, Columnist
Gilead's Rapid Rise Rapidly Reverses
And management has offered little in the way of a plan to stop it.
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Biotech giant Gilead's revenue has quadrupled and its market cap has tripled since 2011. It has the fastest-growing drug in history, with patent protection well into the next decade. And yet its shares hit their lowest point since May 2014 on Tuesday and are down nearly 23 percent this year. What gives?
Gilead soared to prominence almost overnight with its 2011 purchase of Pharmasset, which netted blockbuster hepatitis C (HCV) drugs Sovaldi and Harvoni. But sales of those drugs are declining earlier and more rapidly than expected, and Gilead's meteoric rise faces a reversal that could be just as sudden.