GSK says Q3 earnings fall 14.4% amid COVID-19 disruption

Net income fell 19.8 per cent to 1.24 billion pounds. Vaccine sales dropped 12 per cent as a decline in adult wellness visits cut demand for GSK's Shingrix shingles vaccine, the company said.

Drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline says third-quarter earnings fell 14.4 per cent as disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic reduced sales of vaccines, antibiotics and consumer healthcare products. The company said Wednesday that pretax profit dropped to 1.67 billion pounds (USD 2.16 billion) from 1.95 billion pounds in the same period last year. Net income fell 19.8 per cent to 1.24 billion pounds.

Vaccine sales dropped 12 per cent as a decline in adult wellness visits cut demand for GSK's Shingrix shingles vaccine, the company said. The pandemic also cut new patient prescriptions for allergy medicines and antibiotics, leading to a 7 per cent decline in pharmaceutical sales. Sales of over-the-counter products dropped 4 per cent as fewer customers visited pharmacies.

GSK says the “pandemic has impacted group performance, particularly in the vaccines business, during the first nine months of 2020." However, it said that it has seen "a recovery in vaccination rates, including adult immunisation rates in the United States returning to prior year levels in the last month of the quarter.”.