Gilead Sales of Hepatitis C Drugs Harvoni and Sovaldi Slump

Gilead Sciences Inc. on Tuesday said sales of hepatitis C drugs Harvoni and Sovaldi missed expectations and slumped in the third-quarter, as the biopharmaceutical company faces challenges from rival drugs and pricing pressures.

For the latest quarter, Gilead reported Harvoni sales decreased 44% to $1.86 billion, while Sovaldi sales also fell 44% to $825 million. Analysts had expected Harvoni sales of $2.32 billion and Sovaldi sales of $1.06 billion, 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 $640 million in the latest quarter, compared with sales of $64 million during the second quarter. Analysts expected Epclusa sales to reach $285.6 million, according to FactSet.

Gilead has been dominating the market for hepatitis C drugs, where prices for the costly medicines have come down amid competition from rivals AbbVie Inc., maker of hepatitis C treatment Viekira Pak, and Merck & Co., maker of Zepatier.

Overall, Gilead reported a third-quarter profit of $3.33 billion, or $2.49 a share, down from $4.6 billion, or $3.06 a share, a year earlier. Excluding acquisition-related impacts, stock-based compensation and other items, adjusted per-share earnings rose to $2.75 from $3.22. Revenue decreased 9.6% to $7.5 billion.

Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected per-share profit of $2.86 and revenue of $7.45 billion.

Gilead also affirmed its 2016 product sales outlook.

Write to Tess Stynes at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

November 01, 2016 17:15 ET (21:15 GMT)

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