GlaxoSmithKline PLC (GSK, Financial) is ready for a “landmark year,” CEO Emma Walmsley said at Tuesday’s session of the 40th Annual JP Morgan Health Care Conference.
When the U.K. pharma giant spins off its consumer health group sometime in the middle of the year, the independent entity will become the top company of its kind around the world, with more than $13.5 billion in annual sales generated by 20 brands.
After the consumer group is carved out, Glaxo will become a pure pharmaceutical and vaccine company with expected annual revenue of nearly $45 billion by 2031. Whether that forecast is enough to get activist investor Elliott Advisors off its back remains to be seen.
The JP Morgan gathering is the largest and most informative health care investment symposium in the industry, according to the investment bank and financial services company. It brings together global industry leaders, emerging fast-growth companies, innovative technology creators and members of the investment community. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the conference is being held virtually.
Speaking of the pandemic, Merck & Co. Inc.’s (MRK, Financial) Dean Li said the pharma giant is confident its antiviral drug molnupiravir will be effective against the omicron variant.
That’s a bullish statement given the treatment achieved less-than-spectacular results in a clinical trial released in November. The trial showed the drug had only 30% efficacy in cutting the risk of hospitalization and death for Covid-19 patients as opposed to the 50% figure reported at the trial’s interim stage. By contrast, the Pfizer Inc. (PFE, Financial) pill, Paxlovid, scored nearly 90% efficacy.
Still, Merck said it was confident molnupiravir will prove highly effective against the omicron variant, cutting mortality by 90%. The company expects to double the number of treatments in 2022 to 20 million, which should bring in between $5 billion and $7 billion. Pfizer expects to have an omicron-specific shot by March.
In other news coming from the meeting, Gilead Sciences Inc. (GILD, Financial) said its HIV business is still going strong, owing to the once-a-day pill Biktarvy and lenacapvir. The company expects the two medications to deliver ongoing growth through 2030, CEO Daniel O’Day said.
He also reported that by 2030, Gilead’s cancer drugs will make up a third of the company’s revenue, up from just 5% currently. Sales of its oncology treatments will reach more than $1 billion in 2021, which “starts to hint at the revenue potential that we have ahead of us,” O'Day said. The company’s big oncology drugs, Trodelvy and Yescarta, generated sales of nearly $950 million in the third quarter.
