgency of other companies in this sector,” CEO Daniel O’Day told investors in a call Tuesday afternoon to present the company’s full-year 2025 earnings results. But, he added, “we’re very proactive and disciplined.”
However, the pharma isn’t completely closing its doors on takeovers. O’Day noted that Gilead will “continue to add to our pipeline with appropriate M&A over the course of the coming years.”
Analysts at BMO Capital Markets echoed the sentiment, stating in a note to investors Wednesday morning that M&A for Gilead would be “nice to have” but not a necessity. If M&A were on the table, the analysts would look for activity “in core areas: liver disease, oncology, and inflammation.”
Gilead finds itself in this relatively relaxed position—as far as dealmaking goes—amid what O’Day said is “the most robust clinical and launch pipeline in our company’s history.” In its presentation on Tuesday, Gilead noted that it has lined up up to 10 ongoing and near-term product launches.
Among these is the ongoing rollout of Yeztugo, a twice-yearly pre-exposure prophylactic for HIV that won the FDA’s approval in June last year. In its first few months on the market, Yeztugo hit $150 million in sales, including $96 million in the fourth quarter, according to the pharma’s presentation.
Gilead established a sales guidance for Yeztugo of $800 million for 2026. The drug is now covered by all major insurance companies, analysts at Mizuho Group wrote in a note Tuesday evening, bolstering its market access. The analysts expect to see “modest growth” in the first quarter of 2026 for the drug, with momentum building as the year goes on for new patients, and returning patients getting their second of two yearly injections.
To bolster Yeztugo’s growth, Gilead has launched a direct-to-consumer marketing campaign across several channels, which Chief Commercial Officer Johanna Mercier said on the call will help build its momentum in the coming quarters. Product sales will “start with modest growth” in the first quarter of this year, Mercier said, “and then kind of build on that quarter after quarter.”
“Over time, we believe that Yeztugo will be the market leader in HIV prevention,” she added.
In 2025, Gilead made $29.4 billion in revenue, a slight 2% uptick from its 2024 earnings. HIV remained the pharma’s forte, growing 6% year-on-year to hit $20.8 billion in sales. The HIV-1 drug Biktarvy made $14.3 billion last year, a 7% increase from 2024. Meanwhile, its preventive pill Descovy surged 31% to hit $2.8 billion.
Outside of HIV, Gilead’s product sales were buoyed by the antibody-drug conjugate Trodelvy, indicated for breast cancer and bladder cancer, which grew 6% year-on-year to earn $1.4 billion. In 2026, Gilead expects product sales of between $29.6 billion and $30 billion.
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