GSK offers concessions to address Pfizer deal concerns

GSK announced the deal in December last year, a move which will put it ahead of rivals Johnson & Johnson, Bayer and Sanofi.

BRUSSELS: GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) has offered concessions to address EU antitrust concerns over its planned joint venture with Pfizer's consumer health business, the European Commission said on Thursday.

The EU competition enforcer will decide by July 10 whether to accept the proposal, demand more or open a full-scale investigation, according to a filing on its site.

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GSK announced the deal in December last year, a move which will put it ahead of rivals Johnson & Johnson, Bayer and Sanofi.

GSK is a British multinational pharmaceutical company headquartered in London. Established in 2000 by a merger of Glaxo Wellcome and SmithKline Beecham, GSK was the world's sixth largest pharmaceutical company as of 2015, after Pfizer, Novartis, Merck, Hoffmann-La Roche and Sanofi.

The company's drugs and vaccines earned revenue of £21.3 billion in 2013. Its top-selling products that year were Advair, Avodart, Flovent, Augmentin, Lovaza and Lamictal. It's consumer products, which earned revenue of £5.2 billion in 2013, include Sensodyne and Aquafresh toothpaste, the malted-milk drink Horlicks, Abreva for cold sores, Breathe Right nasal strips, Nicoderm and Nicorette nicotine replacements, and Night Nurse, a cold remedy.

The company developed the first malaria vaccine, RTS, S, which it said in 2014 it would make available for five per cent above cost. Legacy products developed at GSK include several listed in the World Health Organization Model List of Essential Medicines, such as amoxicillin, mercaptopurine, pyrimethamine and zidovudine.

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