Olga Yastremska/iStock via Getty Images So, since my February article , " Time to Take Profits on Gilead Sciences, " Gilead shares ( GILD ) have already fallen 13.7%, underperforming the S&P 500 [7.6% return] ( SPY ). Source: Seeking Alpha In it, in addition to its Q4 earnings , I discussed why, in my view, the $7.8 billion acquisition of Arcellx was overpriced. As a reminder, because of the rapid...
Olga Yastremska/iStock via Getty Images So, since my February article , " Time to Take Profits on Gilead Sciences, " Gilead shares ( GILD ) have already fallen 13.7%, underperforming the S&P 500 [7.6% return] ( SPY ). Source: Seeking Alpha In it, in addition to its Q4 earnings , I discussed why, in my view, the $7.8 billion acquisition of Arcellx was overpriced. As a reminder, because of the rapidly increasing adoption of its competitor, J&J/Legend's Carvykti ( JNJ ) ( LEGN ), as 2L therapy, and the launch of Tecvayli plus Darzalex Faspro in March. Source: table was made by Author But still. What interesting things have happened in the last 3 months? On April 29 , Gilead announced that the FDA had accepted its NDA submission for BIC/LEN, a combination of 75 m bictegravir with 50 mg lenacapavir. By the way, this "duo" demonstrated in the ARTISTRY-1 [ NCT05502341 ] and ARTISTRY-2 [ NCT06333808 ] studies showed non-inferior efficacy to complex regimens and Biktarvy, respectively. In the ARTISTRY-2 trial, at week 48, only 1.3% of patients receiving lenacapavir/bictegravir had an HIV-1 RNA viral load of 50 copies/mL or higher, compared to 1% of those in the Biktarvy-arm. Well, am I still covering Gilead with a Sell rating? For now, I'll start by discussing sales of Yeztugo [ lenacapavir ], the "gem" of its HIV franchise. And looking forward, they turned out to be higher than I had priced into my "ALLKA 4D Rating" model. Yeztugo is becoming a key growth driver for Gilead's HIV franchise So, as you know, Gilead is the leader in the HIV therapeutics market. And in the second place, I put GSK. Overall, it has a rich portfolio of medications, including Biktarvy, Descovy, and Yeztugo. Thanks to this "trio," revenue of GILD's HIV unit rose 9.7% year-over-year to $5.03 billion . Source: table was made by Author based on the financial reports of Gilead Sciences By the way, Biktarvy is still Standard of Care, or "SoC," in treating adults with pre-existing HIV drug resistance and c...