Gilead Sciences on Tuesday said its fourth-quarter revenue dipped 4% on lower sales of HIV drugs and Veklury, an infused drug for hospitalized COVID-19 patients, while its adjusted profit rose 3% due to lower expenses.
Gilead also said a large trial of its experimental oral COVID antiviral drug, obeldesivir, did not meet its primary goal.
"The average time to symptoms alleviation is now less than a week in people who are getting the placebo," Gilead's Chief Medical Officer Merdad Parsey said, adding that vaccination rates and increasing immunity to the virus have shortened the overall duration and severity of COVID symptoms.
Gilead's fourth-quarter revenue totaled $7.1 billion, in line with analysts' estimates, according to LSEG data.
Adjusted profit per share rose to $1.72 from $1.67 a year earlier, but just missed analyst expectations of $1.73 per share.
Net earnings per share decreased to $1.14 a share from $1.30 a year earlier.
HIV product sales for the quarter fell 2% to $4.7 billion due to a increase in sales to government-run programs that receive price discounts.
Quarterly sales of HIV drug Biktarvy rose 7% to $3.1 billion, which was slightly below analysts' estimates of $3.2 billion. Veklury sales fell 28% to $720 million, but still came in above Wall Street expectations of $519 million.
Oncology sales rose 24% to $765 million.
For full-year 2024, Gilead said it expects adjusted earnings of $6.85 to $7.25 per share on product sales of $27.1 billion to $27.5 billion. Analysts have projected 2024 earnings of $7.24 per share on revenue of $27.7 billion.
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/gilead-quarterly-revenue-drops-4-210620406.html
