Case study of one pharmaceutical transnational - GSK

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