GSK, the biggest UK pharmaceuticals company, has ruled out a bid for the second biggest AstraZeneca. The GSK chief executive, Andrew Witty, said that such a move would be distracting. He believes that GSK’s pipeline new drugs are entering an exciting time.
Meanwhile, AZ’s chief executive, David Brennan, is retiring on 1 June as the big pharma company battles to maintain revenues after losing out to generics competitors. Brennan said that the pharma sector was “experiencing pressures none of which I’ve witnessed in my 36 years in the industry”. Like many big pharma companies, AZ is feeling the effects of the patent cliff, which is the falling out of patent of many of their blockbuster drugs between 2011 and 2016 without sufficient replacements coming through.