
In recent days, there’s been investor chatter about stalled-out Gilead Sciences (GILD) becoming a takeover target. The possibility that’s it’s vulnerable to acquisition even sparked a rally in its stock price last week — something the biotech’s own CEO, Dan O’Day, and his newly formed executive team couldn’t manage to do during their disappointing earnings call and 2020 outlook.
So I asked a health care investor what he made of all the talk. Was it legitimate or ridiculous?
“It’s ridiculously ridiculous,” he said.
Not so fast. I feel it (acquirer or acquiree) could depend a lot on the fate of the Remdesivir patent status both in China and globally. I have read and watched CGTV saying the Chinese Health Authorities hope Gilead would “donate” the patent or “agree to” a compulsory license.