FILE PHOTO: Gilead Sciences pharmaceutical company is seen in Oceanside, California, U.S., April 29, 2020. REUTERS/Mike Blake/File Photo

By Deena Beasley

(Reuters) -Gilead Sciences said on Thursday its HIV drug sales rose 4% to $5.3 billion in the third quarter including $39 million for its new prevention drug Yeztugo, helping to boost its profit.

Overall product sales, however, fell 2% to $7.3 billion due to lower COVID-19 and cancer cell therapy sales.

Gilead shares closed down a fraction and fell 1% to $117 in after-hours trading.

Wall Street expected sales of Yeztugo, which has an annual U.S. list price of about $28,000, at $37.5 million, according to LSEG. The drug is a twice-yearly injection approved by U.S. regulators in June to prevent HIV in adults and adolescents at high risk of contracting the deadly infection.

Sales of the new HIV prevention drug were in line with estimates, but fell short of "growing expectations," RBC Capital Markets analyst Brian Abrahams said in a research note.

"We are really pleased with the progress of the Yeztugo launch," Gilead CEO Daniel O'Day said in an interview, noting that 75% of U.S. payers have agreed to cover the drug, and the company expects that to increase to 90% by mid-2026.

CVS Health, which runs the largest U.S. pharmacy benefit manager, has still not added Yeztugo to its commercial plans due to issues including the drug's high cost.

Gilead, based in Foster City, California, reported a quarterly profit of $2.43 per share, compared with $1.00 a year earlier, when it took a large impairment charge. Total revenue rose 3% to $7.77 billion, including $400 million from a one-time sale of intellectual property.

The results beat average Wall Street estimates of $2.13 a share on revenue of $7.45 billion.

Despite lower-than-expected product sales, earnings per share were "salvaged" by higher-than-expected contract revenue and lower operating expenses, Abrahams said. "Still, we believe this would be viewed as a lower quality beat."

Gilead said sales in its liver disease portfolio rose 12% to $819 million, while sales of COVID treatment Veklury fell 60% to $277 million due to lower rates of COVID-related hospitalizations.

Sales of cell therapy products decreased 11% to $432 million, reflecting more competition, while sales of cancer drug Trodelvy rose 7% to $357 million.

For the full year, Gilead raised the lower end of its adjusted earnings estimate by 10 cents to $8.05 per share, but left the top end unchanged at $8.25.

The company also bumped up the low end of its expectations for 2025 product sales to $28.4 billion from $28.3 billion, while the upper end of the range was unchanged at $28.7 billion.

(Reporting By Deena Beasley; Editing by Bill Berkrot and Richard Chang)