Gilead Raises Product Sales Guidance on Remdesivir Demand, Narrows Earnings Outlook for 2020
January 11 2021 - 7:03AM
Dow Jones News
By Dave Sebastian
Gilead Sciences Inc. raised its product sales expectations for
2020 as it said it sold more remdesivir, the Covid-19 drug, amid a
recent surge in coronavirus cases, and narrowed its earnings
outlook.
The drug maker on Monday said it sees product sales of $24.3
billion to $24.35 billion, up from its prior guidance of $23
billion to $23.5 billion. Excluding remdesivir, product sales are
expected to be $21.5 billion to $21.53 billion for the year, the
company said.
The company said it expects to lose as much as eight cents a
share or earn as much as two cents a share for the year. It
previously guided for a loss of as much as 25 cents a share or a
profit of as much as 10 cents a share. On an adjusted basis, the
company expects earnings of $6.98 a share to $7.08 a share, up from
its prior outlook of $6.25 a share to $6.60 a share.
Driving product sales apart from remdesivir in 2020 was the
uptake of HIV treatment Biktarvy, partially offset by the loss of
exclusivity of Truvada, a medication that can help prevent HIV in
healthy individuals, in the U.S. and Covid-19 effects on Gilead's
pre-exposure prophylaxis and chronic hepatitis C virus franchises,
Gilead said.
Gilead said it sees research and development costs growing about
20% due to a rise in expenses for obligations under its agreement
with Galapagos NV for an arthritis drug, as well as higher clinical
trial and manufacturing ramp-up costs for remdesivir. It previously
expected R&D expenses to rise by the mid-teens percentage.
The company expects selling, general and administrative costs to
rise about 10%, reflecting the low end of its previous guidance of
a low double-digit percentage growth, it said. The company in 2020
had costs associated with a legal settlement, the acquisitions of
Forty Seven Inc. and Immunomedics Inc., and certain remdesivir
donations, it added.
Shares rose 1.1% in premarket trading.
Write to Dave Sebastian at dave.sebastian@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
January 11, 2021 06:48 ET (11:48 GMT)
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