GlaxoSmithKline posts strong 3rd-qtr results as Advair continues to blossom

GlaxoSmithKline has announced a healthy set of results for the thirdquarter of 2001, which show sales climbing 12% at constant exchange rates to L4.99 billion ($7.11 billion) and pretax profits increasing 16% to L1.35 billion or just under L0.16 per share (+18%).

Pharmaceutical sales grew 13% (excluding the firm's divested products) to L4.18 billion, and were up 14% in the USA to L2.20 billion. Most impressive was the growth of GSK's combination asthma treatment Advair/Seretide (fluticasone plus salmeterol), which contributed L240 million to turnover, boosted by the drug's launch in the USA earlier this year (Marketletter April 23), where two million prescriptions have already been written. The company noted that of its other asthma treatments, Flixotide/Flovent (fluticasone) grew 7% to L219 million and Serevent (salmeterol) rose by the same percentage to L154 million.

Also of note was the performance of Avandia (rosiglitazone), GSK's type 2 diabetes treatment, which contri-buted L226 million to the company's revenues for the quarter, up 94%, though the company acknowledged that this was helped by advanced US wholesaler stocking. In antivirals, Combivir (zidovudine plus lamivudine) increased 3% to L150 million, while the firm's new triple-combination treatment Trizivir (lamivudine/zidovudine/abacavir) had sales of L46 million. Ziagen (abacavir) turnover rose just 1% to L42 million.