Gilead Sales Excluding Veklury Jump 16% to $8.2 Billion in Third Quarter
Key Facts
Gilead Sciences reported a 13% year-over-year increase in product sales to $8.3 billion in the third quarter of 2026, while sales excluding Veklury rose 16% to $8.2 billion. The company said growth in sales excluding the drug was driven mainly by HIV products and the drugs Trodelvy and Livdelzi, partly offset by lower cell therapy sales. According to Reuters, the company posted adjusted earnings of $2.55 per share and revenue of $8.3 billion, topping analysts' average estimates of $2.19 per share and $7.8 billion in revenue. Chief Executive Daniel O'Day said the performance enabled the company to raise its core business revenue outlook again, bringing the total increase in guidance since the start of 2026 to $1.6 billion. The results reflected a mix of strong growth in key products and pressure from declining Veklury and cell therapy sales.
HIV products were the biggest driver, with sales rising 18% to $6.2 billion in the quarter, compared with 4% growth to $5.3 billion in the third quarter of 2025. Sales of Biktarvy, the leading product in the group, rose 10% to $4.1 billion, after increasing 6% to $3.7 billion a year earlier. Gilead attributed Biktarvy's growth to higher demand, a higher average realized price and favorable inventory dynamics. Sales in its liver disease portfolio also rose 13% to $927 million, while sales of Trodelvy, used to treat cancer, jumped 42% to $506 million. By contrast, cell therapy sales fell 18% to $355 million, partly limiting overall product growth.
Veklury, Gilead's COVID-19 treatment, remained a drag on the year-over-year comparison, with sales falling 69% to $86 million in the third quarter as virus-related hospitalizations declined. The drop highlights the impact of fading pandemic-related demand on the company's sales mix, even as HIV products and other treatments expand. The year-earlier comparison was weaker for product sales: in the third quarter of 2025, they fell 2% to $7.3 billion, despite a 3% increase in total revenue to $7.8 billion. Gilead then attributed part of the revenue increase to licensing revenue that did not recur in 2026. In the current quarter, product sales supported revenue above analyst estimates, while adjusted earnings per share added to the positive surprise.
Gilead raised its 2026 fiscal-year product sales outlook to $31.0–31.3 billion, from a previous range of $30.1–30.4 billion in its August 4, 2026 guidance. O'Day linked the revision to operating performance, saying the company had raised its core business revenue outlook again during the quarter. Non-GAAP diluted earnings per share were about $2.55, compared with $2.47 in the same period of 2025. The company attributed the increase mainly to product sales growth and lower acquired in-process research and development expenses. These indicators add to the picture of a quarter in which the company exceeded analyst expectations, with uneven growth across its HIV portfolio, other drugs and cell therapy.
Gilead shares, trading under the ticker GILD, closed at $165.61 on October 29, after rising 4% in regular trading, then gained a further 2.2% to $169.25 in after-hours trading, according to Reuters. The move followed results that topped analyst estimates and an increase in the 2026 sales outlook. On cash flow, the company generated $5.0 billion in operating cash flow during the quarter. It paid $1 billion in dividends and repurchased $370 million of shares during the same period. The figures show the scale of cash accompanying the quarterly results, alongside the portion allocated to shareholders.
Biktarvy sales, meanwhile, face an expected pricing impact in the United States beginning January 1, 2028, when the new maximum fair price starts affecting the drug's revenue. Based on an initial analysis, Gilead estimated a net impact of about $1.5 billion on Biktarvy revenue in 2028 compared with 2027. The estimate includes a lower price in the Medicare program and indirect effects in other U.S. channels, so it is not limited to a direct reduction in program sales. In its results announcement last year, the company said it did not expect to lose major exclusivity before 2036, and identified settlements in Biktarvy patent litigation as setting April 1, 2036, as the earliest date for marketing a full-dose generic version in the United States, subject to customary acceleration provisions. This places the pricing pressure announced for 2028 on a separate timeline from the generic competition date the company had previously identified.