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Gilead (GILD), Merck Collaborate for Long-Acting HIV Treatments
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Gilead Sciences, Inc. (GILD - Free Report) announced that it has entered into an agreement with Merck (MRK - Free Report) to co-develop and co-commercialize long-acting treatments in HIV.
Gilead has a strong HIV franchise and the companies have collaborated to evaluate Gilead’s investigational capsid inhibitor, lenacapavir, with Merck’s investigational nucleoside reverse transcriptase translocation inhibitor, islatravir, into a two-drug regimen for HIV patients.
Both candidates are currently in late-stage development and have demonstrated activity at low dosages in clinical studies.
The collaboration will initially focus on long-acting oral formulations and long-acting injectable formulations of these combination products.
Gilead and Merck will share the global development and commercialization costs in the ratio of 60:40.
Gilead will lead the commercialization of long-acting oral products in the United States while Merck will lead the commercialization in the EU and the rest of the world. Meanwhile, Merck will lead the commercialization of long-acting injectable products in the United States and Gilead will lead the commercialization in the EU and the rest of the world.
The companies will share global product revenues equally until product revenues surpass certain pre-agreed per formulation revenue tiers. Once the threshold of annual net product sales of $2 billion is reached for the oral combination, the revenue split will adjust to 65% for Gilead and 35% for Merck for any revenues above the threshold. Upon surpassing the $3.5-billion mark every year in net product sales for the injectable combination, the revenue split will adjust to 65% Gilead and 35% Merck for any revenues above the threshold. Gilead will also have the option to license certain of Merck’s investigational oral integrase inhibitors to develop in combination with lenacapavir, apart from the combination of lenacapavir and islatravir.
In exchange, Merck will have the option to license certain of Gilead’s investigational oral integrase inhibitors to develop in combination with islatravir. We note that the safety, efficacy and dosing of lenacapavir are being evaluated in multiple ongoing clinical studies.
Gilead’s stock has gained 9.1% in the year so far compared with the industry's growth of 3.3%.
The massive decline in sales of the HCV franchise has prompted it to focus on the HIV franchise, Yescarta and other newer avenues.
While the HIV franchise has maintained momentum in recent times, competition is stiff from the likes of Glaxo (GSK - Free Report) . Hence, the development of new improved regimens will boost the franchise.
Current-year earnings estimates for Moderna have moved up to $21.51 from $12.72 in the past 30 days.
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Gilead (GILD), Merck Collaborate for Long-Acting HIV Treatments
Gilead Sciences, Inc. (GILD - Free Report) announced that it has entered into an agreement with Merck (MRK - Free Report) to co-develop and co-commercialize long-acting treatments in HIV.
Gilead has a strong HIV franchise and the companies have collaborated to evaluate Gilead’s investigational capsid inhibitor, lenacapavir, with Merck’s investigational nucleoside reverse transcriptase translocation inhibitor, islatravir, into a two-drug regimen for HIV patients.
Both candidates are currently in late-stage development and have demonstrated activity at low dosages in clinical studies.
The collaboration will initially focus on long-acting oral formulations and long-acting injectable formulations of these combination products.
Gilead and Merck will share the global development and commercialization costs in the ratio of 60:40.
Gilead will lead the commercialization of long-acting oral products in the United States while Merck will lead the commercialization in the EU and the rest of the world. Meanwhile, Merck will lead the commercialization of long-acting injectable products in the United States and Gilead will lead the commercialization in the EU and the rest of the world.
The companies will share global product revenues equally until product revenues surpass certain pre-agreed per formulation revenue tiers. Once the threshold of annual net product sales of $2 billion is reached for the oral combination, the revenue split will adjust to 65% for Gilead and 35% for Merck for any revenues above the threshold. Upon surpassing the $3.5-billion mark every year in net product sales for the injectable combination, the revenue split will adjust to 65% Gilead and 35% Merck for any revenues above the threshold.
Gilead will also have the option to license certain of Merck’s investigational oral integrase inhibitors to develop in combination with lenacapavir, apart from the combination of lenacapavir and islatravir.
In exchange, Merck will have the option to license certain of Gilead’s investigational oral integrase inhibitors to develop in combination with islatravir.
We note that the safety, efficacy and dosing of lenacapavir are being evaluated in multiple ongoing clinical studies.
Gilead’s stock has gained 9.1% in the year so far compared with the industry's growth of 3.3%.
The massive decline in sales of the HCV franchise has prompted it to focus on the HIV franchise, Yescarta and other newer avenues.
While the HIV franchise has maintained momentum in recent times, competition is stiff from the likes of Glaxo (GSK - Free Report) . Hence, the development of new improved regimens will boost the franchise.
Gilead currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). A better-ranked stock in this space is Moderna (MRNA - Free Report) , which presently carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
Current-year earnings estimates for Moderna have moved up to $21.51 from $12.72 in the past 30 days.
Zacks Top 10 Stocks for 2021
In addition to the stocks discussed above, would you like to know about our 10 best buy-and-hold tickers for the entirety of 2021?
Last year's 2020 Zacks Top 10 Stocks portfolio returned gains as high as +386.8%. Now a brand-new portfolio has been handpicked from over 4,000 companies covered by the Zacks Rank. Don’t miss your chance to get in on these long-term buys.
Access Zacks Top 10 Stocks for 2021 today >>