EC approves Glaxo Smithkline merger
22 Aug 2000
The European Commission has given its blessing to the proposed merger of Glaxo Wellcome and SmithKline Beecham. However, the approval is dependent on the companies licensing out the manufacture and sales of several of their drugs to outside firms within Europe.
The drugs which must go are Kytril, an anti-nausea treatment; Famvir, a herpes drug; and either Vactavir or Zovirax, both ointments for treating cold sores. These products represented sales of some £50million in 1999, against £3.9billion total sales for the two companies over the same period.
The companies are still awaiting approval for the merger from the US Federal Trade Commission, and from their shareholders, but the mega-company's prospective management are upbeat. `Our integration planning is progressing well and the recently announced first-quarter results of both companies gives us great confidence in the prospects for the new organisation,' said chairman-elect Richard Sykes and chief executive-elect Jean-Pierre Garnier in a joint statement.
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