Headline results for the first quarter:
Revenue: £7 billion ($8.7 billion; forecasts of £6.5 billion), down 3%
Profit: £1.5 billion ($1.9 billion; forecasts of £1.2 billion), versus £1.8 billion in the prior year
Note: All changes are versus the prior-year period unless otherwise stated
"We have made a strong start to 2023, with excellent performance across vaccines, specialty and general medicines," remarked CEO Emma Walmsley.
GSK disclosed that a judgment was entered against the company on April 5 in its royalty dispute with AstraZeneca over Zejula, although it is considering an appeal. The court upheld AstraZeneca’s interpretation that all current uses of Zejula generate royalty-bearing sales under the wording of two license agreements. As such, GSK will owe past royalties to AstraZeneca, which will be determined at a later date, as well as going forward. Speciality medicines: £2.2 billion, down 29%
HIV product sales: £1.5 billion, up 24%
Dovato: £396 million, up 54%
Triumeq: £374 million, down 5%
Tivicay: £357 million, up 12%
Cabenuva: £127 million, up >100%
Oncology product sales: £136 million, up 7%
Zejula: £114 million, up 16%
Nucala: £347 million, up 18%
Xevudy: £31 million, down 98%
General medicines: £2.7 billion, up 12%
Respiratory: £1.8 billion, up 15%
Trelegy Ellipta: £465 million, up 37%
Relvar/Breo Ellipta: £274 million, flat versus the prior year
Vaccine sales: £2 billion, up 22%
Shingrix: £833 million, up 19%
Bexsero: £218 million, up 34%
Menveo: £59 million, up 40%
GSK reiterated that it expects sales this year to increase between 6% and 8% at constant currencies, with operating profit growing in the range of 10% to 12%. Citi analyst Andrew Baum noted that even after stripping out one-time contributions, GSK's underlying revenue and earnings beat were a respectable 3% and 4%, respectively, in the quarter. GSK said that earlier this month it ended enrolment in the Phase III ZEST study investigating the PARP inhibitorPARP inhibitor Zejula in patients with either HER2-negative BRCA-mutated or triple-negative breast cancer with molecular disease based on the presence of circulating tumour DNA (ctDNA) after definitive therapy. The company explained that recruitment for the trial was "much more challenging" than initially thought as the prevalence of radiologically detectable metastatic disease among patients who are ctDNA positive is much higher than expected. This enabled patients to be referred for treatment of metastatic cancer ahead of clinical symptoms, making patients ineligible for ZEST.