Gilead 3rd-quarter profit falls, but beats Wall Street estimates

Kitex Garments

26/10/2017 21:40

By Deena Beasley 
    Oct 26 (Reuters) - Gilead Sciences Inc  GILD.O  reported 
lower third-quarter profits on Thursday as use of its flagship 
hepatitis C drugs continued to wane, but the results beat Wall 
Street estimates due to lower costs. 
    Gilead, which in August paid nearly $12 billion for cancer 
immunotherapy company Kite Pharma, said it earned $2.27 a share 
after one-time items. Wall Street analysts, on average, had 
forecast $2.13 a share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S. 
    Gilead's quarterly sales of hepatitis C drugs Sovaldi, 
Harvoni, Epclusa and Vosevi totaled $2.2 billion, down from $3.3 
billion a year earlier, and close to the $2.24 billion forecast 
by analysts. The company's antiviral and HIV drug sales rose to 
$3.6 billion from $3.5 billion. 
    Gilead warned earlier this year that sales of its 
high-priced hepatitis C drugs were declining as fewer patients 
were deemed eligible for treatment and competition grew. 
    Overall revenue fell to $6.5 billion from $7.5 billion, 
while analysts had forecast $6.4 billion. Research and 
development costs dropped to $789 million from $1.14 billion. 
    The company said it now expects full-year 2017 hepatitis C 
sales of no more than $9 billion, down from a previous high-end 
estimate of $9.5 billion. 
    Gilead also raised the lower end of its full-year 2017 
product sales outlook to $24.5 billion from a previous estimate 
of $24 billion, but left the upper end unchanged at $25.5 
billion. 
    Net income fell to $2.7 billion from $3.3 billion in the 
year-ago quarter 
 
 (Reporting by Deena Beasley; Editing by Sandra Maler) 
 ((deena.beasley@thomsonreuters.com; 213 955 6746; Reuters 
Messaging: deena.beasley.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net)) 
 
Keywords: GILEAD RESULTS/