GlaxoSmithKline

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GlaxoSmithKline plc

Type

Public limited company

(LSE: GSK

NYSE: GSK)

Industry

Pharmaceutical

Founded

2000, by merger of Glaxo Wellcome and SmithKline Beecham

Headquarters

London, United Kingdom

Key people

Chris Gent, Chairman

Andrew Witty, Chief Executive

Simon Dingemans, Chief Financial Officer

Dr. Moncef Slaoui, Chairman of Research and Development

Products

Pharmaceuticals

Revenue

28.392 billion(2010)[1]

Operating income

5.128 billion (2010)[1]

Net income

1.853 billion (2010)[1]

Employees

99,000 (2009)[2]

Website

www.gsk.com

GlaxoSmithKline plc (LSE: GSK NYSE: GSK), often abbreviated to GSK, is a global pharmaceutical, biologics, vaccines and consumer healthcare company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the world's third largest pharmaceutical company measured by revenues (after Johnson & Johnson and Pfizer).[3] It has a portfolio of products for major disease areas including asthma, cancer, virus control, infections, mental health, diabetes and digestive conditions.[4] It also has a large consumer healthcare division which produces and markets oral healthcare products, nutritional drinks and over-the-counter medicines, including Sensodyne, Horlicksand Gaviscon.[4]

Its primary listing is on the London Stock Exchange and it is a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. It has a secondary listing on the New York Stock Exchange. Contents
[hide]

1 History

o o o

1.1 GlaxoWellcome

1.2 SmithKline Beecham

1.3 Recent developments

2 Operations

3 Products

4 Initiatives to eradicate disease

5 Global locations

6 Corporate governance

7 Diversity

8 Controversy

8.1 Legal

  

8.1.1 Paroxetine

8.1.2 Ribena

8.1.3 Avandia

9 Announced policy change

10 See also

11 References

12 External links

History

Former GlaxoSmithKline building inHamburg, Germany

GSK was formed in 2000 by the merger of GlaxoWellcome plc (formed from the acquisition of Wellcome plc by Glaxo plc), and SmithKline Beecham plc (from the merger of Beecham plc, and SmithKline Beckman Corporation).

GlaxoWellcome
In 1880, Burroughs Wellcome & Company was founded in London by American pharmacists Henry Wellcome and Silas Burroughs.[5] The Wellcome Tropical Research Laboratories opened in 1902.[5] In 1959 the Wellcome Company bought Cooper, McDougall & Robertson Inc. to become more active in animal health.[5] The Wellcome Company production centre was moved from New York to North Carolina in 1970 and the following year another research centre was built.

Glaxo was founded in Bunnythorpe, New Zealand in 1904.[5] Originally Glaxo was a baby food manufacturer processing local milk into a baby food by the same name: the product was sold in the 1930s under the slogan "Glaxo builds bonny babies". Still visible on the main street of Bunnythorpe is a derelict dairy factory (factory for drying and processing cows' milk into powder) with the original Glaxo logo clearly visible, but nothing to indicate that this was the start of a major multinational company.

Glaxo became Glaxo Laboratories, and opened new units in London in 1935.[5] Glaxo Laboratories bought two companies, Joseph Nathan and Allen & Hanburys, in 1947 and 1958 respectively.[5] After the Company bought Meyer Laboratories in 1978,[5] it started to play an important role in the US market. In 1983 the American arm Glaxo Inc. moved to Research Triangle Park (US headquarters/research) and Zebulon (US manufacturing) in North Carolina. Burroughs Wellcome and Glaxo merged in 1995 to form GlaxoWellcome.[5] In the same year, GlaxoWellcome opened its Medicine Research Centre in Stevenage.[5] Three years later GlaxoWellcome bought Polfa Poznan Company in Poland.[5]

SmithKline Beecham
In 1843, Thomas Beecham launched his Beecham's Pills laxative in England giving birth to the Beecham Group.[5] Beechams opened its first factory in St Helens, Lancashire, England for rapid production of medicines in 1859. By the 1960s it was extensively involved in pharmaceuticals.

The GSK Headquarters in Brentford

In 1830, John K. Smith opened its first pharmacy in Philadelphia.[5] In 1865 Mahlon Kline joined the business which, 10 years later, became Smith, Kline & Co.[5]Subsequently, in 1891, it merged with French, Richard and Company.[5] It changed its name to Smith Kline & French Laboratories as it focused more on research in 1929. Years later, Smith Kline & French Laboratories opened a new laboratory in Philadelphia; it then bought Norden Laboratories, a business doing research into animal health.

Smith Kline & French Laboratories bought Recherche et Industrie Thrapeutiques (Belgium) in 1963 to order to focus on vaccines.[5] The Company started to expand globally buying seven laboratories in Canada and the US in 1969. In 1982, it bought Allergan, a manufacturer of eye and skincare products.[5] The Company merged with Beckman Inc. later that year and then changed its name to SmithKline Beckman.[5]

In 1988, SmithKline Beckman bought its biggest competitor, International Clinical Laboratories,[5] and in 1989 merged with Beecham to form SmithKline Beecham plc.[5]The headquarters of the Company were then moved to England. To expand research & development in the US, SmithKline Beecham bought a new research center in 1995. Another new research centre at New Frontiers Science Park in Harlow was opened in 1997.[5]

In 2000, Glaxo Wellcome and SmithKline Beecham merged to form GlaxoSmithKline.[6]

Recent developments
In 2001 it completed its purchase of New Jersey-based Block Drug.[7]

On 16 November 2009 the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced that a vaccine for 2009 H1N1 influenza protection (manufactured by GSK's ID Biomedical Corp. subsidiary) would join the four vaccines approved on 15 September.[8]

In June 2010, the company acquired Laboratorios Phoenix, an Argentine pharmaceutical company focused on the development, marketing and sale of branded generic products, for a cash consideration of approximately $253m.[9]

In December 2010, GSK announced its acquisition of the sports nutrition company Maxinutrition.[10]

Operations

As the second largest pharmaceutical company in the world, based on net income, the company had sales of 22.7 billion and made a profit of 7.8 billion in 2007.[11] It employs over 90,000 people worldwide, according to GSK website,[12] including over 40,000 in sales and marketing. Its global headquarters are GSK House in Brentford, London, United Kingdom, with its United States headquarters based in Research Triangle Park (RTP) in North Carolina[13] and its consumer products division based in the Pittsburgh suburb of Moon Township, Pennsylvania. The research and development division has major headquarters in South East England, Philadelphia and Research Triangle Park (RTP) in North Carolina.

The company's stock is listed on the London stock exchange and ADRs are listed on the NYSE. The single largest market is in the United States (approximately 45% of revenue), although the company has a presence in almost 70 countries.

In November 2009 GlaxoSmithKline formed a joint venture with Pfizer to create ViiV Healthcare. Viiv Healthcare received all of Pfizer and GlaxoSmithKline's HIV assets.[14] ViiV Healthcare is 85% owned by GlaxoSmithKline and 15% owned by Pfizer.

Products

The company's products include:

                         

Advair Albenza Alli Amerge Amoxil Aquafresh Arixtra Arranon Augmentin Avandia Avodart BC Powder Beano Beconase Biotene Boniva Boost Ceftin Coreg Coreg CR Dexedrine Flixonase Geritol Gly-Oxide Goody's Powder Horlicks

                                

Imitrex Keppra Lamictal Lanoxin Levitra Lovaza Lucozade Macleans (toothpaste) Nicoderm Nicorette NiQuitin Pandemrix Panadol Panadol night Parnate Parodontax Paxil Promacta Ralgex Relenza Requip Ribena Sensodyne Serlipet Setlers Tagamet Treximet Tums Trizivir Twinrix Tykerb Valtrex Ventolin HFA

     

Veramyst Vesicare Wellbutrin Zantac Zofran Zovirax

Initiatives to eradicate disease

Glaxo SmithKline has been active in a global alliance to eliminate lymphatic filariasis.[15] Jean-Pierre (JP) Garnier, former CEO of GlaxoSmithKline has said, The Egyptian data shows that we can now eliminate a disease that has plagued the world for centuries. We remain committed to donating as much albendazole as required to eliminate this disabling disease, but ultimate success will depend on continued long-term commitments by all partners across the globe.

In addition Glaxo has been short-listed for awards such as the Worldaware Business Award for its work to eliminate malaria in Kenya.[16]

GlaxoSmithKline recently donated money to the British flood appeal, and was ranked first on the 2006 UK Corporate Citizenship Index for donations.[17]

Global locations

Factory in Ulverston

An entrance to the Ulverston plant

  

Global Pharmaceutical Operations headquarters in Brentford, United Kingdom with US operations based in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina. Consumer Products headquarters in Moon Township, Pennsylvania suburb of Pittsburgh

Major R&D sites in Stockley Park, Stevenage and Ware in the United Kingdom; Zagreb, Croatia; Evreux and Les Ulis in France; Research Triangle Park, North Carolina; Laval, Quebec and Upper Merion and Collegeville, Pennsylvania

Major centre for biopharmaceutical products in Belgium (Wavre and Rixensart), Germany (Dresden), Canada (Quebec, QC) and USA (Marietta PA & Hamilton MT)

  

New R&D centres in Thane, India and Nashik, India R&D centres in Shanghai, China and Boston, USA

Major manufacturing sites for prescription products in Irvine, Ware, Montrose, Barnard Castle, Crawley, Worthing and Ulverston in the United Kingdom; Evreux, France;Bristol, King of Prussia and Zebulon in the United States; Cidra, Puerto Rico; Jurong, Singapore; Cork, Ireland; Pozna , Poland; Parma, Italy; Brasov, Romania;Boronia, Australia.

Major manufacturing sites for consumer products in Maidenhead, United Kingdom; Dungarvan, Ireland; Mississauga, Ontario; Aiken, South Carolina; Clifton, New Jersey; and St. Louis, Missouri, and Kenya

GSK has a presence in 99 cities across 39 countries