J.P. Morgan Overweight On Gilead Sciences

J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. is out with a research report on Gilead Sciences GILD and it has an Overweight rating and a $45 price target on shares. In a note to clients, J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. writes, "The International AIDS Society (IAS) meeting in Rome is under way, and longer-term (96 wks) pooled phase 3 data for TMC278/Truvada are available from the ECHO and THRIVE studies. As expected, TMC278 continued to demonstrate non-inferior efficacy but improved safety versus Sustiva. Importantly, the virologic failure (VF) rates seem to have converged beyond 48 wks (0-48 wks: TMC278: 10.6% vs. Sustiva: 5.3%; 48 wks up to 96 wks: 3.2% vs. 2.3% respectively), an effect that was also seen in phase 2. Although TMC278 still has a higher VF rate for the full 96 wks (likely related to a higher proportion of patients never suppressed: 6.7% vs. 2.9%), this is still an encouraging development that should bode well for adoption. Today's news is a positive ahead of key approaching catalysts (TMC278/Truvada PDUFA: August 10th and QUAD phase 3 data 3Q11), which we expect to address investors' concerns regarding the HIV business longer term. As such, we reiterate our Overweight rating on GILD." Shares of GILD are down 59 cents to $40.41, a loss of 1.44%.