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In a long scripted overhaul of its business, GlaxoSmithKline spun off its consumer health business on Monday (July 18) in the biggest listing in Europe for more than a decade. The new company, Haleon, becomes the world's biggest standalone consumer health business, home to brands including Sensodyne toothpaste, pain relief drug Panadol and cold treatment Theraflu. Shares in Haleon started trading at 330 pence on Monday morning, giving the business a market valuation of around £30.5 billion - dashing high hopes for Haleon's much higher market valuation after GSK in January said it had rebuffed a £50 billion offer from Unilever on the basis it was too low. The major strategy shift by GSK chief executive Emma Walmsley to focus on the company's core pharmaceuticals business comes after she faced intense activist shareholder pressure over its delays in producing Covid jabs and treatments.

Shares in GSK, Sanofi and Haleon fell sharply on Thursday (August 11) amid growing investor concerns about US litigation focused on a heartburn drug that contained a probable carcinogen, while Johnson and Johnson has decided to end sales of talcum powder after cancer claims. GSK shares were down 6.8 per cent, Sanofi's were down 6.9 per cent and Haleon's down per cent. GSK and Sanofi at various points sold the drug - originally branded as Zantac - which US regulators ordered off the market in 2020. Haleon, spun out as an independent listed company last month, comprises consumer health assets once partly owned by GSK. The prospect of impending litigation is not new. Among other disclosures, recently-listed Haleon had highlighted the risk of such lawsuits in its prospectus. The topic has arrived in investor consciousness in recent days it seems, but has been rumbling on in the background for a few years, Deutsche Bank analysts wrote in a note.

US drugs giant Pfizer will exit its consumer healthcare joint venture with GlaxoSmithKline after the unit is spun off next month, the British drugmaker said Wednesday (June 1). GSK will list the healthcare division on the London stock market on July 18 as it looks to concentrate on the pharmaceutical business, it said in a statement. The London-listed firm currently owns a majority 68 percent of the unit, with Pfizer holding the remainder. "Pfizer intends to exit its 32-percent ownership interest in Haleon in a disciplined manner, with the objective of maximising value for Pfizer shareholders," GSK said. Covid jab maker Pfizer is seeking to pursue its focus on "innovative medicines and vaccines", it noted. The unit, which will be named Haleon after the demerger, makes products including Sensodyne toothpaste, pain relief drug Panadol and cold treatment Theraflu.

Bas Vorsteveld, who was made vice president and general manager for Great Britain & Ireland (GBI) in November last year, is joined by Monica Michalopoulou as GBI marketing director and Onyeka Anugwom as GBI commercial excellence director GSK Consumer Healthcare. He took over from Jonathan Workman, who held the position from 2018, and has now moved into the role of Business Unit general manager for Northern Europe. Vorsteveld, who has 15 years' industry experience, played at major part in the merger of Novartis and GSK consumer healthcare businesses. Most recently, he held the role of VP & head of commercial excellence EMEA LATAM at GSK Consumer Healthcare, where he spearheaded international sustainability initiatives. Commenting on his new role, Vorsteveld said: "I am incredibly honoured to have been a part of GSK Consumer Healthcare's journey to date and it is our collective ambition to deliver better everyday health with humanity for our customers, with a laser focus on 'self-care'. "The recent pandemic has shown us that healthcare matters more now than ever before for our consumers. We want to redefine the role that self-care plays in people's lives, because it can bring long-term benefits for individuals and society, and is a key component of a sustainable healthcare system.

Consumer goods giant Unilever signalled on Monday (January 17) it would pursue a deal for GlaxoSmithKline's consumer healthcare business, calling it a "strong strategic fit" after its £50 billion offer was refused. GSK confirmed on Saturday that it had rejected three approaches from the Dove-soap maker, adding it intended to stick to its own plan to spin off the business as a separate company later this year. "GSK Consumer Healthcare would be a strong strategic fit," Unilever said in a statement as it unveiled a strategy update in the wake of the weekend's takeover news. Unilever said it was "committed to accelerating the company's growth and repositioning the portfolio into higher growth categories. "As a result of the reporting of Unilever's interest in GSK Consumer Healthcare, we are today bringing forward a planned update, setting out the strategic direction that the company is pursuing," Unilever said.

British pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline beat first-quarter sales and earnings forecasts on Wednesday (April 27), helped by demand for its Covid-19 therapy and shingles vaccine, as the company moves towards the July separation of its consumer health business. Profit after tax jumped 68 percent to £1.8 billion ($2.3 billion, 2.1 billion euros) compared with the start of 2021. Sales climbed 32 percent to almost £9.8 billion. "We have delivered strong first-quarter results in this landmark year for GSK, as we separate consumer healthcare and start a new period of sustained growth," chief executive Emma Walmsley said in the earnings statement. "Our results reflect further good momentum across speciality medicines and vaccines, including the return to strong sales growth for Shingrix and continuing pipeline progress." The shingles vaccine generated £698 million in quarterly sales, beating analyst estimates of 528 million. Walmsley is seeking to reshape GSK after facing fierce investor criticism over the company's delay in producing Covid jabs and treatments.

British pharmaceutical giant GSK said on Saturday (April 15) its oral antibiotic drug to treat uncomplicated urinary tract infections (uUTI) in female adults and adolescents met the main goals in late-stage trials. The drug, gepotidacin, in phase III trials, met its primary goals of being on a par or better than nitrofurantoin, the current standard of care for the treatment of uUTIs, the company said. GSK plans to submit results of the trials to the United States Food and Drug Administration for review later in the second quarter. The drug, if approved, could become the first new type of antibiotic, which is critically important for countering drug-resistant infections, to treat uUTIs in 20 years, the company said. "Gepotidacin, if approved, will offer a much-needed additional oral treatment option for patients at risk of treatment failure associated with resistance or recurrence of uUTI," Chris Corsico, senior vice president of development at GSK, said.

New GSK raised its 2022 forecast for the second time this year, after third-quarter earnings and sales topped estimates, continuing its strong start as a standalone prescription medicine and vaccine business since carving out its consumer health division Haleon. After years of underperformance relative to its peers and missing out on the lucrative market for the first set of COVID-19 vaccines, GSK has delivered a string of strong results. The latest is led by a record quarter for its blockbuster shingles vaccine Shingrix and higher-than-expected revenue from its COVID therapy, Xevudy. Having survived a revolt by activist investors Elliott and Bluebell last year, GSK's prospects have been boosted by clinical trial success, though concerns remain around U.S. litigation over heartburn drug Zantac. Thousands of lawsuits have been filed in the United States against a raft of drugmakers over allegations the heartburn drug contains a probable carcinogen.

British drugmaker GSK has signed deals with three companies allowing them to make inexpensive generic versions of its long-acting HIV preventive medicine for use in lower-income countries, where the majority of new HIV cases occur. The injected drug cabotegravir is approved by regulators in Britain and the United States. Last July, GSK announced a program with the United Nations-backed healthcare organisation, the Medicines Patent Pool, aiming to get poor countries access to new HIV therapies far earlier than they did for previous HIV medicines. During the HIV/AIDs epidemic in Africa in the 1990s and early 2000s, in which many millions of people died, treatments used widely in wealthy countries were unavailable on the continent. GSK said last year the new program could result in the generic form of its injection being available in lower-income countries beginning in 2026. The drugmaker's HIV treatment division, ViiV Healthcare, said in a statement on Wednesday it had issued voluntary licenses - waiving intellectual property rights - to Aurobindo, Cipla and Viatris, which will manufacture the generic versions of injectable cabotegravir.

British Pharma giant, GSK is planning to invest more than £200 million (about $253 million) into the United Kingdom over the next two years to strengthen its manufacturing network. The money will be used to improve the pharmaceutical group's UK sites, including construction of new facilities and assembly lines, The Daily Mail first reported on Sunday. GSK has already earmarked £67 million to upgrade its manufacturing site in Montrose, Scotland, where a new production facility is being constructed. The upgrade is expected to help boost its production of active pharmaceutical ingredients (API) for the future supply of medicines. Regis Simard, head of global supply chain, told the publication that their six UK manufacturing sites, including Montrose, are an important part of their global manufacturing network.

Britain's GlaxoSmithKline will receive $1.25 billion (about £921 million) from Gilead Sciences as part of a settlement between its HIV medicines unit and the US-based drugmaker, ending a long-drawn patent dispute. The settlement, announced by GSK on Tuesday (February 1), relates to Gilead's antiretroviral drug Biktarvy, a medicine used to check the AIDS-causing virus, which GSK said in 2018 infringed on its unit ViiV Healthcare's dolutegravir and other similar compounds. HIV medicines developed by ViiV, in which Pfizer and Japan's Shionogi also hold small stakes, are a major part of GSK's plan to support its lagging pharmaceuticals business as it readies to spin off its consumer healthcare arm. The payment is expected to be made in the first quarter this year, London-listed GSK said. Gilead will also pay a 3 per cent royalty until 2027 on sales of Biktarvy and on future US sales of any product containing its main component.

French drugmaker Sanofi said on Monday (June 13) an upgraded version of the Covid-19 vaccine candidate it is developing with GSK showed potential in two trials to protect against the virus's main variants of concern, including the Omicron BA.1 and BA.2 strains, when used as a booster shot. While the two companies' first experimental Covid shot is undergoing review by the European Medicines Agency, Sanofi and GSK have continued work on a vaccine that is moulded on the now-supplanted Beta variant, hoping still that it will confer broad protection against future viral mutations. Sanofi said this new vaccine candidate was shown to significantly boost antibody levels against a number of variants of concern, when given to trial participants who had an initial course of mRNA vaccines, a type made by BioNTech-Pfizer and Moderna. In a separate trial conducted by a French hospitals network, Sanofi's Beta-adapted booster shot triggered a higher immune response than Sanofi's first-generation shot or Pfizer-BioNTech's established vaccine in previously vaccinated volunteers.

Drugmakers GSK, Pfizer, Sanofi and Boehringer Ingelheim on Tuesday were spared thousands of US lawsuits claiming that the heartburn drug Zantac caused cancer, as a judge found the claims were not backed by sound science. The ruling by US District Judge Robin Rosenberg in West Palm Beach, Florida, knocks out about 50,000 claims in federal court, though it does not directly affect tens of thousands of similar cases pending in state courts around the country. "We are extremely surprised by this miscarriage of justice," and "fully expect" the ruling will be reversed on appeal, lawyers for the plaintiffs said in a joint statement. A Sanofi spokesperson said the decision "significantly decreases the scope of the litigation potentially by over 50 per cent," with the remaining litigation being only in state court. A spokesperson for GSK said the company welcomed the decision and Pfizer said it was pleased by the outcome. Privately-held German drugmaker Boehringer said in a statement that it looked forward to "continuing our vigorous defense of the remaining cases in state courts."

Shares in GSK, Sanofi, Haleon and Pfizer began to recover on Friday (Aug 12) after the companies said that nothing material had changed regarding US litigation focused on heartburn drug Zantac. The companies' share prices had fallen sharply last week on investor concern about the litigation over potential cancer-causing impurities that prompted the drug's withdrawal from markets in 2019 and 2020. More than 2,000 Zantac-related legal cases have been filed in the United States, analysts say, with the first trial beginning this month. The prospect of impending Zantac litigation is not new. Among other disclosures, recently listed Haleon had highlighted the risk of such lawsuits in its prospectus. GSK, Sanofi, Pfizer and Haleon have lost a combined $39 billion from their market value over the past week in the absence of any other particular catalyst, according to Barclays analysts.

GlaxoSmithKline on Wednesday (April 13) said it had agreed to buy US group Sierra Oncology, a specialist in medicines for rare forms of cancer, for $1.9 billion. The purchase, worth the equivalent of £1.6 billion, aims to support the development of new medicines alongside Sierra's bone marrow cancer treatment Momelotinib. The deal, set to be completed this year, represents a near 40-percent premium to Sierra's closing share price on Tuesday, GSK said in a statement. Momelotinib could help address the "significant unmet medical needs" of patients with the blood cancer myelofibrosis and anaemia, said GSK chief commercial officer Luke Miels. "With this proposed acquisition, we have the opportunity to potentially bring meaningful new benefits to patients and further strengthen our portfolio of specialty medicines," he added.

The Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) of the European Medicines Agency (EMA) has recommended approving an oral therapy to treat myelofibrosis patients with moderate to severe anaemia. Myelofibrosis is a rare blood cancer that affects the body's normal production of blood cells, and the affected patients are likely to develop anaemia over the course of the disease. British drugmaker GSK, the manufacturer of the oral therapy known as momelotinib, said that it can be used to treat "both newly diagnosed and previously treated myelofibrosis patients." The medicine helps address disease-related splenomegaly (enlarged spleen) or symptoms in adult patients who are Janus kinase (JAK) inhibitor naïve or have been treated with ruxolitinib, as stated by the company. Nina Mojas, Senior Vice President of Oncology Global Product Strategy at GSK, said that receiving the positive CHMP opinion "is a significant step in bringing momelotinib to patients in the EU with this difficult-to-treat blood cancer."

Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals on Monday (November 22) entered a drug development deal with GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) under which the British drugmaker will develop and market Arrowhead's potential treatment for patients with fatty liver disease NASH. Under the pact, Arrowhead said it would get an upfront payment of $120 million and is eligible for additional milestone payments including up to $190 million at first commercial sale of the product, and up to $590 million in sales-related milestone payments. The drug candidate, ARO-HSD, is currently in an early-to-mid stage trial for nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), a fatty liver disease. It is based on RNA interference technology, where genes that contribute to disease are silenced.

GlaxoSmithKline on Tuesday (May 31) snapped up US biopharmaceutical firm Affinivax for up to $3.3 billion, expanding further into vaccines before the demerger of its consumer health care arm. The London-listed company has agreed to pay $2.1 billion upfront and up to $1.2 billion in potential development milestones for Affinivax. "GSK plc today announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Affinivax, Inc," it said in a statement. "Affinivax is pioneering the development of a novel class of vaccines, the most advanced of which are next-generation pneumococcal vaccines," it added. The Cambridge, Massachusetts-based firm specialises in vaccines for diseases including meningitis, pneumonia and bloodstream infections. "The proposed acquisition further strengthens our vaccines research and development (R&D) pipeline, provides access to a new, potentially disruptive technology, and broadens GSK's existing scientific footprint in the Boston area," said GSK's chief scientific officer Hal Barron.

Consumer healthcare group Haleon on Thursday announced that it has entered into a binding agreement for the sale of the ChapStick brand to Suave Brands Company, a company owned by American private equity firm Yellow Wood Partners. The British consumer healthcare company has agreed to sell its lip balm brand to Suave for about $430 million in cash and a minority interest in the buyer, valued at around $80 million. Haleon, which was spun off from the GSK Group in July 2022, said that cash proceeds from the sale would be used to pay down debt. ChapStick generated £112 million ($142.5 million) in revenue in 2023, said Haleon, adding that the sale is likely to close in the second quarter of 2024. Brian McNamara, Chief Executive Officer, Haleon, said: "Today's announcement is consistent with Haleon being proactive in managing our portfolio, and being rigorous and disciplined where there are opportunities for divestment. "While ChapStick is a great brand, much loved by consumers around the world, it is not a core focus for Haleon.

Consumer health company Haleon, formerly known as GSK, claims that pain's emotional and life impact has grown by nearly 25 per cent in the past decade. The company has launched a campaign #ListenToPain to personalise patients' pain management through a series of practical tools and resources. The campaign was introduced on 28 September which focused on enabling the HCPs to maximise their time with patients and understand their pain experience - providing them with an effective treatment plan. The new data has been obtained through the fifth edition of the Haleon Pain Index (HPI). This social study measured the impact of individuals' everyday lives, their health, their feelings, their emotions, motivations and behaviours. They have spoken to more than 87,000 people around the world since their first edition in 2014 - HPI 1 (The State of Pain), which later progressed over the years from HPI 2 (Impact of Pain) in 2017, then HPI 3 (Managing Pain) in 2018, to HPI 4 (Treatment Journey), and finally HPI 5 (Pain and Inclusivity) in 2023.