Gilead Sciences’ Liver Disease Drugs Portfolio

As we saw earlier, Gilead Sciences’ (GILD) portfolio includes drugs for key therapeutic areas, including HIV/AIDS (human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immune deficiency syndrome), liver diseases, oncology, cardiovascular, inflammation and respiratory, and others.

More than 50.0% of the company’s revenues are from antiviral products in its liver disease franchise.

Gilead’s liver disease drugs portfolio includes Sovaldi, Viread, Harvoni, Hepsera, and Epclusa.

Harvoni is Gilead’s biggest-selling drug. It’s used with or without ribavirin for the treatment of chronic Hepatitis C virus (or HCV) of genotype-1, genotype-4, genotype-5, and genotype-6. Harvoni reported a fall in revenues at $1.9 billion for 3Q16 compared to $3.3 billion for 3Q15.

Sovaldi is a drug used in combination with other antivirals for the treatment of chronic HCV of genotype-1 to genotype-4. Sovaldi reported revenues of $825.0 million in 3Q16 compared to $1.5 billion in 3Q15.

Viread is used in combination with other antiretrovirals for the treatment of patients with HIV-1. It’s also used for the treatment of patients with the Hepatitis B virus. However, Viread should not be used in combination with other drugs such as Atripla, Complera, Stribild, and Truvada. Viread reported revenues of $303.0 million for 3Q16 compared to $297.0 million for 3Q15.

Some other approved treatments for HCV include Zepatier from Merck (MRK), Daklinza from Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMY), Technivie and Viekira Pak from AbbVie (ABBV), and Olysio for Johnson & Johnson (JNJ).

To avoid the risk, you can consider ETFs such as the iShares US Healthcare (IYH), which holds ~3.5% of its total assets in Gilead Sciences.