GSK: Profits, Patents and Patients: Access to Medicines

On April 22nd 2014, after a difficult year in which GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) had been accused of bribery in China and fined $3 billion by American regulators for marketing malpractice in the US, the pharmaceutical company announced a complex three-part restructuring deal with Swiss giant Novartis. The deal, one of a slew of multibillion-dollar deals in the global pharmaceutical industry, would allow GSK to focus on four key business areas – HIV, vaccines, respiratory conditions and consumer healthcare. It was seen as a win-win deal, offering both companies economies of scale that were increasingly vital for ‘big pharma’. Analysts believed it would ‘unlock significant shareholder value’, not least because it would allow GSK to return £4 billion to investors through a B share scheme.