Gilead Sciences experiences triple-digit growth in 2014

Gilead Sciences has announced its financial results for the 2014 full-year period, during which it saw a considerable sales increase, reaching an annual total of $24.5 billion (16.08 billion pounds).

This represented a 127 percent rise compared to the previous year's figure, with sales for the fourth quarter alone coming to $7.2 billion, up by 137 percent on Q4 2013. Meanwhile, its earnings per share figure for the year reached $8.09 – a 297 percent improvement.

According to the fiscal report, this rise can be largely attributed to the significant growth seen within Gilead's antiviral portfolio, with revenues from this unit surging from $9.3 billion in 2013 to $22.8 billion last year.

This was due to the recent successful launches of the drugs Sovaldi, which debuted in the US in December 2013 and in Europe in January 2014, and the newer Harvoni, introduced in the US last October.

As a result, the company now expects its net product sales total for 2015 to be somewhere in the range of $26 billion to $27 billion, thus further continuing its current momentum.

Following this announcement, Gilead also confirmed a quarterly dividend of 43 cents, as well as a new $15 billion share buyback programme.