While most of Gilead’s second-quarter presentation focused on its excitement over the launch of game-changing HIV PrEP drug Yeztugo, there was a disquieting sidebar as sales of its cell therapies were down by 7%.
Quarterly revenue from Yescarta came in at $393 million, which was a 5% decline from the second quarter of last year, while Tecartus saw a 14% drop-off to $92 million. In both cases, Gilead explained that there was a lower demand for the products in the U.S.
“Yescarta/Tecartus clearly continue to suffer from significant competitive headwinds,” analysts at Leerink Partners wrote.
Yescarta, formerly the world’s top-selling cell or gene therapy, generated $1.6 billion last year, but the company is projecting a slight decline this year. In the first half, it produced sales of $779 million.
The declines for the blood cancer treatments have come while bispecific antibody treatments are winning approvals and gaining sales traction.
Another blood cancer CAR-T, which saw a sales decline in the second quarter, was Novartis’ Kymriah, which was down 5% to $125 million.
Meanwhile, other CAR-T treatments have withstood the competition and continue to thrive, including Bristol Myers Squibb’s Breyanzi. The rival CD19 therapy to Yescarta saw a 125% year-over-year increase in sales to $344 million, prompting the company in a release to tout it as the “No. 1 CAR-T in the U.S.”
Another company that could make the same claim is Johnson & Johnson with its Legend-partnered multiple myeloma therapy Carvykti, which generated sales of $439 million in the second quarter, which was up from $186 million in the second quarter of 2024.
For Yescarta, sales outside of the U.S. ($231 million) exceeded those in the U.S. ($162 million) in the second quarter. It was much the opposite for Breyanzi, which had U.S. sales of $255 million compared with $88 million ex-U.S.
Disappointment in Gilead’s CAR-T franchise comes in contrast to excitement over the company’s Yeztugo launch. On an investor call Thursday, Gilead indicated that the company is on track to achieve its target of 75% covered lives within six months, Leerink noted.
Gilead overall raked in sales of $7.1 billion in the second quarter for a 2% increase, prompting the company to raise its annual sales projection by $100 million to a range between $28.3 billion and $28.7 billion.