Gilead Faces Challenges In HCV, But Competitors Would Switch Places

Gilead Sciences Inc. may be experiencing a slowdown in therapy starts in hepatitis C, with some analysts predicting a bit of erosion in its dominant market share, but competitors Merck & Co. Inc., AbbVie Inc. and Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. still would love to have Gilead's problems.

Those three at least remain in the race to continue accruing some share of a high-volume market; Johnson & Johnson seems to be on the verge of accepting that it...