The new company, Haleon, emerges as the world’s biggest standalone consumer health business, home to brands including Sensodyne toothpaste and Advil painkillers.
Posts
Things are looking up for GSK and its chief Emma Walmsley as the British drugs giant prepares to spin off its consumer health business on Monday in London’s biggest listing in a decade and the company’s most radical shake-up in 20 years.
“Demand over the next five to 10 years will probably outstrip the current forecasts on supply,” said Thomas Breuer, GSK’s chief global health officer.
Late-stage data on an experimental COVID-19 vaccine from Sanofi and GSK has showed the shot confers protection against the Omicron variant of the virus, the companies said. The so-called bivalent vaccine targets the Beta variant – first identified in South Africa – as well as the original Wuhan strain of the virus.
GSK and Novartis reinforced commitments on Thursday to tackle neglected tropical diseases, as world leaders and health experts gather in Rwanda to discuss ways to better combat illnesses affecting more than a billion people, mostly in impoverished communities.
The values of leading pharmaceutical brands have skyrocketed during the COVID-19 pandemic; Johnson & Johnson retains the top position.
Sanofi said an upgraded version of the COVID-19 vaccine candidate the French drugmaker 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.
GSK aims to get the company’s respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) vaccine to regulators for review later this year, after interim data showed the vaccine was effective in a keenly watched late-stage study involving older adults.
GSK said on Monday the British drugmaker’s vaccine Priorix was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for the prevention of measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) in those aged 1 year and above.
Pfizer plans to sell its 32% stake in Haleon, its consumer health venture with British drugmaker GSK, after the business lists as an independent company in July, GSK said on Wednesday.