Gilead Shares Soar on Strong HIV Drug Trial

Gilead Sciences Inc. shares rose nearly 20% after the company released several studies showing its developmental drug Preveon may be a strong option for combination therapies used to suppress HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. Shares in the Foster City-based biotechnology company rose $7.13 to close at $43.25 in Nasdaq trading. “The Preveon data are better than what a lot of people expected,” said Carl Gordon, an analyst with Orbimed Advisors. The company released initial results from a study evaluating whether adding Preveon to existing treatments could help patients who show signs that their therapy may be losing effectiveness. Results from the 24-week study of 442 patients found that adding Preveon to a drug combination led to statistically significant reductions in the amount of virus in the patient’s blood.