By Anna Prior
Gilead Sciences Inc. (GILD) on Wednesday said its board has
approved a stock repurchase plan of up to $5 billion.
The plan is in addition to a separate $5 billion buyback program
announced in January 2011, which has about $2.9 billion remaining
and is expected to be completed by September, said Gilead.
The company recently had a market capitalization of about
$121.12 billion with about 1.54 billion shares outstanding,
according to FactSet Research.
Last month, the company reported nearly $2.3 billion in
first-quarter sales for its new hepatitis C treatment Sovaldi in
what is believed to be the best-selling prescription drug launch in
history.
The higher-than-expected sales reflected Sovaldi's use by about
30,000 patients with the liver disease since the drug was
introduced in December, an a price tag of $1,000 per pill, or
$84,000 per patient for a standard 12-week treatment.
Shares closed Wednesday at $78.77 and were even in after-hours
trading.
Write to Anna Prior at anna.prior@wsj.com
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