Gilead profit beats estimates, but shares drop after hours (updated)

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26/10/2017 22:30

(Adds company comments, share price) 
    By Deena Beasley 
    Oct 26 (Reuters) - Gilead Sciences Inc  GILD.O  posted 
better-than-expected third-quarter profits on Thursday, but 
shares fell after hours as use of its flagship hepatitis C drugs 
waned further and the company said it had yet to feel the full 
impact of more competition. 
    Shares of Gilead, which in August paid nearly $12 billion 
for cancer immunotherapy company Kite Pharma, fell as much as 4 
percent after hours and was last trading at $74.98. 
    For the quarter, the drugmaker 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 said it was still working on logistics for launching 
sales of newly-approved Yescarta, the $373,000 one-time 
treatment for non-Hodgkin lymphoma developed by Kite.  
    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 near 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 increased 
from rivals like AbbVie Inc  ABBV.N . 
    "New compeition has further eroded Gilead's market share and 
net pricing," Gilead Chief Executive Officer John Milligan said 
on a conference call with investors. "The impact ... will be 
more fully reflected beginning in the fourth quarter." 
    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. 
    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. 
    Net income fell to $2.7 billion from $3.3 billion in the 
year-ago quarter. 
 
 (Reporting by Deena Beasley; Editing by Sandra Maler and David 
Gregorio) 
 ((deena.beasley@thomsonreuters.com; 213 955 6746; Reuters 
Messaging: deena.beasley.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net)) 
 
Keywords: GILEAD SCIENCES RESULTS/