# GSK plc (GSK) — Narrative, Q3 2026

GSK reports in pounds sterling. Every money amount below is converted to US dollars: flows at the average exchange rate for the period they cover, balances at the closing rate on their date. Per-share amounts are stated per American Depositary Share (ADS); each ADS represents two GSK ordinary shares. Growth rates the company states at constant exchange rates (CER) are given as the company reports them, in its own currency.

## Business

*From the GSK 2025 Annual Report on Form 20-F, accession 0001131399-26-000004.*

GSK is a UK-based biopharmaceutical company that discovers, develops, manufactures and sells prescription medicines and vaccines worldwide. It sells to health systems through commercial channels, government tenders and public immunisation programmes such as US CDC vaccine stockpile purchases. Turnover comes mainly from product sales, and GSK separately earns royalty income on products it has licensed to others. In 2025 turnover was $42.79 billion, and it came from three product groups:

- **Specialty Medicines** ($17.65 billion, 41% of turnover). Medicines for HIV, respiratory, immunology and inflammation, and oncology. The largest franchise is HIV, sold through ViiV Healthcare ($10.07 billion of 2025 sales). Its products are the oral two-drug regimen Dovato, and Cabenuva and Apretude, long-acting injectables for HIV treatment and prevention. Other Specialty products are Nucala and the newly approved Exdensur in eosinophilic asthma and COPD, Benlysta in lupus, and the cancer medicines Jemperli, Zejula, Ojjaara/Omjjara and Blenrep.
- **Vaccines** ($12.00 billion, 28%). Shingrix (shingles) is the largest. The group also sells meningitis vaccines (Bexsero and the new five-in-one Penmenvy), Arexvy (RSV), influenza vaccines and a portfolio of established paediatric and adult vaccines.
- **General Medicines** ($13.15 billion, 31%). Mostly primary-care products. Inhaled respiratory medicines lead, above all Trelegy, alongside antibiotics, dermatology and other mature brands that face generic erosion.

By region, 2025 turnover was $22.09 billion in the US, $9.87 billion in Europe and $10.84 billion in International markets.

GSK reports two operating segments. **Commercial Operations** holds all turnover and is where the company earns its operating profit. **Total R&D** is a cost centre. R&D centres on the immune system and on four core therapy areas: respiratory, immunology and inflammation; oncology; HIV; and infectious diseases. Total R&D expense was $9.86 billion in 2025. At the end of 2025 GSK had 66,800 employees in 70 countries and 33 manufacturing sites.

**ViiV Healthcare** is consolidated in full. Its ownership changed on 31 March 2026, when Pfizer's 11.7% economic interest was replaced by an investment from Shionogi. GSK now holds 78.3% and Shionogi 21.7%. ViiV earnings are split by equity share and by preferential dividends tied to particular products, and GSK was entitled to about 83% of ViiV's earnings for 2025. ViiV also makes quarterly contingent payments to Shionogi based on sales of dolutegravir and cabotegravir products. Those payments come from the 2012 purchase of Shionogi's interest in their former joint venture.

GSK's strategy is to make Specialty Medicines more than half of sales by 2031. It is aiming for more than $53.2 billion of sales that year: the company's target of more than £40 billion, converted at the 30 September 2026 closing rate. To get there it is accelerating its late-stage pipeline and buying assets, while it prepares for its HIV medicine dolutegravir to lose exclusivity between 2028 and 2030. Five major products were approved in 2025:

- Exdensur, a twice-yearly biologic for severe asthma.
- Blenrep, for multiple myeloma.
- Nucala in COPD.
- Blujepa, a new oral antibiotic for uncomplicated urinary tract infection and gonorrhoea.
- Penmenvy, a vaccine against invasive meningococcal disease.

## Risk factors

*From the Risk Factors section of the 2025 Form 20-F, accession 0001131399-26-000004, with company-specific exposures noted from the Q3 2026 results 6-K, accession 0001654954-26-009181.*

- **Pricing, access and government policy.** The US Administration is trying to tie US drug prices to international prices and to open direct-to-patient purchasing channels. This adds to US pricing pressure that has been building for a decade. The Inflation Reduction Act's Medicare Part D redesign already hurt 2025 US sales across all three product groups. In December 2025 GSK agreed with the US Administration to lower prescription costs. In return, GSK and ViiV are excluded from Section 232 pharmaceutical tariffs, a relief the April 2026 definitive agreement runs to 20 January 2029. Under that deal, GSK and ViiV have committed certain products to the voluntary GENEROUS Model run by the US Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Tariffs, protectionism and healthcare reform in the US, UK and EU remain named risks. The UK–US zero-tariff arrangement for UK-made medicines lasts only three years.
- **Pipeline delivery.** GSK's growth case rests on bringing new medicines to market and continually restocking the pipeline. Failures show up as large write-downs. In 2025 GSK took a $617.01 million impairment when it ended the belrestotug (anti-TIGIT) programme. In Q2 2026 it impaired camlipixant by $1.79 billion after deciding not to develop it further on the CALM-1 and CALM-2 phase III results, and wrote off $497.14 million of assets from the Alector collaboration. The 20-F also warns that competition for outside assets is intensifying and that GSK could misjudge the value of the acquisitions it now relies on.
- **Loss of exclusivity for dolutegravir.** HIV is GSK's largest franchise. The company expects dolutegravir to lose exclusivity in 2028–2030 and will use part of its restructuring savings to support operating margin through that period. In Q3 2026 the loss of exclusivity was already reducing tender volumes in International markets.
- **Contingent consideration and volatile Total results.** Contingent consideration liabilities stood at $9.09 billion at the end of 2025, of which $7.33 billion was owed to Shionogi for ViiV Healthcare. They are remeasured each period through the income statement, and that swings reported (Total) profit. GSK says it cannot forecast those movements reliably, so it gives guidance on Core results only.
- **Legal and compliance.** GSK faces product liability, patent, antitrust, consumer-fraud and government-investigation cases, as well as anti-bribery, sanctions and competition-law enforcement. GSK paid $1.57 billion of Zantac settlements in 2025, which brought the provision for legal and other disputes down to $283.5 million at year-end.
- **Product quality and supply continuity.** Quality failures can cause recalls, shortages and regulatory action. GSK's supply chains are complex and rely on a small number of contract manufacturers and third-party ingredient suppliers. Governments are also pushing to localise supply.
- **Patient safety.** GSK must collect and act on adverse-event data. Misinformation from non-scientific sources, social media and AI tools can lead to more critical reports about its products and more product-liability litigation, including class actions.
- **Information security, data privacy and research practices.** GSK depends on interconnected systems and outside partners, so cyber-attacks and breaches of privacy law (GDPR, data-localisation rules) could disrupt operations or bring fines. Lapses in clinical-trial conduct or data integrity could put product approvals at risk.
- **Climate and environment.** EU and US limits on high global-warming-potential propellants will restrict GSK's ability to make metered-dose inhalers. GSK's carbon targets of an 80% cut by 2030 and 90% by 2045 depend on regulators approving a lower-carbon Ventolin inhaler.
- **Financial reporting, tax and treasury.** GSK operates across many tax jurisdictions and is running large system and acquisition integrations. It reports in sterling but earns more than half its turnover in the US, so a stronger pound against the dollar lowers reported results.

## Management's discussion of 2025

*From the Group financial review and strategic report of the 2025 Form 20-F, accession 0001131399-26-000004.*

2025 turnover was $42.79 billion, up 6.6% in US dollar terms. GSK reported growth of 4% at actual exchange rates and 7% at CER. Specialty Medicines drove the growth, up 17% at CER. Vaccines rose 2% at CER and General Medicines fell 1% at CER.

- **HIV** grew 11% at CER on +10 percentage points of patient-demand growth, which more than offset the decline of Triumeq. Long-acting medicines produced over 75% of HIV growth. Cabenuva reached $1.84 billion (+42% CER), Apretude $575.09 million (+62%) and Dovato $3.51 billion (+22%).
- **Respiratory, immunology and inflammation** grew 18% at CER. Nucala reached $2.63 billion (+15%), helped by its COPD launch, and Benlysta $2.32 billion (+22%).
- **Oncology** reached $2.59 billion, up 43% at CER. Jemperli nearly doubled to $1.13 billion (+89%) after its label was widened in endometrial cancer, which more than offset a decline in Zejula.
- **Vaccines.** Shingles vaccine sales reached $4.66 billion (+8% CER). Sales outside the US rose strongly, while US sales fell 17% at CER as uptake slowed among harder-to-reach unvaccinated adults. Meningitis vaccines grew 12% to $2.07 billion. RSV was broadly flat, influenza fell 24% and established vaccines fell 5%.
- **General Medicines.** Trelegy grew 13% to $3.91 billion. That was offset by generic erosion across older respiratory and other products.
- **Regions.** US sales rose 6% at CER despite the Medicare Part D redesign. Europe rose 12% and International 4%.

Total operating profit rose to $10.39 billion, up 101.9% in US dollar terms. The rise mainly reflects the $2.3 billion Zantac settlement charge in 2024, partly offset by higher impairment charges in 2025. Core operating profit was $12.82 billion, up 9.4% in US dollar terms and 11% at CER, with a core margin of 29.9%. That reflected higher sales, a better product mix and royalty income, which included historic royalties from an intellectual-property settlement. Higher R&D spending, launch costs and pricing pressure partly offset the gains. Other operating income included a $500 million settlement from CureVac. The Total effective tax rate was 15.0% and the Core rate 17.1%.

Total earnings were $3.70 per ADS, against $1.62 in 2024. Core earnings were $4.51 per ADS, up 10.5% in US dollar terms and 12% at CER, helped by the share buyback and lower finance costs. Cash generated from operations was $11.72 billion and free cash flow $5.28 billion, up 44.0% in US dollar terms, even after the Zantac payments. Net debt was $19.51 billion at 31 December 2025. It rose during the year because of three acquisitions: IDRx, BP Asset IX (which brought efimosfermin) and Cellphenomics. Dividends and buybacks also added to it. The 2025 dividend was $1.73 per ADS (66p per share). GSK said it expected a higher dividend for 2026, under a progressive policy targeting a 40–60% pay-out ratio.

Leadership changed at the end of 2025. Emma Walmsley stepped down as Chief Executive at the end of December and Luke Miels took over. He has set three priorities: maximise new launches (notably Exdensur and Blenrep), accelerate key late-stage assets, and keep doing targeted business development.

## Current quarter: Q3 2026 (three months ended 30 September 2026)

*From the Q3 2026 results announcement furnished on Form 6-K on 28 October 2026, accession 0001654954-26-009181, except where another accession is cited.*

**Results.** Q3 turnover was $11.91 billion, up 4.8% in US dollar terms. GSK reported +4% at actual rates and +5% at CER. Specialty Medicines again did most of the work, and the quarter shows two different stories at the Total and Core levels.

- **Specialty Medicines** reached $5.20 billion (+15% CER). HIV grew 10% to $2.84 billion. Long-acting injectables produced 80% of HIV growth, Cabenuva alone rose 35%, and US HIV sales grew 14%. Respiratory, immunology and inflammation grew 21% to $1.53 billion on Nucala, Exdensur and Benlysta. Oncology grew 23% to $833.48 million. The US approved Jideytro, which came with the Nuvalent acquisition, during the quarter.
- **Vaccines** fell 2% at CER to $3.46 billion. Shingrix fell 5% to $1.05 billion on lower sales in China. Arexvy fell 24% to $261.3 million. Meningitis vaccines had their best-ever quarter at $802.66 million (+12%).
- **General Medicines** was flat at CER at $3.25 billion. Trelegy grew 8% to $1.05 billion on volume and positive US pricing adjustments.
- **US** sales rose 10% at CER to $6.61 billion. International fell 3%.

Core operating profit was $4.12 billion, up 3.8% in US dollar terms and 5% at CER, with a core margin of 34.6%. A better mix and higher royalties (up 24% to $345.72 million, mainly from Kesimpta) outweighed Core R&D spending, which rose 22% at CER to $2.51 billion. That R&D money went mostly to the Ris-Rez and Mo-Rez antibody–drug conjugates, velzatinib, the Nuvalent lung-cancer assets and efimosfermin. Total operating profit fell to $2.85 billion, down 17.4% in US dollar terms, for two reasons. GSK took $439.52 million of restructuring charges for its new Accelerate Growth programme. Other net operating income was also lower: little other income offset the quarter's $387.26 million charge for remeasuring contingent consideration liabilities, whereas Q3 2025 had included the CureVac settlement. Core earnings were $1.46 per ADS, flat in US dollar terms against a year earlier and up 1% at CER, held back by higher finance costs (mainly from Nuvalent), a higher tax rate and higher non-controlling interests. Total earnings were $1.03 per ADS, against $1.33, down 22.3%.

Cash generated from operations rose to $4.18 billion, up 24.8% in US dollar terms. Q3 2025 had included Zantac settlement payments, and working-capital timing helped this quarter. Free cash flow was $2.78 billion, up 68.0% in US dollar terms.

For the nine months, turnover was $33.40 billion (up 6.0% in US dollar terms) and Core operating profit $11.42 billion (up 7.0%). Total operating profit was $6.57 billion (down 26.6%), reflecting the Q2 impairments and higher contingent consideration charges, partly offset by higher other operating income. Free cash flow was $6.55 billion (up 62.9%).

**Accelerate Growth programme.** GSK launched a three-year restructuring programme in Q3 2026. It aims to match the organisation to a portfolio weighted towards Specialty Medicines and to move capital into the late-stage pipeline and R&D. It targets $2.53 billion of annual savings, fully realised by 2029, for total costs of $3.19 billion, of which $2.79 billion is cash. All three amounts are converted from the company's sterling figures at the 30 September 2026 closing rate. Most of the cost falls in 2026 and 2027. Savings will mostly be reinvested in R&D and business development, with part used to support operating margin through dolutegravir's 2028–2030 loss of exclusivity.

**Acquisitions and financing during 2026.** Net debt rose to $27.58 billion at 30 September 2026, mainly because of three acquisitions, along with dividends and the share buyback:

- **RAPT Therapeutics**, closed 3 March 2026 for $2.3 billion including fees (net of cash, about $1.9 billion). It brought ozureprubart, a long-acting anti-IgE antibody for food allergy.
- **35Pharma**, closed 14 April 2026 for total consideration of $1.0 billion (net investment $945 million). It brought HS235, an activin-signalling inhibitor for pulmonary hypertension.
- **Nuvalent**, closed 15 July 2026 at $124 per share, an equity value of $10.8 billion including fees (net of cash, about $9.6 billion). It brought the ROS1 and ALK lung-cancer inhibitors zidesamtinib (Jideytro) and neladalkib.

In September 2026 GlaxoSmithKline Capital Inc. issued notes guaranteed by GSK plc (6-K accession 0001193125-26-391597):

- $1.25 billion of 4.850% notes due 2029.
- $1.25 billion of 5.000% notes due 2031.
- $1.5 billion of 5.250% notes due 2033.
- $1.5 billion of 5.500% notes due 2036.
- $500 million of 6.000% notes due 2056.
- $500 million of floating-rate notes due 2029.

The ViiV Healthcare restructuring closed on 31 March 2026. ViiV issued new shares to Shionogi for $2.125 billion and returned $1.875 billion to Pfizer, and GSK received a $250 million special dividend. In the nine months GSK also sold its Rockville, Maryland manufacturing site and divested linerixibat. It completed the share buyback announced in February 2025 on 26 June 2026, having repurchased 124 million shares.

On 15 September 2026 GSK agreed to buy a preclinical trispecific T cell-engager for multiple myeloma from Chimagen Biosciences, a private company. The deal has a total potential value of up to $750 million, made up of an upfront fee plus development and commercial milestones. It is subject to customary closing conditions, and the programme is expected to enter phase I trials in 2027 (6-K accession 0001654954-26-008359).

**Pipeline in the quarter.** Hibsago (bepirovirsen) was approved in Japan for chronic hepatitis B, and Jideytro was approved in the US for previously treated ROS1-positive lung cancer. Jideytro also produced positive registrational data in first-line ROS1-positive lung cancer. Arexvy was approved in the US for immunocompromised adults, and a pre-filled Shingrix syringe was approved in Japan. An mRNA seasonal flu vaccine moved into phase III. GSK expects to start 22 phase III trials in 2026, 18 of which have started so far.

**Guidance.** GSK reaffirmed its 2026 guidance, all at CER:

- Turnover growth of 3–5%, at the upper half of the range.
- Core operating profit growth of 7–9%, at the upper half.
- Core EPS growth of 7–9%, at the lower half.

Behind that, GSK expects Specialty Medicines to grow at a low double-digit rate, Vaccines to be broadly stable or up at a low single-digit rate, and General Medicines to fall by a low to mid single-digit rate. It expects SG&A to be broadly stable and R&D to grow well ahead of sales. Guided amounts below are converted at the average rate for the first nine months of 2026:

- Royalty income of about $1.21 billion.
- Interest charges of about $938 million to $1.01 billion, including the cost of the Nuvalent financing.
- A tax rate of about 17.5%.

If 30 September exchange rates held for the rest of the year, GSK estimates currency would reduce 2026 sterling turnover growth by 1 point and Core operating profit growth by 3 points. It reiterated the 2031 sales outlook and expects operating margin to be stable to improving through the dolutegravir loss of exclusivity. Its guidance includes the expected effect of the US pricing and tariff agreements.

**Shareholder returns.** GSK declared a Q3 dividend of 17p per share ($0.46 per ADS at the Q3 2026 average exchange rate) and expects 70p per share for 2026 ($1.88 per ADS on the same basis). The dollar amount paid to ADS holders will be set at the exchange rate on 5 January 2027.

**Legal.** The provision for legal and other disputes was $268.66 million at 30 September 2026. Developments since the Q2 report: GSK's two Trelegy patent suits against Transpire were consolidated and set for trial on 22 February 2028.

## Subsequent events

*Events after 30 September 2026, from the Q3 2026 results 6-K (accession 0001654954-26-009181) and the Form 6-K reports cited.*

The Q3 results announcement has no separate post-balance-sheet note. None of the 6-K reports GSK furnished between 1 and 28 October 2026 announced an acquisition, divestiture or financing. The material developments after the quarter were regulatory and legal:

- **Jemperli approved in rectal cancer (19 October 2026).** The US FDA granted accelerated approval for Jemperli (dostarlimab) as the first immunotherapy for adults with stage II–III MSI-H/dMMR locally advanced rectal cancer. In the phase II AZUR-1 trial, 68% of evaluable patients achieved a sustained clinical complete response at 12 months on investigator assessment (6-K accession 0001654954-26-009036).
- **Hibsago approved in the US (20 October 2026).** The FDA approved Hibsago (bepirovirsen) for chronic hepatitis B in certain adults already on nucleos(t)ide therapy. It is a six-month course. In the B-Well phase III trials it achieved a 19% functional cure rate, against 0 of 614 patients on placebo (6-K accession 0001654954-26-009062).
- **Oncology data in October 2026.** GSK reported early global data for Ris-Rez in lung cancer and positive phase Ib data for Mo-Rez in ovarian cancer. Its licensor Hansoh reported positive phase III data in China for Ris-Rez in relapsed osteosarcoma (6-K accessions 0001654954-26-009023, 0001654954-26-009127 and 0001654954-26-009141).
- **Tesaro, Inc. v. AnaptysBio.** A post-trial hearing was held before the Delaware Court of Chancery on 20 October 2026. A decision is expected in Q4 2026 or Q1 2027.
- **Q3 dividend.** Declared with the results on 28 October 2026. The ex-dividend date is 12 November 2026 for ordinary shares and 13 November 2026 for ADSs, and payment is on 7 January 2027.