Another top executive at Glaxo is leaving the company as new CEO Emma Walmsley continues to shape the c-suite for her administration.
Another top executive at GlaxoSmithKline is leaving the company as new Chief Executive Officer Emma Walmsley continues to shape the c-suite for her administration.
This morning Reuters reported that Patrick Vallance, head of research and development at GSK, is leaving the company to take on the role of the British government’s chief scientific adviser. Reuters said that Vallance has not yet officially resigned from the pharma giant. News of his departure was shared via unnamed people familiar with the matter. As a member of the company’s board, GSK will issue a statement when Vallance does make his leave official, Reuters noted. Vallance joined GSK in 2006 and took over the reins of the R&D division in 2012.
The alleged move comes as Walmsley looks to kick-start the company’s R&D efforts in order to field blockbuster drugs to drive revenue. Under Vallance’s tenure as head of R&D, Reuters noted that the company has had multiple clinical trial failures, which have undermined faith in the company’s research department.
Writing in Endpoints News, John Carroll noted that GSK has the 11th largest R&D budget in the industry. R&D accounts for 16 percent of the company’s revenue, but it will soon be facing declines with the lack of new blockbuster drugs and the loss of market share to generic challenges to its asthma drug, Advair.
In July, Walmsley announced a major shakeup to the company’s R&D programming. The company said it will terminate more than 30 preclinical and clinical programs and allocate 80 percent of its research-and-development budget to respiratory and HIV/infectious diseases. Additionally, GSK plans to strengthen its oncology and immuno-inflammation areas. During a second quarter report, Walmsley pointed to the company’s pharmaceutical division as a catalyst for change. She said the company needs to pull full value from recent and upcoming product launches, make improvements in its cost base, and strengthen its pipeline.
Walmsley said the changes will keep the company a bit leaner. At the time the decision was made, she told reporters that the company had been “too broadly spread.”
As the company shakes up its R&D, it did get the chance to share some good news. On Thursday, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration granted Breakthrough Therapy Designation for GSK2857916 monotherapy in patients with multiple myeloma who have failed at least three prior lines of therapy. The drug is being developed in partnership with SVP Oncology.
Earlier this year, Walmsley hired Luke Miels, a former AstraZeneca executive, to head GSK’s pharmaceuticals division. He will likely be Walmsley’s top lieutenant as the company shapes the future of its pipeline.
