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August 8, 2025 • 4 min read
Gilead Sciences, a heavyweight in the biopharmaceutical industry known for its treatments in HIV, oncology, and liver disease, recently released its financial results for the second quarter of 2025. To understand the company's current health and future direction, let's dive into the details of its latest 10-Q filing and unpack what the numbers tell us.
On the surface, Gilead reported a modest 2% rise in total revenues to $7.1 billion for the quarter. However, the real headline was a 21% jump in net income to $1.96 billion. A closer look reveals a story of solid performance in its core business, mixed results in its growth areas, and the significant impact of past strategic decisions on its current profitability.
Gilead's revenue is a composite of several key therapeutic areas. The following flow diagram provides a visual breakdown of the company's income statement for the first six months of 2025, from its various product sales down to its net income.
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As the numbers show, Gilead's financial health is heavily anchored by its HIV franchise.
HIV Remains the Powerhouse: The HIV segment continues to be the company's primary revenue driver, growing 7% year-over-year to $5.1 billion for the quarter. Biktarvy, its flagship product, saw sales climb 9% to $3.5 billion, while Descovy sales surged an impressive 35% to $653 million, fueled by higher demand and better pricing.
Oncology Shows Mixed Signals: The Oncology division, a key area for future growth, reported nearly flat sales of $849 million. While Trodelvy sales grew a healthy 14% to $364 million, this was offset by a 7% decline in Cell Therapy sales (which includes Yescarta and Tecartus) to $485 million. The filing's risk factors note the significant challenges in manufacturing and administering these personalized CAR T-cell therapies, a potential headwind for this segment.
Expected Declines: As anticipated, sales of the COVID-19 treatment Veklury fell 44% to $121 million, reflecting lower hospitalization rates. Similarly, the Liver Disease portfolio saw a 4% dip in sales.
Gilead’s net income for the first half of 2025 was $3.3 billion, a dramatic reversal from the $2.6 billion loss reported in the first half of 2024. While the growth in HIV sales contributed, the main driver of this turnaround was the absence of massive one-time expenses that burdened the previous year.
In early 2024, Gilead recorded nearly $6.6 billion in charges related to "Acquired in-process research and development" (IPR&D) and impairments, largely tied to its acquisition of CymaBay Therapeutics. These are non-recurring costs associated with buying other companies and their drug pipelines. In contrast, these charges were a much smaller $505 million in the first half of 2025. This context is crucial: the impressive bottom-line improvement is less about a sudden surge in operational efficiency and more about lapping a period of heavy acquisition-related spending.
Gilead maintains a strong focus on returning value to shareholders. In the first six months of the year, the company:
The company's balance sheet shows total debt of approximately $24.9 billion. Meanwhile, cash generated from operations was $2.6 billion for the first half of the year, a decrease from $3.5 billion in the same period last year, a change the company attributes primarily to the timing of income tax payments.
Gilead's Q2 performance paints a picture of a company with a strong and stable core in its HIV franchise, providing the financial firepower to invest in its future. The expected decline of its COVID-19 treatment is being managed, but the mixed performance in the high-stakes oncology market highlights the challenges ahead.
The company's path forward depends on its ability to successfully commercialize its existing oncology products and advance its pipeline. Navigating the complexities of cell therapy, intense competition, and persistent pricing pressures from governments and insurers will be critical. The massive R&D spending and strategic acquisitions of the past are Gilead's bet on ensuring its growth engine for the next decade is as powerful as its last.
Last updated: August 8, 2025