COVID-19：Gilead Caught Between Making a Profit and Treating the World
Drugmaker appears near approval for its Covid-19 treatment
Company may spend $1 billion on drug this year, sales unknown
The company
has pledged to donate 1.5 million vials of the drug, its entire current supply,
while O’Day
said it is working with other major pharmaceutical companies to boost production of the medication, which must be given intravenously.
Geoff Porges, an analyst at SVB Leerink LLC,
asked what he termed a controversial question on Gilead’s first-quarter earnings call on Thursday.
What’s special about Covid?”
Porges asked.
Should we assume the capital returns and the profitability for providing a global treatment for Covid long-term, after the first 200,000 or 300,000 courses are provided on a donation basis?
The CEO
said it would be premature to discuss potential revenue because there are “a lot of moving parts right now.
He said Gilead would seek to come up with a sustainable model that would benefit patients around the world.
Bloomberg