Gilead Sciences, Inc. (GILD) Earnings Blaze a Star-Studded Future

However, Gilead’s efforts to reach beyond HIV have succeeded, as well – and there’s more in the pipeline to come. The company’s looking to boost its oncology portfolio, and its acquisition of YM Biosciences in December should help. Gilead’s cardiovascular franchises have also done quite well, with both Letairis and Ranexa seeing double-digit sales growth over the full year 2012 — the former with 40% revenue growth, a great success.

Gilead has really put the pressure on the hepatitis-C market as of late, however. The company purchased hep-C-focused firm Pharmasset last year for $11 billion, and the results may now be paying off. The company reported two successful phase 3 trials of its hep-C therapy sofosbuvir on Monday, and all signs point to an FDA approval for the drug. Should that occur, sofosbuvir would become the first all-oral hep-C therapy on the market. That would be a big win for Gilead in a market predicted by some analysts to rise to as much as $20 billion in coming years, but it’s not the only interested player. AbbVie Inc (NYSE:ABBV) has its own all-oral therapy in the works, and with a cure rate of 99% — exceeding Gilead’s statistics — AbbVie could be poised to beat out Gilead in the oral hepatitis-C arena.

So, what does Gilead’s 2013 look like? The company’s still facing some competition in the HIV arena. Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) has done well with HIV therapy Isentress, a drug that’s entered the big pharma’s upper echelon with $1.5 billion in sales during 2012 — an 11% year-over-year increase. Viiv Healthcare — the partnership between GlaxoSmithKline plc (NYSE:GSK) and Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) — has also been working on a challenger to Stribild, dolutegravir. While dolutegravir’s facing challenges of its own, Viiv has shown the drug to be effective in a phase 3 trial.

Regardless, I expect Gilead to continue to soar. The company’s done quite well with its HIV portfolio as sales continue to rocket up, and its efforts to expand outside into oncology and hepatitis C, among other markets, will help to pace sales growth while ensuring a broader and more stable portfolio for the company. The stars are aligned for Gilead now — and should the company continue to grow sales while capitalizing on its future in Stribild and sofosbuvir, investors can expect even more rewards from this soaring biotech.

The article Gilead Earnings Blaze a Star-Studded Future originally appeared on Fool.com and is written by Dan Carroll.

Fool contributor Dan Carroll has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends Gilead Sciences.

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