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What does GSK stand for?
GlaxoSmithKline
How large of a company are they?
They are one of the largest vaccine companies in the world
How many of their vaccines were distributed to LIDCs/EDCs in 2014?
80%
What does their missions statement say?
They want to positively impact the health of 2.5 billion people by the end of 2030
What does their R&D focus on?
-Infectious diseases, HIV, respiratory/immunology, oncology
What are some of their most well-known/well-renowned scientific breakthroughs? (‘69)
-In 1969, Ventolin was launched by Allen and Hanburys (a company that was later absorbed by GSK)
What are some of their most well-known/well-renowned scientific breakthroughs? (‘72)
-in 1972, they discovered amoxillin which is a penicillin antibiotic used to fight bacterial infections → it is on WHO’s list of essential medications
What are some of their most well-known/well-renowned scientific breakthroughs? (‘87)
-in 1987, zidovudine (brand name = Retrovir) was launched by Wellcome (another company that was absorbed by GSK) → it became the first approved treatment for AIDS
What are patents?
-Exclusive rights granted for an invention
-They are part of the knowledge economy
How many patents does GSK have globally, and what are the main things they have patented?
-GSK have 14,306 patents globally
-However, they are no longer enforcing their patents in the poorest countries
-The main things they have patented are potential cancer treatments, some of which have over 200 citations in academic articles
How many people does GSK employ in R&D, and how much do they spend per year researching new medicines?
-13,000 people
-They spend more than £3 billion a year researching new medicines
Where are their R&D departments located?
-All are in ACs
Where are their manufacturing locations?
-Mostly in ACs eg the UK, USA, Australia
-They do have some in EDCs eg China, India
What are the characteristics of drug manufacturing?
-High cost → $3 billion spent per year on research
-High risk → unknown whether the drugs they are investing in will work + investors will get a return on the investment, or whether they will turn out to not work
-Need for highly skilled employees as they are working in highly specialised areas
Their global flows for distribution - vaccines
-Have been partnered with Gavi (the vaccine alliance) since 2000 and has supplied it with more than 1 billion doses since 2010
-Helped with supplying the polio vaccine to UNICEF + have contributed billions of doses to the Global Polio Eradication Initiative since 1988 (countries include Afghanistan + Pakistan as polio is endemic there)
What is GSK’s ethical policy?
-They basically try and help out the developing world:
-they provide 3 HIV/AIDS drugs to LIDCs at a significant discount
-investing 20% of its profits from sales in each developing country into that country’s health infrastructure
-granting licences for the manufacture of cheap generic versions of its patented drugs
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