Wells Fargo analyst Jim Birchenough reiterated an Overweight rating and $87.00 price target on Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ: GILD) after the first randomized trial of an anti-viral therapy in severe COVID-19 infection was published yesterday in the New England Journal of Medicine. The authors concluded that the repurposed HIV treatment of lopinavir plus ritonavir added no benefit to standard of care, although a post-hoc analysis conducted in patients treated within 12 days of symptom onset was suggestive of a mortality benefit favoring lopinavir/ritonavir.reviewing of published data for repurposed HIV treatment for COVID-19 and potential validation for GILD’s own antiviral approach with remdesivir.

The analyst stated "With a combination of ritonavir/lopinavir demonstrating positive trends in clinical improvement, ICU stay time, discharge time and day 28 mortality in patients with COVID-19 infection, we would highlight recent preclinical data comparing remdesivir versus ritonavir/lopinavir in related coronavirus MERS-CoV and demonstrating superior effects on pulmonary function, lung pathology and lung viral loads. With initial remdesivir clinical data expected in April, we are incrementally more confident in prospects for positive results based on ritonavir/ lopinavir data".

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Shares of Gilead Sciences closed at $81.69 yesterday.