HIV remained Gilead’s strongest franchise in the second quarter, but the pharma is building out its pipeline beyond virology, particularly focusing on inflammation and oncology.
The back half of 2026 is looking particularly packed for Gilead’s inflammation portfolio as the pharma works to expand its sales portfolio beyond HIV.
“Clearly, our objective is still to diversify the business,” CEO Daniel O’Day said during a Tuesday investor call, responding to a question regarding the company’s plans to build out other sources of revenue beyond its virology wheelhouse. Gilead reported its second quarter earnings results earlier that day.
Citi analyst Geoff Meacham noted on the call that while Gilead’s long-running effort to diversify its business has led to clear results in the pharma’s pipeline, “You’re not really there yet with respect to sales.” This is a view many others seem to share, focusing largely on how heavily HIV contributes to the pharma’s balance sheet during the Q&A portion of the call.
But CMO Dietmar Berger on the Tuesday call pointed to several upcoming readouts that could bring Gilead closer to a more diversified commercial portfolio. One upcoming catalyst, for instance, is a readout for the integrin inhibitor emvistegrast, which Gilead is studying in the Phase 2 SWIFT trial for ulcerative colitis. The study’s primary completion date was in March, but data are expected later this year.
Also lined up in the coming months is the kinase blocker edecesertib, which is in the Phase 2 COSMIC trial for cutaneous lupus erythematosus.
Aside from inflammation, Gilead’s push outside of virology also includes its cancer portfolio—and here Berger flagged the potential approval of its CAR T therapy anito-cel in relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma, for which the asset is being proposed as a fourth-line option.
Gilead developed anito-cel in partnership with Arcellx, which the pharma swallowed in February for $7.8 billion. The pharma in Q2 also inked a couple of other acquisitions that, in the long run, could further beef up its offerings outside virology. These include an up to $5 billion bet for Tubulis GmbH and its pipeline of antibody-drug conjugates for cancer, as well as the $2.1 billion play for Ouro Medicines and its T cell engagers for inflammatory diseases.
In the second quarter, Gilead recorded revenues of $7.8 billion, up 10% on a year-on-year basis. HIV remained the pharma’s strongest franchise, growing 12% from the same period in 2025 to bring in $5.7 billion. The company also recorded $1.8 billion in R&D expenses in Q2, driven by costs associated with its series of buyouts.
“We view the quarter as another reminder of the durability of GILD’s HIV franchise and its ability to continue delivering growth,” analysts at Truist Securities wrote in a Tuesday note, pointing to the consistent performance of the daily pill Biktarvy, which jumped 7% year-on-year to make $3.8 billion worldwide.
Analysts on the call were also keen to hear about return rates for the twice-yearly prophylactic injection Yeztugo. Gilead reported a persistency rate of over 70%, meaning more than seven in 10 patients who received their first dose of Yeztugo came back for their second shot.
This is a “high level of persistency,” said Johanna Mercier, chief commercial and corporate affairs officer, noting that this is a rate “well above available PrEP options.” The pharma has launched support, engagement and educational programs to drive this persistency rate higher, she added.
Yeztugo made $232 million in the quarter, beating consensus expectations, while Descovy’s PrEP sales hit $801 million, according to Mercier. Analysts at Mizuho Securities were quick to point out on Tuesday that taken together, Gilead’s quarterly PrEP sales crossed the $1 billion threshold for the first time, putting the pharma one step closer to its goal of securing blockbuster status for Yeztugo on the drug’s first full year on the market.
