Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) share prices are dropping as a result of the FDA giving the approval to AbbVie (NYSE:ABBV) of its hepatitis C drug, Viekira Pak. Through drastic price cuts, Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) is facing a tough time trying to become market leader. Both companies have confirmed that the price reductions are so that they can attract more customers yet investors may not consider this a positive sign.
After Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ: GILD) launched Sovaldi, its drug for oral hepatitis C, it revolutionized the treatment. Before this, patients of hepatitis C had to be treatment with cures that had significant side effects like ribavirin and peg interferon that lasted nearly 48 weeks and had only 50%-80% cure rates.
However, Sovaldi’s treatment doesn’t eliminate ribavirin from the core, but it does put aside peg interferon and gives cure rates of 90%. This is why doctors embraced the drug with open arms and turned it into the quickest drug to achieve such successful levels of treatment. It made nearly $10.3 billion sales in the previous year. However, Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ: GILD) strengthened its drug back in October, when it won the approval by the FDA for its drug Harvoni.
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