Biotech Values

[DewDiligence]

GILD’s GS-7340—(now known as TAF*)—hit primary endpoint in a phase-2 trial testing TAF+Emtriva+Cobicstat vs Stribild:

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/gilead-once-daily-novel-prodrug-120000496.html

The TAF-based regimen achieved a similar virologic response to Stribild based on the proportion of patients with HIV RNA levels (viral load) of less than 50 copies/mL at 24 weeks of therapy (87 percent versus 90 percent, respectively).

The safety results appear to be ok, and TAF will almost certainly be advanced to phase-3.

This compound is quite important to GILD’s HIV franchise insofar as the US CoM patents on Viread expire in 2017 and the other Orange Book patents on Viread and Emtriva strike me as weak.

*Tenofovir alafenamide fumarate, which is a prodrug of the same active ingredient (tenofovir) as Viread.