Merck & Co Inc, which has largely kept to the sidelines of the race for COVID-19 treatments, said it was buying Austrian vaccine maker Themis Bioscience and would collaborate with research nonprofit IAVI to develop two separate vaccines. It also announced a partnership with privately-held Ridgeback Biotherapeutics to develop an experimental oral antiviral drug against COVID-19, the respiratory disease caused by the novel coronavirus. It did not disclose the terms of acquisition of Themis, a privately held company.
The coronavirus pandemic accelerated a wellness renaissance among consumers as shelter in place orders took effect, based on some of the sales trends seen by companies including Ro.
Gilead Sciences Inc.’s (GILD) remdesivir, its coronavirus drug candidate, is most “beneficial” for Covid-19 patients who require supplemental oxygen but don’t need mechanical ventilation, according to a study by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID)."Ultimately, the findings support remdesivir as the standard therapy for patients hospitalized with Covid-19 and requiring supplemental oxygen therapy," the report said, citing preliminary results from the randomized, controlled trial, published in The New England Journal of Medicine.Over a 10-day course, patients received the antiviral remdesivir intravenously and a placebo. The report showed that patients who received remdesivir had a shorter time to recovery than those who received placebo. The median time to recovery was 11 days for patients treated with remdesivir compared with 15 days for those who received placebo.“These findings support the use of remdesivir in this population, with the largest benefit observed among individuals who required oxygen supplementation but were not mechanically ventilated,” said Merdad Parsey, Chief Medical Officer, at Gilead Sciences.Parsey added that Gilead expects results from its Phase 3 SIMPLE-Severe study, which is evaluating experimental remdesivir in a similar population of Covid-19 patients, to be published in the “near future”.At the end of this month, Gilead expects to receive results from its Phase 3 SIMPLE-Moderate study, which is evaluating remdesivir in hospitalized patients with Covid-19 and lung involvement not requiring oxygen supplementation.“Beyond the ongoing studies of remdesivir, we look forward to the initiation of combination studies of remdesivir to understand whether the addition of other drugs may enhance patient outcomes,” Parsey said.Shares in Gilead dropped 13% so far this month after gaining 29% in the January to April period.Following talks with Gilead’s management on May 18, five-star analyst Hartaj Singh at Oppenheimer said he remained bullish on the stock by maintaining a Buy rating with a $90 price target (23% upside to current level).“A potential inhaled (nebulized) version of remdesivir (data 2H20) could increase remdesivir availability by a factor of 3x to 4x (vs. current),” Singh wrote in a note to investors.According to the analyst, management was also preparing a business case for remdesivir potentially updating investors over the next few weeks.“While we believe the GILD P&L is building sales/earnings momentum, the budding pipeline story is starting to catch our eye,” Singh wrote. “We believe GILD remains steadfast in bringing life-altering medicines to market. With a 4% dividend yield, $2.5 to $3B in FCF/quarter, and non-GAAP operating margins of >50%, we see a company positioned for success, in spite of the current investor pessimism.”TipRanks data shows that the majority of 15 analysts have a Hold rating on the stock, while the rest are divided between 8 Buys and 5 Sells, adding up to a Hold consensus. The $79.09 average price target is less optimistic than Singh’s as it indicates a mere 7.8% upside potential in the shares in the coming 12 months. (See Gilead stock analysis on TipRanks)Related News: Gilead and Galapagos Score Positive Topline Results For Ulcerative Colitis Trial Moderna Spikes 21% Amid “Positive” Early-Stage Covid-19 Vaccine Data AstraZeneca-Merck Lynparza Prostate Cancer Treatment Gets FDA Approval More recent articles from Smarter Analyst: * Novavax Seeks To Make 1 Billion Covid-19 Vaccine Doses; Top Analyst Ramps Up PT To $61 * Hertz Sinks 11% After-Hours As Carl Icahn Sells Stake At $1.8B Loss * PhaseBio Explodes 82% After-Hours On FDA Nod For Covid-19 Clinical Trial * Data Center Set to Send Nvidia Stock Soaring Even Higher
Gilead Sciences Inc, which has suggested that a shorter treatment duration could extend limited supplies of its drug remdesivir, on Wednesday published results of a study showing no significant difference in outcomes between 5- and 10-day courses of the drug for patients with severe COVID-19. Gilead announced "top-line" findings from the trial on April 29. Gilead's trial involved 397 patients hospitalized with severe COVID-19, most of whom were not on ventilators.
Gilead Sciences Inc.'s antiviral drug remdesivir improved COVID-19 patients' recovery time in peer-reviewed data from a study by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, the NIAID announced Friday afternoon. In a follow-up to positive preliminary data released last month, NIAID revealed Friday that peer-reviewed data showed that patients recovered enough to be released from the hospital in 11 days against 14 for those who received a placebo. It also noted that the 14-day mortality rate for those on the drug declined to 7.1% from 11.9% for the placebo group, though NIAID is still investigating combinations that could produce a more statistically significant change -- a clinical trial that began May 8 is studying remdesivir in combination with anti-inflammatory drug baricitinib to study those results. The Food and Drug Administration has granted Gilead emergency-use authorization for the drug to use on severely ill COVID-19 patients, and Gilead has signed deals for manufacturing. Gilead stock was 0.4% lower in after-hours trading Friday following the announcement; shares have gained 12.9% so far this year, as the S&P 500 index has declined 8.5%.
The financial regulations require hedge funds and wealthy investors that exceeded the $100 million equity holdings threshold to file a report that shows their positions at the end of every quarter. Even though it isn't the intention, these filings to a certain extent level the playing field for ordinary investors. The latest round of 13F […]
Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ: GILD) and Arcus Biosciences, Inc. (NYSE: RCUS), an oncology-focused biopharmaceutical company working to create best-in-class cancer therapeutics, announced today that the companies have entered into a 10-year partnership to co-develop and co-commercialize current and future therapeutic product candidates in Arcus’s pipeline. The agreement will also provide ongoing funding to support Arcus’s research and development programs.
Yahoo Finance’s Brian Sozzi, Alexis Christoforous, and Anjalee Khemlani discuss the latest coronavirus news and the race for a vaccine.
With the S&P 500 down "just" 12.25% from its high, many stocks have seen a big bounce despite the novel coronavirus. However, that's a function of price action, not a view on the fundamentals. Not many are doing well due to the outbreak of Covid-19 -- although, Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) is. As bad as it seems to say, GILD stock may be one of the few that could benefit from Covid-19.Source: Casimiro PT / Shutterstock.com Others include Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX), Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN), Target (NYSE:TGT) and Zoom Video (NASDAQ:ZM), among others.Gilead is working on a treatment for the virus, with its remdesivir showing great promise. The company has been quickly gaining various levels of approval around the world, mostly for use in severe or in compassionate use cases. What we've heard from the Food and Drug Administartion is:InvestorPlace - Stock Market News, Stock Advice & Trading Tips"It is reasonable to believe that the known and potential benefits of … [remdesivir] outweigh the known and potential risks of the drug for the treatment of patients hospitalized with severe COVID-19." It Doesn't All Hinge on RemdesivirThe coronavirus outbreak has been devastating thus far. Millions have been infected and more than 100,000 have died. That's despite the world going into a prolonged and intense lockdown over the past few months. * 7 Dow Jones Stocks to Buy With Fortress-Like Balance Sheets Global supply chains, almost every business, and economies from global to local have been disrupted. We need a cure or a treatment for a lot of reasons, with the above points representing a majority of them. There's too many deaths and too much disruption not to find a solution. Click to EnlargeRight now, GILD stock looks like the horse leading the race. But other companies are in there too. Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) is the latest entry, with its data showing promise for patients developing antibodies for the virus. Regeneron (NASDAQ:REGN) has showed promise too, as has Inovio (NASDAQ:INO).Obviously there are more than four companies working on a solution. I want to believe that eventually, someone will crack the code and figure it out. Beliefs aside though, cures are difficult to pin down and it's possible it will take a while before doing so. While Gilead has been the focus for many investors, it doesn't all hinge on remdesivir -- there are other possibilities out there.I like GILD stock as the company to figure it out. But even if that's not the case, there are plenty of reasons to be a long-term bull on Gilead. Bottom Line on GILD Stock Click to EnlargeUnlike some of the unknown biotechs screaming higher, Gilead is a well-positioned firm with many attributes.With trailing revenue of $22.7 billion and net income of almost $5 billion, this is not your fly-by-night biotech stock. Although the company has struggled for growth in recent years, it hasn't struggled to turn a profit.Gilead has generated profit between $4.6 billion and $5.4 billion over the last three years. That's despite the previous three years of revenue going as follows: $26.1 billion in 2017, $22.1 billion in 2018 and $22.4 billion in 2019.Perfect? Not even close, but we're not looking at a company with a withering balance sheet and a cash-flow problem. Over the trailing twelve months, GILD stock generated free cash flow of $8.24 billion, a rather robust figure. That's up from $7.5 billion in 2018.On the balance sheet, Gilead boasts current assets of $30.3 billion vs. current liabilities of $9.7 billion. Of course I would love to see more growth here. Maybe Gilead turns to M&A to get that growth -- perhaps GILD stock gets acquired. But at least we're not overpaying for it. Shares trade at just 11.5 times this year's expected earnings.I'm bullish on Gilead over the long term.Matthew McCall left Wall Street to actually help investors -- by getting them into the world's biggest, most revolutionary trends BEFORE anyone else. The power of being "first" gave Matt's readers the chance to bank +2,438% in Stamps.com (STMP), +1,523% in Ulta Beauty (ULTA) and +1,044% in Tesla (TSLA), just to name a few. Click here to see what Matt has up his sleeve now. Matt does not directly own the aforementioned securities. More From InvestorPlace * Top Stock Picker Reveals His Next 1,000% Winner * America's Richest ZIP Code Holds Shocking Secret * 1 Under-the-Radar 5G Stock to Buy Now * The 1 Stock All Retirees Must Own The post Gilead Stock Is Worth Owning With or Without a Coronavirus Cure appeared first on InvestorPlace.
One day after SunTrust Robinson Humphrey analyst Robyn Karnauskas upgraded the stock to Hold, RBC Capital Markets analyst Brian Abrahams is out with a note calling Gilead “particularly inexpensive.”
Sales of the antiviral drug could reach $3.2 billion in 2021, according to SunTrust Robinson Humphrey analyst Robyn Karnauskas.
Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) created Remdesivir to treat the Ebola virus. This is a coronavirus similar to, though not precisely like, the COVID-19 strain behind the global pandemic.Source: Eyesonmilan / Shutterstock.com Now, having teased the drug's results through fast trials that would usually be classed as preliminary, Gilead says it's ready to profit.Once donated supplies of 1.5 million doses are exhausted, probably in June, the company will start charging. Based on "Quality Adjusted Life Years," the idea that drugs should be priced based on the value of a life, a price of $4,340 per treatment has been suggested.InvestorPlace - Stock Market News, Stock Advice & Trading TipsGilead sees a "multi-year commercial opportunity" in remdesivir, but the price of GILD stock has fallen over the past month. It opened May 22 at about $73/share, indicating a market cap of $92 billion on pre-Remdesivir revenues of $22.7 billion. The Remdesivir TrialGilead was a profit machine long before COVID-19. * 7 Excellent Penny Stocks Ready to Roar The company was founded in 1988 to produce antiviral treatments. Heavy-hitters like Gordon Moore of Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) and Donald Rumsfeld, later Secretary of Defense, were recruited to its board.Gilead is best known for sofosbuvir, later sold as Sovaldi, a treatment for Hepatitis-C acquired for $10.4 billion. The drug costs $84,000 per treatment in the U.S. but a tiny fraction of that in international markets. In Sovaldi's heyday, in the mid-2010s, Gilead brought over half its revenue to the net income line.Since then, Gilead has been investing heavily to come up with another Sovaldi. Analysts think Remdesivir is it.A clinical trial of 1,063 patients with severe COVID-19 symptoms found patients taking Remdesivir were discharged four days faster. Only 8% of Remdesivir patients died, against 11.6% of a placebo group.Critics attacked the government for ending the trial early and giving placebo patients the drug. Remdesivir is not a cure for COVID-19, just a treatment. But media reports, and the company's own plans, indicate it's being treated as one. The Gilead Profit MachineEven without Remdesivir, Gilead is doing very well for investors.Gilead reported net income of nearly $5 billion last year. Its price-to-earnings ratio of about 19 is below that of the average S&P stock. A 68 cent per share dividend is good for a healthy yieldof 3.68%. Five years ago, the dividend was 43 cents.Gilead also has $21 billion in cash and short-term securities, though most of that value is outside the U.S. and unavailable for acquisitions.Gilead stock has averaged just 6% in gains per year, as the company has used its Hep-C cash primarily to buy other companies in the search for another blockbuster. Remdesivir was created as an "orphan drug" for an African virus that died out. Its potential for treating the novel coronavirus is a happy accident. Gilead's ReputationGilead's reputation may be why investors aren't rushing in to buy it.Gilead used the so-called "double Irish" loophole to avoid taxes on international profits. Critics have said the company delayed research on an antiviral treating HIV to extend profits on an older drug. Its pricing on Sovaldi has been attacked as excessive. It has also Voluntary Licensing Agreements with Asian generic companies to keep them out of lucrative markets. Indian activists want its Remdesivir patent protection rescinded, and generic versions of remdesivir are already being created.Even drug researchers don't all trust Gilead. Researchers in Texas recently suggested that another Gilead drug, GS-441524, might work better than remdesivir. But that drug was patented in 2009, they write, remdesivir in 2017. The Bottom LineShould Democrats gain power in November, they're going to go after Gilead. Gilead is already ramping up its lobbying to fight back. That's not to say the risks in Gilead stock are entirely political. Remdesivir isn't a cure, but Gilead is investing as though it is. Should better COVID-19 drugs come along, and hundreds are in trials, Remdesivir may not be the blockbuster investors are looking for.Dana Blankenhorn has been a financial and technology journalist since 1978. He is the author of the environmental thriller Bridget O'Flynn and the Bear, available at the Amazon Kindle store. Write him at danablankenhorn@gmail.com or follow him on Twitter at @danablankenhorn. As of this writing he owned no shares in companies mentioned in this story. More From InvestorPlace * Top Stock Picker Reveals His Next 1,000% Winner * America's Richest ZIP Code Holds Shocking Secret * 1 Under-the-Radar 5G Stock to Buy Now * The 1 Stock All Retirees Must Own The post Remdesivir Can't Cure Covid, But Good Luck Telling Gilead Stock appeared first on InvestorPlace.
Shares of Gilead Sciences Inc. were down 0.4% in premarket trading on Wednesday after the drugmaker said it inked a 10-year deal to develop and commercialize Arcus Biosciences Inc.'s investigational immuno-oncology therapies. Arcus's stock was down 7.5% before the market opened. Gilead will make a $175 million upfront payment and take a $200 million equity stake, and an additional $1.6 billion will be available for milestone payments and R&D funding. Last month people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg News that Gilead was considering a stake in Arcus. The deal is expected to close in the third quarter. Since the start of the year, Gilead's stock has gained 12.6%, after a series of rallies spurred by the market response to its COVID-19 treatment remdesivir getting emergency authorization from the Food and Drug Administration. Year-to-date, shares of Arcus have soared 232.1%, and the S&P 500 is down 7.4%.
CanSino Biologics, a Chinese vaccine company, announced on Friday that it saw strong, positive results from its phase one trials of a coronavirus vaccine, which it tested on 108 volunteers. Yahoo Finance’s Anjalee Khemlani joins The Final Round to break down the latest news about the coronavirus.
Merck unveiled a barrage of Covid-19 programs Tuesday morning: Two experimental vaccines and one experimental treatment.
Diodes Incorporated (Nasdaq: DIOD) today announced the introduction of the PI3WVR626, a MIPI® D-PHY/C-PHY 2:1 switch that enables a single host device to interface with two MIPI compliant modules, helping engineers optimize the design of multi-camera cell phones and other personal computing devices.
Novavax announced it would begin human trials for its coronavirus vaccine, while COVID-19 engulfs Brazil.
RBC Capital analyst Brian Abrahams is a fan of Gilead Sciences (GILD) -- in particular, its Biktarvy 3-in-1 drug cocktail for treating HIV-1.It is "Biktarvy's strong profile and robust launch, along with favorable demographic and pricing dynamics," that Abrahams says "will underpin good HIV franchise sustainability through at least 2025" for Gilead Sciences. Combined with the company's better known continued hepatitis-C drug franchise, which is experiencing declining revenue but market share and pricing stability, and should therefore be able to generate "~$17B in cash flows over the next decade," says the analyst, Gilead Sciences is likely to outperform the market.At the same time, Abrahams places very little value on the Gilead Sciences drug -- remdesivir -- that most investors are focusing on today as a potential cure to the SARS-CoV-19 coronavirus that causes COVID-19.But that doesn't mean Abrahams has nothing to say about remdesivir.In fact, Abrahams devotes the bulk of his report on Gilead Sciences to the prospects for remdesivir (mercifully abbreviated "RDV" in the report) and ability to be used to treat COVID-19. Because, you see, while RDV may not hold much profit potential for Gilead in the near term (seeing as it's giving away the bulk of the medicine it has produced so far, in service of alleviating the pandemic), RDV's ability to save lives (and reassure consumers, and investors) has the potential to mitigate the COVID-19-caused recession we're currently mired in, and thereby help to save the economy -- and the stock market as well.So what does Abrahams have to say about RDV? Several points are worth noting:COVID-19 new infectionsBased on the latest data, Abrahams estimates that new U.S. cases of coronavirus are growing at the rate of 24,000 a day in May, but that this rate of infection will decline 15% in June to about 20,000 cases per day, and continue falling throughout the summer -- but then resume growing again as a second wave of COVID-19 strikes in the fall.RDV vs COVID-19That's the bad news -- coronavirus isn't going away soon, and it may not go away not-soon, either. The good news is that clinical data shows that RDV is effective in treating COVID-19, and popular among patients. In the analyst's estimation, in the near term at least, literally "every" COVID-19 patient and doctor treating a COVID-19 patient "will attempt to access RDV if qualified" to do so.RDV versus production constraintsSo demand for the drug is secure, but what about supply? Here's the other big problem. Demand for RDV is robust, but assuming coronavirus infections slow at the 15% rate noted above, and then grow at the 10% rate also noted above, Abrahams calculates that even if only the 15% of COVID-19 patients both eligible to take the drug, and deemed likely to benefit from it, are prescribed RDV, the U.S. market will demand as many as 3,000 doses per day for the foreseeable future. At this level of demand, the analyst forecasts that U.S. demand will exceed supply by about 80,000 "courses" through August, and Gilead's ability to produce enough RDV won't catch up to demand for the drug before September.In a worst case scenario, moreover, in which Gilead is unable to produce the drug at the levels it is targeting, and/or the company distributes 50% of its supply to patients outside the U.S., then potentially only half the patients who need it in the U.S., won't be able to get it before October.Or more poetically, RDV may well be a silver bullet to kill coronavirus. But unless we get more ammo, sooner, we're not going to win the battle before August -- and maybe not even then.To this end, Abrahams reiterates an Outperform rating (i.e. Buy) on Gilead shares, along with an $88 price target, which implies nearly 17.5% upside from current levels. (To watch Abrahams' track record, click here)Yet, most of Wall Street is surveying the biotech giant from the sidelines, with TipRanks analytics demonstrating GILD as a Hold. Based on 28 analysts tracked in the last 3 months, 8 rate Gilead stock a Buy, 16 say Hold, while 4 recommend Sell. The 12-month average price target stands at $79.23, marking a modest upside of 6%. (See Gilead stock analysis on TipRanks)To find good ideas for healthcare stocks trading at attractive valuations, visit TipRanks’ Best Stocks to Buy, a newly launched tool that unites all of TipRanks’ equity insights.
By Noreen Burke
The data show what investors already knew: Remdesivir is not a Covid-19 miracle cure for all, but it could shorten the time of recovery in some infected patients.