Gilead’s Q1 revenues lifted by COVID-19 med Veklury as HIV drugs take a hit

Gilead has posted its results for the first quarter of 2021, noting an increase in revenues for the quarter, driven by its COVID-19 pill Veklury, while sales of its HIV drugs took a hit.

The total revenues for Q1 increased by 16% to a total of $6.4bn compared to the same period last year, with Gilead attributing much of that growth to Veklury (remdesivir), its antiviral medication for COVID-19.

However, total product sales excluding Veklury dropped by 11% to $4.9bn compared to Q1 2020, due to the loss of exclusivity of its HIV drugs Truvada, tenofovir disoproxil fumarate and Atripla in the US as well as COVID-19 related impacts.

Overall, HIV product sales decreased by 12% to $3.7bn for the first quarter, although sales of its newer HIV treatment Biktarvy increased by 8% year-on-year in Q1.

Sales of Gilead's hepatitis C virus (HCV) products and hepatitis delta virus (HDV) products increased by 18% to $220m, with a significant increase in sales of chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) treatment Vemlidy compared to the same period last year.

Gilead was also bolstered by sales of its cell therapy products, which jumped by 36% to $191m in the first quarter, with Yescarta bringing in $160m and Tecartus bringing in $31m.

The company is expecting COVID-19 to continue to impact its business, however, projecting a ‘more gradual recovery’ starting in the second quarter of 2021.

Gilead added that sales of Veklury would also continue to be subject to ‘significant volatility and uncertainty’.

As a result, Gilead has excluded Veklury from its full year revenue guidance, although it has projected specific product sales for the drug to be between $2bn and $3bn.

Excluding Veklury, Gilead projects product sales for the full year to reach between $21.7bn and $22.1bn.

“We have made strong progress in this first quarter, with our new partnership with Merck in long-acting HIV therapies, two newly approved indications in the US for Trodelvy in metastatic triple-negative breast cancer and metastatic urothelial cancer, and the addition of Hepcludex to our portfolio,” said Daniel O’Day, chairman and chief executive officer, Gilead Sciences.

“2021 is a pivotal year for Gilead, with key milestones across our virology and oncology portfolios. We’re looking forward to advancing our pipeline of promising therapies in the coming months,” he added.