Gilead’s range of treatments and prevention for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), both on the market and in the pipeline, provides the company a competitive edge, CEO Daniel O’Day believes.
Speaking at the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference 2026, which is taking place in San Francisco from 12 to 15 January 2026, O’Day explained that in HIV, the company has seven candidates and combinations in the pipeline, offering a range of treatment options for patients in both treatment with anti-retroviral therapies (ART) and prevention with pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), which all offer varying dosing schedules and administration methods.
Go deeper with GlobalData
Discover B2B Marketing That Performs
Combine business intelligence and editorial excellence to reach engaged professionals across 36 leading media platforms.
O’Day said: “We have significantly expanded and diversified our pipeline with a range of options because if there’s one thing we know in HIV, it’s that patients want options. People who want to prevent HIV want options that fit their life and their lifestyle, particularly as we have transformed this disease from a death sentence to a preventable long-term, chronic illness.”
While the company has already made a name for itself in HIV, especially with its newest PrEP treatment Yeztugo (lenacapavir), which is a twice-yearly injectable PrEP that touted 100% and 99% protection against the virus in two Phase III trials, it is continuing to develop its pipeline. Seven Gilead candidates are either in trials or awaiting regulatory decisions. Lenacapavir is also marketed under the name Sulenca when used as an ART.
This includes a daily oral treatment, which is a combination of Gilead’s bictegravir and lenacapavir (BIC/LEN), for which it expects a regulatory decision in H2 2026. Full data from the Phase III ARTISTRY programme is due to be released in H1 2026.
The company also expects to present data from two Phase III trials (NCT06630286 and NCT06630299) of a weekly oral combination of MSD’s islatravir and Gilead’s lenacapavir in H1 2026, with hopes that this would prepare the company for a 2027 launch.
US Tariffs are shifting - will you react or anticipate?
Don’t let policy changes catch you off guard. Stay proactive with real-time data and expert analysis.
By GlobalDataBack in PrEP, Gilead is hoping for a 2028 launch of its once-yearly lenacapavir, if the regimen demonstrates success in clinical trials.
Following its launch of Yeztugo in the US in mid-2025, the drug brought in $150m in preliminary sales in 2025, meeting its 2025 guidance. The PrEP also has 85% payer coverage in the US, with it being available with a $0 copay on some policies.
O’Day said: “We take our responsibility in terms of ending the epidemic very, very seriously, so in addition to making progress in this country with the Yeztugo launch, I am very pleased that lenacapavir was delivered for the first time ever in a sub-Saharan African country at the end of last year, in the same year as it was introduced in the US. That has never been done before. We know that two-thirds of HIV cases are in sub-Saharan Africa. If we don’t stop HIV everywhere, we won’t stop it anywhere.”
On top of new launches, Gilead still has some protection of its marketed therapies, with its flagship HIV ART, Biktarvy (bictegravir, emtricitabine, tenofovir alafenamide), not losing exclusivity until 2036. The company will lose exclusivity of Descovy (emtricitabine/tenofovir alafenamide) in 2031.
GlobalData, the parent company of Pharmaceutical Technology, predicts a combined patient-based sales forecast for Yeztugo and Sulenca of $4.98bn in 2033.
The HIV market across the seven major markets (7MM: US, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the UK, and Japan) is forecast to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 1.9% from $26.5bn in 2023 to $32.1bn in 2033, forecasts GlobalData.
Sign up here to receive daily updates on the latest healthcare industry trends emerging from the JP Morgan Healthcare Conference 2026. Sign up here to receive a comprehensive report after the conference.
