type public limited company traded as lse gsk nyse gsk industry pharmaceutical biotechnology consumer goods predecessor glaxo plc wellcome plc beecham group plc kline & french beckman companies smith plc founded december 2000 ; 15 years ago 2000 12 headquarters isleworth london england u.k. key people sir philip hampton chairman andrew witty ceo products pharmaceuticals vaccines oral healthcare nutritional products over the counter medicines revenue 23.923 billion 2015 1 operating income 10.322 billion 2015 1 net income 8.372 billion 2015 1 number of employees 96 575 2015 2 subsidiaries stiefel laboratories website www.gsk.com glaxosmithkline plc gsk is a british pharmaceutical company headquartered in brentford 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 . n 1 3 andrew witty has been the chief executive officer since 2008 . 4 the company has a primary listing on the london stock exchange and is a constituent of the ftse 100 index . as of august 2016 it had a market capitalisation of 81 billion around 107 billion the fourth largest on the london stock exchange . 5 it has a secondary listing on the new york stock exchange . gsk s drugs and vaccines earned 21.3 billion in 2013 . 6 its top selling products that year were advair avodart flovent augmentin lovaza and lamictal . gsk s consumer products which earned 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 . 7 the company developed the first malaria vaccine rts s which it said in 2014 it would make available for five percent above cost . 8 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 . in 2012 gsk pleaded guilty to promotion of drugs for unapproved uses failure to report safety data and kickbacks to physicians in the united states and agreed to pay a 3 billion 1.9 bn settlement the largest settlement in the country by a drug company . 9 contents 1 history 1.1 glaxo wellcome 1.2 smithkline beecham 1.3 glaxosmithkline 2 research products 2.1 pharmaceuticals 2.2 malaria vaccine 2.3 consumer healthcare 2.4 facilities 2.5 scientific recognition 3 operations and acquisitions since 2001 3.1 2001 2010 3.2 2011 present 4 philanthropy and social responsibility 5 2012 criminal and civil settlement 5.1 overview 5.2 rosiglitazone avandia 5.3 paroxetine paxil seroxat 5.4 bupropion wellbutrin 6 other controversies 6.1 antitrust case over griseofulvin 6.2 ribena 6.3 sb pharmco puerto rico 6.4 china 6.5 market manipulation in the uk 6.6 miscellaneous 7 diagram of acquisition history 8 see also 9 notes 10 references 11 external links history edit glaxo wellcome edit the historic glaxo factory in bunnythorpe new zealand with the glaxo laboratories sign still visible glaxo was founded in the 1850s as a general trading company in bunnythorpe new zealand by a londoner joseph edward nathan . 10 in 1904 it began producing dried milk baby food first known as defiance then as glaxo from lacto under the slogan glaxo builds bonny babies . 11 12 306 13 the glaxo laboratories sign is still visible right on what is now a car repair shop on the main street of bunnythorpe . the company s first pharmaceutical product produced in 1920 was vitamin d. 12 306 glaxo laboratories opened new units in london in 1935 . the company bought two companies joseph nathan and allen & hanburys in 1947 and 1958 respectively . the scottish pharmacologist david jack was working for allen & hanbury s when glaxo took it over ; he went on lead the company s r & d until 1987 . 12 306 after the company bought meyer laboratories in 1978 it began to play an important role in the us market . in 1983 the american arm glaxo inc. moved to research triangle park us headquarters research and zebulon us manufacturing in north carolina . 13 burroughs wellcome & company was founded in 1880 in london by the american pharmacists henry wellcome and silas burroughs . the wellcome tropical research laboratories opened in 1902 . in the 1920s burroughs wellcome established research and manufacturing facilities in tuckahoe new york 14 18 15 16 which served as the us headquarters until the company moved to research triangle park in north carolina in 1971 . 17 the nobel prize winning scientists gertrude b. elion and george h. hitchings worked there and invented drugs still used many years later such as mercaptopurine . 18 in 1959 the wellcome company bought cooper mcdougall & robertson inc to become more active in animal health . 13 glaxo and burroughs wellcome merged in 1995 to form glaxo wellcome . 19 12 309 glaxo restructured its r & d operation that year cutting 10 000 jobs worldwide closing its r & d facility in beckenham kent and opening a medicines research centre in stevenage hertfordshire . 20 21 22 also that year glaxo wellcome acquired the california based affymax a leader in the field of combinatorial chemistry . 23 by 1999 glaxo wellcome had become the world s third largest pharmaceutical company by revenues behind novartis and merck with a global market share of around 4 per cent . 24 its products included imigran for the treatment of migraine salbutamol ventolin for the treatment of asthma zovirax for the treatment of coldsores and retrovir and epivir for the treatment of aids . in 1999 the company was the world s largest manufacturer of drugs for the treatment of asthma and hiv aids . 25 it employed 59 000 people including 13 400 in the uk had 76 operating companies and 50 manufacturing facilities worldwide and seven of its products were among the world s top 50 best selling pharmaceuticals . the company had r & d facilities in hertfordshire kent and london and manufacturing plants in scotland and the north of england . it had r & d centres in the us and japan and production facilities in the us europe and the far east . 26 smithkline beecham edit beecham s clock tower constructed 1877 part of the beecham s factory st helens in 1843 thomas beecham launched his beecham s pills laxative in england giving birth to the beecham group . in 1859 beecham opened its first factory in st helens lancashire . by the 1960s beecham was extensively involved in pharmaceuticals . 13 john k. smith opened its first pharmacy in philadelphia in 1830 . in 1865 mahlon kline joined the business which 10 years later became smith kline & co. in 1891 it merged with french richard and company and in 1929 changed its name to smith kline & french laboratories as it focused more on research . years later it bought norden laboratories a business doing research into animal health and recherche et industrie th rapeutiques in belgium in 1963 to focus on vaccines . the company began to expand globally buying seven laboratories in canada and the united states in 1969 . in 1982 it bought allergan a manufacturer of eye and skincare products . 13 smithkline & french merged with beckman inc. in 1982 and changed its name to smithkline beckman . in 1988 it bought its biggest competitor international clinical laboratories and in 1989 merged with beecham to form smithkline beecham plc. the headquarters moved from the united states to england . to expand r & d in the united states the company bought a new research center in 1995 ; another opened in 1997 in england at new frontiers science park harlow . 13 glaxosmithkline edit glaxo wellcome and smithkline beecham announced their intention to merge in january 2000 . the merger was completed in december that year forming glaxosmithkline gsk . 27 28 the company s global headquarters are at gsk house brentford london officially opened in 2002 by then prime minister tony blair . the building was erected at a cost of 300 million and as of 2002 was home to 3 000 administrative staff . 29 andrew witty took over as ceo in may 2008 . witty joined glaxo in 1985 and had been president of gsk s pharmaceuticals europe since 2003 . 30 chris gent previously ceo of vodafone was the chair between 2005 and 2015 . 31 on 20 september 2016 the company announced that his successor a management professional originally from lancashire with a background in marketing emma walmsley would take over the position on witty s retirement scheduled for 31 march 2017 . 32 philip hampton at that time chair of the royal bank of scotland replaced gent as gsk chairman in september 2015 . 33 research products edit further information list of glaxosmithkline products pharmaceuticals edit gsk manufactures products for major disease areas such as asthma cancer infections diabetes and mental health . its biggest selling in 2013 were advair avodart flovent augmentin lovaza and lamictal ; its drugs and vaccines earned 21.3 billion that year . other top selling products include its asthma copd inhalers advair ventolin and flovent ; its diphtheria tetanus pertussis vaccine infanrix and its hepatitis b vaccine ; the epilepsy drug lamictal and the antibacterial augmentin . 6 220 medicines historically discovered or developed at gsk and its legacy companies and now sold as generics include amoxicillin 34 and amoxicillin clavulanate 35 ticarcillin clavulanate 36 mupirocin 37 and ceftazidime 38 for bacterial infections zidovudine for hiv infection valacyclovir for herpes virus infections albendazole for parasitic infections sumatriptan for migraine lamotrigine for epilepsy bupropion and paroxetine for major depressive disorder cimetidine and ranitidine for gastroesophageal reflux disorder mercaptopurine 39 and thioguanine 40 for the treatment of leukemia allopurinol for gout 41 pyrimethamine for malaria 42 and the antibacterial trimethoprim . 40 among these albendazole amoxicillin amoxicillin clavulanate allopurinol mercaptopurine mupriocin pyrimethamine ranitidine thioguanine trimethoprim and zidovudine are listed on the world health organization s list of essential medications . 43 malaria vaccine edit in 2014 gsk applied for regulatory approval for the first malaria vaccine . 44 malaria is responsible for over 650 000 deaths annually mainly in africa . 45 known as rts s the vaccine was developed as a joint project with the path vaccines initiative and the bill and melinda gates foundation . the company has committed to making the vaccine available in developing countries for five percent above the cost of production . 8 as of 2013 rts s which uses gsk s proprietary as01 adjuvant was being examined in a phase 3 trial in eight african countries . path reported that i n the 12 month period following vaccination rts s conferred approximately 50 % protection from clinical plasmodium falciparum disease in children aged 5 17 months and approximately 30 % protection in children aged 6 12 weeks when administered in conjunction with expanded program for immunization epi vaccines . 46 in 2014 glaxo said it had spent more than 350 million and expected to spend an additional 260 million before seeking regulatory approval . 47 48 a second generation malaria vaccine is being evaluated in phase 2 clinical trials . 49 consumer healthcare edit gsk s consumer healthcare division which earned 5.2 billion in 2013 sells oral healthcare including aquafresh maclean s and sensodyne toothpastes ; and drinks such as horlicks boost a chocolate flavoured malt drink sold in india and formerly lucozade and ribena sold in 2013 to suntory for 1.35 bn . 50 other products include abreva to treat cold sores ; night nurse a cold remedy ; breathe right nasal strips ; and nicoderm and nicorette nicotine replacements . 51 in march 2014 it recalled alli an over the counter weight loss drug in the united states and puerto rico because of possible tampering following customer complaints .