Gilead Sciences, Inc., “The New Genentech,” Remaps Massive Foster City Campus
August 29, 2014
By Mark Terry, BioSpace.com Breaking News Staff
San Francisco-based Gilead Sciences, Inc. is undergoing a building boom, making major infrastructure changes to its 72.59-acre Foster City campus. This year’s plan include tearing down 12 office and lab buildings and building up to 17 new ones. This will bring the company’s campus to 2.5 million square feet, and will include a pilot lab facility, a cafeteria and fitness center, and up to 22 office and lab buildings. The construction is expected to run through 2033.
Gilead has been on a roll lately. The company acquired Pharmasset Inc., which led to the release of Sovaldi®, a treatment for hepatitis C in early 2012. In the first six months of 2014 Sovaldi generated $5.8 billion in sales. There is some speculation Gilead has been on a roll lately. The company acquired Pharmasset Inc, which led to the release of Sovaldi®, a treatment for hepatitis C in early 2012. In the first six months of 2014 Sovaldi generated $5.8 billion in sales. There is some speculation that its own hepatitis C drug, Daklinza®, had been approved for use in the European Union. It’s not completely clear if that would be a major competitor to Sovaldi, since Daklinza was approved to be used with Sovaldi. Gilead has 15 marketed products, including drugs for HIV/AIDS, liver disease, cardiovascular disease and respiratory illnesses. The company has more than 75 Phase II and III clinical trials ongoing. They have been one of the most active biopharma companies in terms of merger and acquisition, with 9 major acquisitions since 2000. Sanford C. Bernstein analyst Geoffrey Porges points out that most of those acquisitions have been outright successes, with “not a single deal providing clearly negative returns for shareholders.” The company has focused about $8.2 billion over the last 9 years on internal research and development versus spending over $17 billion on acquisitions.
Which is all reflected in the overall construction going on at their campus. Gilead is currently building a 10-story office building, a six-story laboratory, a three-story pilot lab, and two six-level parking garages. The acquisitions have driven the total employee count from 3,000 people in early 2008 to more than 6,100.
Recent analysis has suggested that Gilead will need to acquire another company in order to maintain its earnings. Potential targets mentioned have been Bristol-Myers Squibb, Regeneron, Pharmacyclics, Incyte, Intercept, and Alnylam. This recent growth has made Gilead the third-largest pharmaceutical company in the U.S., well on its way to becoming the second-largest. It is closing in on the market cap of Pfizer and Merck, as well as Roche and Novartis.
