GlaxoSmithKline Q2 profit slips

Source: Healthcare Digital

Date :24/07/2008 08:57:27

GlaxoSmithKline plc posted a three percent drop in second quarter profit yesterday, July 23, and unveiled plans to shake up its strategy.

The drugmaker reported that profit fell to £1.29 billion in the three months to June 30, compared with £1.33 billion a year earlier.

Revenue rose 3.5 percent to £5.9 billion pounds, London-based GSK said.

The company added that it continues to expect a mid-single digit decline in earnings per share for the full year at constant exchange rates.

Chief executive Andrew Witty (pictured) described the quarter as a "robust one".

Strategic priorities

He used the earnings report to outline GSK’s "new strategic priorities," including growing a more diversified global business and simplifying the company's operating model.

"In the next few years the pharmaceutical industry will face immense challenges as an unprecedented number of products lose patent protection," Witty said as he outlined the plan.

"This will be set against a backdrop of payors searching for ever more cost-effective healthcare and escalating patient demand for new and better medicines."