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ARTICLE | Company News

GSK expands restructuring, reports earnings

February 6, 2009 1:38 AM UTC

GlaxoSmithKline (LSE:GSK; NYSE:GSK) said in its 4Q08 earnings that it will expand the restructuring program that the company began in 2007. GSK said it will cut its U.S. primary care sales force by 1,800 and increase its U.S. sales force for vaccines and specialty pharma by 350. GSK said it would not disclose numbers for reductions in other areas until after the restructuring is completed. The company now expects pre-tax annual savings of L1.7 billion ($2.4 billion) by 2011, up from L700 million.

On the pipeline front, GSK disclosed that in December it submitted an NDA for Armala pazopanib to treat renal cell carcinoma (RCC). Submission of an MAA in the EU for the broad-spectrum inhibitor of VEGF and other tyrosine kinases is expected this quarter. The company also said it terminated development of Coreg CR plus an undisclosed angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitor that was in Phase III testing to treat hypertension. Coreg CR is marketed to treat hypertension, heart attack and heart failure, and uses Micropump technology from Flamel (NASDAQ:FLML). Flamel was up $0.05 to $4.30 on Thursday. ...