- Leerink's Geoffrey Porges downgrades Gilead (NASDAQ:GILD) to Market Perform from Buy. Lowers price target to $94 from $112.
- Says GILD's hepatitis C franchise revenue forecasts have “turned outright bearish.” Notes that the U.S. hepatitis C market is “in steady secular decline,” and that global trends are similar.
- Notes that AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) will soon have a 2-drug single pill combination drug, with Merck and J&J combos to follow.
- Says management has been slow to address HCV erosion. "Cynics will suggest that this scenario was always in the offing, and to an extent that is true, but we believed Gilead had more visibility to the availability of patients to sustain its market, share and price than we did. This does not appear to be the case; in fact Gilead has been surprised by the slowing in patient volume around the world."
- Shares -1.5% premarket.