New York, Feb 8, 2026, 17:12 (EST) — The market is closed.
- Gilead climbed 2.1% to finish Friday at $152.50, setting a fresh 52-week high.
- The FDA has signed off on a label update for Kite’s Yescarta, expanding its use to a rare and aggressive form of brain lymphoma.
- CEO Daniel O’Day exercised options and sold shares the same day, following a pre-arranged trading plan.
Gilead Sciences Inc (GILD.O) notched a new 52-week high on Friday. The move came after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration signed off on a label update for Yescarta, the cancer cell therapy from its Kite unit, keeping attention on the stock as the week kicks off. Shares climbed 2.1% to $152.50.
U.S. markets are closed Sunday. Monday, investors come back hunting for something new to drive the rally. Gilead’s earnings land this week. The bar is set high; if guidance disappoints or management sounds uncertain, the shares could get punished fast.
Timing here isn’t just a footnote. For Gilead, Kite’s oncology unit remains in sharp focus as the company tries to push beyond its HIV roots. With Washington once again zeroing in on drug prices, the pressure could easily ripple through big pharma.
Kite, owned by Gilead, announced Friday that the FDA signed off on a label update for Yescarta, lifting an earlier usage restriction for patients with relapsed or refractory primary central nervous system lymphoma—a rare brain and CNS subtype of non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Yescarta, the company’s CAR-T therapy, saw its label revised following Phase 1 data from a Dana-Farber Cancer Institute-sponsored trial. “This update … provides clinicians with important evidence” for these patients with few alternatives, said Lakshmi Nayak, who leads the CNS Lymphoma Center at Dana-Farber. The move “expands access” to Yescarta for a population long overlooked, according to Kite’s R&D chief Gallia Levy. Gilead Sciences Investor Relations
Gilead’s Daniel O’Day exercised options for 115,640 shares at $66.01, then sold the same amount at $150 apiece on Feb. 5, according to a U.S. securities filing. The document notes the transactions happened under a Rule 10b5-1 plan, which lets insiders schedule trades ahead of time.
Drug pricing remains a persistent concern for the sector. This week, President Donald Trump introduced TrumpRx.gov, a site designed to give cash-paying consumers access to discounted prescription drugs. According to Reuters, Gilead’s hepatitis C drug Epclusa is among the initial offerings. “There is a real question about the value of this for people with insurance,” Juliette Cubanski, deputy director for Medicare policy at KFF, commented to Reuters. Reuters
Even so, the rally could unravel quickly if traders feel Friday’s close squeezed out any margin for error. The FDA’s label change is aimed at a narrow, specialized group, and cell therapies carry their own safety caveats and tough access issues—factors that can slow the impact of any label update on actual demand.
Tuesday’s on deck. Gilead plans to post its fourth-quarter and full-year 2025 numbers after markets shut on Feb. 10, and management will host a webcast at 4:30 p.m. Eastern.
