Gilead Raises Product Sales Guidance on Remdesivir Demand, Narrows Earnings Outlook for 2020

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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