Oct 30 (Reuters) - Gilead Sciences ( GILD ) 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 above Wall Street

estimates.

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.

"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 ( CVS ), 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.

Gilead said sales in its liver disease portfolio rose 12% to

$819 million, while sales of COVID-19 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.