Investors are keen to compare the results from this study to Abbott's ( ABT ) competing Hep C all-oral regimen that has demonstrated cure rates of between 96% and 99%. On Tuesday's conference call, Gilead, alluding to the Abbott data indirectly, acknowledged that the SVR rates from its all-oral combination "needs to be very high these days." But Gilead also stressed that other parameters besides high cure rates, including convenience and tolerability, will also play a role in which therapies become widely used. Gilead has begun treatment-naive hepatitis C patients in a late-stage study of a single-pill combination of GS-7977 and GS-5885. Phase III studies of GS-7977 plus long-acting interferon and ribavirin are nearing completion, with the first data to be announced in December, Gilead said. The company expects to file GS-7977 for regulatory approval in the second quarter of next year. Moving back to HIV, Gilead is developing a follow-on version of its core HIV drug Viread.