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TIME100 Most Influential Companies 2025: Gilead
It's been more than four decades since the first cases of HIV emerged, and while there are effective drug treatments to control the virus, there's still no vaccine. But it turns out that an anti-HIV drug, injected twice a year, could be just as effective as a vaccine in protecting people from getting infected, according to strong results from studies published in 2024.
Leading HIV treatment developer Gilead's scientists spent 20 years developing lenacapavir, an antiviral drug that targets a specific protein on the virus' shell. Vaccines have similarly targeted other outer viral proteins, and the idea is that priming the immune system to recognize this part of HIV can help it to generate defenses against the virus if someone is later exposed. Lenacapavir was already approved to treat HIV, and in June the FDA also approved it as a preventive therapy. Widespread use of the medication could bring the world closer to ending the HIV epidemic.
The company's CEO Dan O'Day says Gilead is equally committed to ensuring that those who are at highest risk of getting infected with HIV have access to the drug. He signed a voluntary licensing agreement in 2024 that allows half a dozen generic manufacturers to make lenacapavir for 120 low and middle income countries, where HIV remains a significant threat. Close to 40 million people have HIV or AIDS globally, but a disproportionate number—about two-thirds—live in subsaharan Africa. 'Not that many companies focus on virology,' he says. 'And if we are going to produce a drug, and put our blood, sweat and tears into it, then it's got to end up in everybody's hands who can use it.'
Expanding on its expertise in immune-based treatments—the company's remdesivir was the first antiviral approved to treat COVID-19—O'Day says Gilead is also developing treatments for blood and solid cancers as well as autoimmune diseases. 'We are in build mode, but it is already a significant part of our company and the fastest-growing part of the company today,' he says of the cancer projects. 'I expect five years from now you will see Gilead making a bigger impact across the world, in a variety of disease states.'
