Gilead Sciences

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Gilead Sciences
image:GileadSciencesLogo.gif
Type Public NASDAQ: GILD
Founded Foster City, California (1987)
Headquarters Foster City, California
Key people John Martin, President and Chief Executive Officer
Industry Healthcare, Biotechnology, Pharmaceutical company
Products Truvada, Viread, Emtriva, AmBisome, Hepsera, Tamiflu, Vistide
Revenue 2.028 billion USD (2005)
Operating income 1.111 billion USD (2005)
Net income 813.9 million USD (2005)
Employees 2,515 (Jan. 31, 2007) [1]
Website www.gilead.com

Gilead Sciences NASDAQ: GILD is a biopharmaceutical company that discovers, develops and commercializes therapeutics to advance the care of patients suffering from life-threatening diseases, principally HIV, hepatitis B and influenza. The company has seven commercially available products and focuses its research and clinical programs on anti-infectives. Headquartered in Foster City, California, Gilead has operations in North America, Europe and Australia. As of Jan. 31, 2007, the company had 2,515 full-time employees.[2]

The company's name and logo refer to the Balm of Gilead. Gilead (a place mentioned in the Bible) was famed for its small trees that produced a resin used in medicine. The leaf in the logo symbolizes healing, life and growth, while the shield represents safety, strength and honor. Together they signify Gilead's efforts to use the healing power of science to create medicines that treat life-threatening diseases.

Gilead is a member of the NASDAQ Biotechnology Index and the S&P 500.

Contents

[edit] History

Gilead Sciences was formed in June 1987 by Michael Riordan, a medical doctor who was 29 years old at the time. Its development of small molecule antiviral therapeutics begins with the licensing in 1991 of nucleotide compounds discovered in two European academic labs.

In 1990, Gilead entered into a collaborative research agreement with Glaxo for the research and development of genetic code blockers, also known as antisense. This collaboration was terminated in 1998, and Gilead's antisense intellectual property portfolio was sold to Isis Pharmaceuticals.

Gilead debuted on the NASDAQ in January 1992. Its IPO raised $86.25 million in proceeds.

In June 1996, Gilead launched its first commercial product, Vistide (cidofovir injection) for the treatment of cytomegalovirus (CMV) retinitis in patients with AIDS. The company cooperated with Pharmacia & Upjohn to market the product outside the U.S.A.

In March 1999 Gilead acquired NeXstar Pharmaceuticals of Boulder, Colorado following two years of negotiations with the company. At the time, NeXstar's annual sales of $130 million was three times Gilead's sales. NeXstar's two revenue-generating drugs were AmBisome, an injectable fungal treatment, and DaunoXome, an anti-cancer agent taken by HIV patients. Also in 1999, Roche announced first approval of Tamiflu (oseltamivir) for the treatment of influenza. Tamiflu was originally discovered by Gilead and licensed to Roche for late-phase development and marketing.

Viread (tenofovir) achieved first approval in 2001 for the treatment of HIV.

In January 2003 Gilead completed its acquisition of Triangle Pharmaceuticals. The company also announced its first full year of profitability. Later that year Hepsera (adefovir) was approved for the treatment of chronic hepatitis B, and Emtriva (emtricitabine) for the treatment of HIV.

In 2004 Gilead launched Truvada, a fixed-dose combination of tenofovir and emtricitabine.

In January 1997, Donald Rumsfeld, a Board member since 1988, was appointed Chairman of the company [3]. He stood down from the Board in January 2001 when appointed Secretary of Defense at the start of George W. Bush's first term as President. Federal disclosure forms indicate that Rumsfeld owns between USD$5 million and USD$25 million in Gilead stock (Schwartz 2005 [4]). The rise in Gilead's share prices from USD$35 to USD$57 per share will have added between USD$2.5 million to USD$15.5 million to Rumsfeld's net worth.

In November 2005, George W. Bush urged Congress to pass $7.1 billion in emergency funding to prepare for the possible bird flu pandemic, of which one billion is solely dedicated to the purchase, and distribution of Tamiflu.

In July 2006, the FDA approved Atripla (TM), a once a day single tablet regimen for HIV, combining Sustiva (efavirenz), a Bristol-Myers Squibb product, and Truvada (emtricitabine and tenofovir disoproxil fumarate), a Gilead product.

Gilead purchased three companies in 2006: Myogen, Inc., Raylo Chemicals, Inc. and Corus Pharma, Inc. The Myogen acquisition was completed in November 2006 for a price of $2.44 billion. Myogen was a publicly-held biopharmaceutical company based in Westminster, Colorado. At the time, Myogen was in Phase III trials with ambrisentan, an orally available endothelin receptor antagonist, for the potential treatment of pulmonary arterial hypertension. Myogen was also conducting Phase III trials of darusentan, also an endothelin receptor antagonist, for the potential treatment of resistant hypertension. Additionally, under an agreement with GlaxoSmithKline, Myogen was marketing and distributing Flolan(R) (epoprstenol sodium) in the United States.

The Raylo Chemical acquisition was also completed in November 2006 for a price of $133.3 million. Raylo Chemical, based in Edmonton, Alberta, was a wholly-owned subsidiary of Degussa AG, a German company. Raylo Chemical was a custom manufacturer of active pharmaceutical ingredients and advanced intermediates for the pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical industries.

The Corus acquisition was completed in August 2006 for a price of $415.5 million. Corus was a privately-held development-stage biopharmaceutical company based in Seattle, Washington. At the time, Corus had one clinical product in late-stage clinical development: aztreonam lysine for inhalation for the treatment of patients with cystic fibrosis who have pulmonary infection with Pseudomonas aeroginosa.

On December 18, 2006, Gilead submitted a New Drug Application to the U.S. FDA for marketing approval of 5 mg and 10 mg doses of ambrisentan--one of Myogen's drugs prior to its acquisition by Gilead--for the once-daily treatment of pulmonary arterial hypertension. On February 16, 2007, Gilead announced that the FDA had granted Priority Review for that NDA, meaning that it would review this application faster than normal.[5]. The FDA has set a target date of June 18, 2007 for completion of the review.

[edit] Financial highlights

Fiscal year 2005 (ended Dec. 31, 2005)[6][7]

                        GAAP                            NON-GAAP
Total Revenues          $2.028 billion                  $2.028 billion
Net Product Sales       $1.809 billion                  $1.809 billion
Total Expenses          $917.3 million                  $917.3 million
Net Income              $813.9 million                  $788.8 million
EPS                     $1.72 per diluted share         $1.66 per diluted share
Cash and Equivalents    $707.0 million                  

Stock Split (2-for-1)   September 2004 (most recent)

[edit] Senior Management

Gilead's Executive Committee is responsible for making the critical decisions that determine the company's future. Its members include:

  • John Martin, President and Chief Executive Officer
  • John Milligan, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer
  • Norbert Bischofberger, Executive Vice President, Research and Development
  • Kevin Young, Executive Vice President, Commercial Operations
  • Gregg Alton, Vice President and General Counsel
  • Tony Caracciolo, Senior Vice President, Manufacturing
  • William Lee, Senior Vice President, Research
  • John Toole, Senior Vice President, Clinical Research
  • Taiyin Yang, Senior Vice President, Pharmaceutical Development and Manufacturing

[edit] Product portfolio

As of February 2007, Gilead had seven products on the market, all tackling potentially life-threatening infectious diseases.

[edit] External links

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