Gilead Sciences

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Gilead Sciences, Inc.

logo
legal form Incorporated
ISIN US3755581036
founding 1987
Seat Foster City , California
management Daniel O'Day CEO
Number of employees 9,000 (2018)
sales $ 22.1 billion (2019)
Branch biotechnology
Website www.gilead.com

Gilead Sciences, Inc. is a United States pharmaceutical and biotechnology company based in Foster City , California . The company is listed in the S&P 500 . With global sales of around US $ 22 billion (2019), it is one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world. Gilead Sciences employs around 9,000 people (as of 2018). Gilead Sciences has locations in North America, Europe and Australia.

The company's name and logo refer to the biblical town of Gilead , specifically to Jeremiah 8:22, “Is there no cure in Gilead?” Because of the combination of words used for a pharmaceutical company.

Gilead Sciences researches and commercializes therapies for, for example, HIV , hepatitis B , hepatitis C and influenza .

history

In June 1987, the then 29-year-old physician Michael Riordan founded Oligogen, Inc. , which was renamed Gilead Sciences in 1988 .

In January 1997 Donald Rumsfeld became chairman of the board of directors, of which he had been a member since 1988. He resigned from this post when he became Secretary of Defense under George W. Bush . His equity stake has been valued at between $ five million and twenty-five million. It is likely to have risen when increased demand for Tamiflu (due to H5N1 avian flu ) drove Gilead shares higher in the fall of 2005 .

In March 2020, Gilead Sciences announced the acquisition of the US pharmaceutical company Forty Seven , whose most important product Magrolimab by the FDA accelerated approval procedures ( Fast Track designation was granted).

On June 7, 2020, it was announced that the pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca is considering a merger with Gilead Sciences and has started discussions.

Products

Gilead Sciences offers products for the following areas of application (as of April 2020):

Well-known drugs are, for example, Atripla , Tamiflu , Emtriva , Truvada , Viread and Sovaldi . One active ingredient with " special approvals " and in development is remdesivir for the treatment of COVID-19 , which was previously used successfully during the 2018-2020 Ebola epidemic .

Key figures

Business and employee development (respective fiscal year)
GJ Sales
in US $ million 		Balance sheet profit
in million US $ 		Employees
2005 2,028 814 1,900
2006 3,026 -1,190 2,515
2007 4,230 1,585 2,979
2008 5,336 1,979 3,441
2009 7,011 2,636 3,852
2010 7,949 2,901 4,000
2011 8,385 2,804 4,500
2012 9,702 2,592 5,000
2013 11.202 3,075 6,100
2014 24,890 12.101 7,000
2015 32,639 18,108 8,000
2016 30,390 13,501 9,000
2017 26,107 4,628 10,000
2018 22,127 5,455 11,000
2019 22,449 5,386 11,800

criticism

The marketing of Sovaldi ( Sofosbuvir ) has sparked a controversial social debate. A calculation by the AOK in 2014 showed that due to the high price, the costs of just this one drug could account for up to a fifth of the total German drug expenditure. It is also criticized that Gilead charges “astronomically high prices”: a regular 12-week therapy costs up to 60,000 euros, whereas calculations have shown that the production costs are only 136 dollars, which together with the development and distribution costs make up the total price for the 12 week therapy is only about $ 1500. In the opinion of Wolfgang Becker-Brüser , the price is not justified by anything, especially since Gilead's cost calculation is completely non-transparent. In contrast, economic motives can play a role, as Gilead bought the biotech company Pharmasset, responsible for the development of Sovaldi, for eleven billion dollars in 2011. In contrast, Gilead made a net profit of $ 10.3 billion in 2014 alone. This is also underlined by the growth in sales. In 2014, Gilead Sciences had worldwide sales of $ 24.47 billion, compared to 2013 sales (10.80 billion), an increase of 127 percent in sales. Such a large increase is extremely rare among the 25 largest pharmaceutical companies in the world.

The drug Remdesivir is to be used in Covid-19 . The company has set the price per ampoule at $ 390 (or $ 520 for private patients). A 5-day treatment costs $ 2,340 or $ 3,120. In a letter to the American health authority in August 2020, several US attorneys general accused Gilead of price gouging for the drug and warned to reduce costs.

Web links

Commons : Gilead Sciences  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b c d Gilead Sciences About . Gilead Sciences. Retrieved March 16, 2018.
  2. ↑ Richard Staines: Gilead hires Roche's pharma chief Daniel O'Day as CEO -. December 10, 2018, accessed November 1, 2019 (UK English).
  3. ^ A b Gilead Sciences Announces Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2019 Financial Results PM Gilead Sciences February 4, 2020, accessed February 11, 2020
  4. ↑ Gilead in East Jordan was known in ancient times for its pharmaceutical oils, which were extracted from the resin of local shrubs.
  5. ^ Donald H. Rumsfeld Named Chairman of Gilead Sciences . Gilead Sciences. January 3, 1997. Retrieved September 15, 2009.
  6. ^ Nelson D. Schwartz: Rumsfeld's growing stake in Tamiflu . CNN . October 31, 2005. Retrieved September 15, 2009.
  7. ↑ Gilead to Acquire Forty Seven for $ 4.9 Billion , Gilead Sciences PM, March 2, 2020, accessed March 2, 2020
  8. ↑ AstraZeneca and Gilead are exploring Megafusion , accessed June 7, 2020
  9. ^ Daniel O'Day: An Open Letter from our Chairman & CEO ( en ) In: Stories @ Gilead . April 10, 2020. Accessed April 20, 2020.
  10. ^ Gilead Sciences Revenue 2006-2019 | GILD. Retrieved April 29, 2020 .
  11. ↑ New hepatitis drug blows the health insurance budget. In: Stern Online . August 6, 2014, accessed August 8, 2017 .
  12. ↑ Daniel Rahaus: The outrageous prices of the pill manufacturers. In: Stern Online . October 22, 2015, accessed August 8, 2017 .
  13. ↑ Gilead's 700 Euro Pill: “Immoral Winning Numbers . Spiegel Online, August 7, 2014, accessed August 7, 2014.
  14. ↑ Global Revenues from the Top 25 Pharma Companies
  15. ↑ Florian Rötzer: Pharmaceutical company sets price for remdesivir at 390 US dollars per ampoule. heise online , June 30, 2020, accessed June 30, 2020 .
  16. ↑ Remdesivir manufacturer Gilead comes under pressure due to price gouging , rp-online, August 5, 2020.