Glaxo’s profit jumps almost a third on better sales of HIV drugs and worse pound
London — GlaxoSmithKline, the UK’s biggest drugmaker, posted a 31% gain in first-quarter profit, helped by a weaker pound and rising sales of its drugs including HIV/AIDS treatments. Earnings per share excluding certain costs rose to 25 pence a share, the London-based company said on Wednesday. That compared with the 24.5p average of analysts’ estimates compiled by Bloomberg. The profit gains were likely to bolster efforts by CEO Emma Walmsley, who took the helm less than a month ago, to boost revenue from new drugs to help offset eroding sales of top-selling asthma medicine Advair. The company has pledged that new products such as its blockbuster HIV/AIDS medicines and vaccines for meningitis, will generate £6bn in annual sales in 2018. Glaxo said in February that profit growth in 2017 was at risk of getting wiped out by drugmakers who want to start marketing cheaper copycat versions of Advair in the US. Profit will rise by 5% to 7% if generic competitors do not enter the US, the c...
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