Gilead’s hepatitis C freefall just keeps going. What’s the company to do?

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“Not surprising…[is] Gilead’s move to stop working to improve on its suite of current hep C remedies, which already offer impressively high cure rates”

Another quarter, another slump for Gilead’s hepatitis C franchise. The one-time powerhouses Sovaldi and Harvoni have fallen victim to competition and payer discounting, with sales plummeting 31% for the quarter.

Gilead’s hep C top line got some help from inventory stocking and one-time revenue in other quarters. Its HIV meds beat analyst estimates by 10%-plus, and overall sales weren’t quite as bad as forecast. But not surprisingly, market-watchers zeroed in on Gilead’s hep C shortfalls–and the company’s lack of a quick solution, including some sort of big M&A move.

Indeed, the hep C sales pain was more intense than market-watchers had expected. HCV revenue came in below some analyst estimates by a double-digit margin, and lower than consensus by 3%. And that’s despite new sales from the recent rollout Epclusa, a regimen that spans all hep C genotypes.

Read more…http://www.fiercepharma.com/pharma/gilead-s-hepatatis-c-freefall-just-keeps-going-what-s-company-to-do