Investors Impressed With Glaxo Wellcome Pipeline

Glaxo Wellcome says that it is on course for 10%-plus growth in 1999,following a predicted flat net income both this year and in 1998. At a meeting in London for industry analysts on May 2, GW updated its research pipeline, which includes 120 compounds in development and 67 New Chemical Entities, and said it intends launching three new products per year from the year 2000.

The meeting helped allay fears about GW's future following the loss of patents for two of its biggest money-spinners (Marketletters passim), the antiulcer drug Zantac (ranitidine) and the antiviral product Zovirax (aciclovir), which are predicted to reduce total group sales by 15% over the next 15 months, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Investors appeared impressed with the pipeline, and shares, although dropping slightly after the Labour Party's landslide victory in the UK's general election on May 1, soon regained the loss, closing at L11.94 ($19.37), down 1.5 pence on the day of the meeting. The WSJ says that this leaves GW stock up 35% this year so far.