Government picks Glaxo for vaccine
Jun 19 2008 by Peter McCusker, The Journal
THERE was good news for drugs giant GlaxoSmithKline yesterday after its cervical cancer vaccine Cervarix was picked as the medicine of choice for the Department of Health’s immunisation programme.
The programme aims to protect against the two types of human papillomavirus responsible for about 70% of cervical cancers and starts in September for girls aged 12 to 13, the company said.
The decision marks a defeat for Merck’s Gardasil, which competes with the Glaxo drug.
This comes after a spate of bad news for the company which is currently axing 300 North jobs at Ulverston, Cumbria, as part of plans to save £700m. It had already cut the workforce there from 1,000 to 540. A cloud still hangs over the 1,000 staff in Barnard Castle, County Durham, where it is the biggest employer. Glaxo said it has no current plans to reduce staffing there but has said the situation is still under review.
In April the company posted a 13% fall in first-quarter profits after a sharp fall in sales for under-fire diabetes treatment Avandia.
The group revealed Avandia sales dived by 56% to £191m in the first three months of the year, after demand for the product suffered in the wake of claims made last year that the drug increased the risk of heart attack.
The allegations are strongly denied by the firm, which said it was hopeful the worst of the sales declines may be over.
