Gilead's COVID-19 antiviral Veklury blew past sales estimates in late 2021 as omicron surged, vaccinations lagged

Just when it looked like Gilead’s COVID-19 medicine Veklury was destined to be crowded out of the market by antibody treatments and antiviral pills, the omicron variant helped spark a surge in sales. In the fourth quarter of last year, with a late boost in demand in December, Veklury rang (PDF) up $1.4 billion in sales, far exceeding the Wall Street consensus estimate of $864 million. Gilead reported the figure Tuesday when it presented its fourth quarter and 2021 earnings. The strong quarter brought Veklury sales up to $5.6 billion for the year and helped push Gilead’s revenue figure to $27.3 billion in 2021, an 11% increase from 2020 that the company attributed almost entirely to Veklury.