GlaxoSmithKline on Tuesday appointed Emma Walmsley, its head of
consumer healthcare, to lead the British drugs giant and develop new
treatments in a fast-consolidating sector.
Walmsley, 47, succeeds outgoing chief executive Andrew Witty, who is retiring early next year after almost a decade at the helm.
Walmsley,
who joined GSK from French cosmetics giant L’Oreal six years ago and
has a background in marketing, will take up her new post at the end of
March.
She will join six other women who currently head one of the
100 companies listed on London’s benchmark FTSE index but will oversee
the largest of the seven, which include EasyJet, led by Carolyn McCall.
The
global pharmaceutical sector has undergone major consolidation in
recent years as companies battle competition for generic versions of
their drugs.
In the past month, US giant Pfizer announced a deal
to purchase biotech firm Medivation, which specialises in cancer
treatments, for $14 billion (12.5 billion euros).
Google and French pharmaceutical giant Sanofi have meanwhile agreed a joint venture focused on diabetes care.
For
its part, GSK agreed in 2014 to sell its oncology business to Novartis
for $16 billion, while buying the Swiss group’s vaccines division in
return.
The pair also formed a joint venture for consumer health products, headed by Walmsley.
“Emma
is an outstanding leader with highly valuable experience of building
and running major global businesses and a strong track record of
delivering growth and driving performance in healthcare,” GSK chairman
Philip Hampton said in a statement.
“Under Andrew’s leadership,
GSK has successfully developed into a company with market-leading
positions in pharmaceuticals, vaccines and consumer healthcare. These
provide excellent platforms for sustainable, long-term growth,” he
added.
Alongside
the Novartis deal, the latter part of Witty’s tenure was clouded by
Chinese authorities fining GSK the equivalent of almost half a billion
dollars in 2014 over alleged bribery.
The firm’s former head of
China operations, Mark Reilly, and four other ex-officials were handed
suspended prison sentences over the incident.
– ‘R&D the beating heart’ –
Looking
ahead, Walmsley said in the statement that GSK has “the potential to
create meaningful benefits for patients, consumers and our shareholders”
thanks to a rise in “medical innovation and trusted healthcare
products”.
In an interview posted on the firm’s website, the
married, mother-of-four added that research and developement of new
products would remain GSK’s priority under her stewardship.
“R&D
is absolutely the beating heart of our company and our success is and
will continue to be defined most fundamentally by the strength of our
pipeline,” she said.
The Oxford University graduate pointed also to challenges that lay ahead for her company and the sector as a whole.
“Pricing
is a key area of focus, government and household budgets are under
pressure, the regulatory environment is extremely tough and
unpredictable and of course society wants big business and big pharma to
continue to close the trust deficit that has been widening,” she said.
GSK’s
shares were down 0.6 percent at £16.36 in late morning deals following
the announcement, underperforming the wider FTSE 100, which gained half a
percent.
“The GSK business, including pharma, is in stronger
shape than the market realises and this ‘don’t upset the apple cart’
appointment is consistent with this view,” brokers Liberum said in a
note to clients.
GSK said details of Walmsley’s salary would be
disclosed next year. The company employs around 100,000 people
worldwide, of which one-tenth work in R&D.
