Symonds joins as GSK chair as results back Walmsley’s strategy

GlaxoSmithKline has confirmed its new chairman will be Jonathan Symonds as its second-quarter results reveal a solid performance underpinned by shingles vaccine Shingrix.

Symonds’ appointment to replace the outgoing Sir Philip Hampton – which was widely predicted last week – became official as GSK said it would post a smaller fall in profits this year thanks in large part to a stellar performance by Shingrix, sales of which doubled to £386m ($482m).

Symonds, who is currently deputy group chairman of HSBC Holdings and has previously worked as chief financial officer of Novartis and AstraZeneca, will help GSK’s chief executive Emma Walmsley implement her new strategy for the company.

That new approach is aimed at starting a new chapter for the company as it navigates a difficult 2019 caused by generic competition in the US to its respiratory blockbuster Advair (salmeterol/fluticasone propionate). And it’s a case of so far, so good at GSK, which raised its earnings outlook for the year, saying it now expects a fall in earnings per share of 3-5%, down from the earlier estimate of 5-9%.

Walmsley said the company remained “focused on strengthening our R&D pipeline and the execution of new product launches”.

That involves splitting the company into two separate businesses, one focused on consumer health and over-the-counter medicines and the other on prescription drugs and vaccines, and driving through improvements in R&D to boost the productivity of its pipeline.

The change of direction under Walmsley has already manifested itself in the  $5.1bn acquisition of US biotech Tesaro, bringing in a marketed cancer drug, and a $4.2bn in-licensing partnership with Merck KGaA on bispecific antibodies for cancer.

Those are all plays for the future, and for now all looks well at GSK, with group sales up 7% to £7.8bn, pharma sales holding fairly firm at £4.3bn, and vaccines rising 26% to £1.6bn thanks largely to Shingrix growth – particularly in the US, Germany and Canada – and a solid performance for its meningitis vaccine franchise.

Elsewhere, Nucala (mepolizumab) for severe asthma grew by a third to £195m despite increased competition in the market, while triple therapy for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease – Trelegy (fluticasone furoate/umeclidinium/vilanterol) – more than doubled to £120m.

Tesaro’s cancer drug Zejula (niraparib) – a PARP inhibitor for ovarian cancer that competes with drugs from AstraZeneca and Clovis Oncology – brought in £57m in the quarter.

However, there were troublesome signs in the company’s ViiV Healthcare HIV business with sales growing 2% to £1.2bn, evidence that rival Gilead is fighting back in the two companies’ tussle for market share.