GSK looks like they are in the hunt...
reuters.com
Glaxo to invest in diversity, cautious on outlook
Wed Jul 23, 2008 8:19am EDT
Excerpts:
Laying out his strategy formally for the first time on Wednesday, Andrew Witty declared his three priorities were diversification, smarter value-based drug research and a simplification of operating systems.
He said money saved from the simpler group structure will be reinvested or returned to shareholders.
But Europe's biggest drugmaker signaled the short-term focus would be on investment as the timeline for its remaining 6.5 billion-pound ($13 billion) share buyback program would be extended beyond July 2009...
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Witty made emerging markets a top priority -- a pledge backed up by a pioneering deal with South Africa's Aspen Pharmacare Holdings that paves the way for the sale of cheap branded generic medicines in emerging markets...
Witty told reporters he was also open to expanding into new areas, if it could be shown that these would drive growth. But he ruled out buying a generic drug business in the United States or Western Europe...
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That changing landscape means Glaxo needs to focus on areas where there is both an unmet medical need and the scientific potential for developing new products, Witty said.
Glaxo's eight areas of focus for future drug research will be inflammation, oncology, metabolic pathways, ophthalmology, respiratory, neuroscience, anti-infectives and biopharmaceuticals.
Glaxo already has a reputation for cutting costs, but Witty said more could be done, for example by eliminating duplicate financial accounting systems and reducing the number of packs its pharmaceutical factories produce.
Witty said he was actively looking for bolt-on acquisitions across all areas of Glaxo's business but he was skeptical about big deals, given the pipeline problems facing any large company Glaxo might look to acquire. |
