Comment by refurb

5 years ago

Kind of a crappy article. The example of Sovaldi is a terrible one.

Prior to Sovaldi, the best selling drugs were Lipitor, then Humira which made ~$10B per year at peak worldwide (peak being a decade or more post launch). Think about the time value of money when your R&D investment hit peak revenue 10-15 years later.

Sovaldi made $12B in its first year full year. What did Gilead make across all its hepatitis C drugs that year? $19B. That blew all records out of the water. And 6 years later it’s pulling in $4B. Note this is in an industry where exceeding $1B at peak is a success.

The hepatitis C cures are an absolute blockbuster by any stretch of the imagination.