Gilead Sciences

Gilead Sciences () is a biopharmaceutical company that discovers, develops and commercializes therapeutics. For many years since the company was founded, the company concentrated primarily on antiviral drugs to treat patients infected with HIV, hepatitis B or influenza. In 2006, Gilead acquired two companies that were developing drugs to treat patients with pulmonary diseases. The company has fourteen commercially available products. Headquartered and founded in Foster City, California, Gilead has operations in North America, Europe and Australia. As of the end of 2009, the company had approximately 4,000 full-time employees. The company's name and logo refer to the Balm of Gilead. Gilead (a place mentioned in the Bible) was famed for its small trees that produced a resin used in medicine.

Gilead is a member of the NASDAQ Biotechnology Index and the S&P 500.

History

Gilead Sciences was originally formed at Menlo Ventures under the name of "Oligogen, Inc." in August 1987 by H. DuBose Montgomery, co-founder of Menlo Ventures and Michael L. Riordan, a medical doctor who was 29 years old at the time. Riordan graduated from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, spent a year as a consultant and then joined as an associate at Menlo Ventures in 1986. The company traces its roots to a runny nose because Montgomery got a particularly bad cold—a virus—and in his misery he wondered why so few antivirals existed...
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