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Why Is Gilead Sciences (GILD) Stock Gaining Today?

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As the global markets continue to deal with the effects of the Brexit, at least one company is bouncing back strong on Tuesday. Gild Sciences (GILD - Free Report) gained nearly 3.5% in morning trading today following the approval of its new hepatitis C drug.

The Foster City, California-based biopharmaceutical company announced today that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved Epclusa, the first all-oral, single tablet regimen for the treatment of all six genotypes of the hepatitis C virus (HCV).

“The approval of Epclusa represents an important step forward in the global effort to control and potentially eliminate HCV as it provides a safe, simple and effective cure for the majority of HCV-infected patients, regardless of genotype,” said Ira Jacobson, MD, an investigator in the Epclusa clinical trials.

The FDA expedited Epclusa’s approval process through its Priority Review and Breakthrough Therapy program, which can be applied to potential treatments that offer major advances over existing treatments.

Gilead is already well known for its Hepatitis treatment options, and its existing drugs Harvoni and Sovaldi were responsible for nearly $4.3 billion in revenue last quarter. However, these treatments have been criticized for their high price tags, and they are only effective for patients with the first four genotypes of HCV.

While about 3.2 million people in the United States have HCV, the vast majority of patients have genotypes one and two, with less than 1% of patients contracting genotypes five and six. Nevertheless, Epclusa’s simplicity and effectiveness should help give Gilead a leg up on its competition, including AbbVie’s (ABBV - Free Report) Viekira Pak treatment.

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