London, March 26, 2026, 13:29 GMT
GSK was last seen trading around 2,057 pence midday Thursday, eking out a 0.15% gain. The shares had notched up 3.89% on Wednesday and rose 2.07% on Tuesday, pushing the price close to the 2,055p level marked after Luke Miels unveiled his first growth strategy as CEO back in February. All this, even as London’s benchmark indexes slipped over 1% on the latest Middle East jitters.
This time around, broker sentiment still isn’t budging. On Tuesday, Deutsche Bank’s Emmanuel Papadakis stuck with Neutral and held his 1,900p target, while Berenberg on Thursday repeated its Hold stance—neither firm ready to upgrade to a buy. So the question for investors: will advances in GSK’s drug pipeline, its in-development medicines, and capital returns be enough to lift shares from here?
This week, investors got a double dose of GSK’s top brass. CFO Julie Brown made the rounds at BNP Paribas’ healthcare event in London on Tuesday. Two days later, Kaivan Khavandi, who heads R&D for respiratory, immunology and inflammation, took the stage at Goldman Sachs’ biopharma summit, also in London. The pitch isn’t complicated: GSK is under pressure to drum up sales from fresh launches before older HIV drugs start coming off patent.
GSK kept its footing while the tape shifted around it. London’s FTSE 100 climbed 0.7% Tuesday, added 1.4% Wednesday, but was down 1.1% by 1013 GMT on Thursday. Uncertainty from the Middle East conflict lingered over the market.
Company buybacks have been in play. According to a filing, GSK scooped up 345,000 of its own shares on March 25, paying an average 2,033.20p that day. That bumps the tally for its ongoing programme to 14.86 million shares since Feb. 17. The stock will remain on GSK’s books as treasury shares.
Back in February, Miels stressed the need for GSK to “accelerate what we have” and focus on “smart business development”. For Sheena Berry at Quilter Cheviot, that sounded like a “steady and credible start” from the new chief executive. Reuters
Pipeline headlines have lifted sentiment lately. Last week, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration cleared Lynavoy for patients struggling with severe itching—pruritus—caused by primary biliary cholangitis, a chronic liver condition. Existing drugs from Gilead and Ipsen focus on the disease but leave the symptom largely untouched; Mirum, meanwhile, is working on a competing therapy. “Much needed treatment option,” Khavandi called the approval. Reuters
Miels isn’t shying away from deals, either. Back in February, GSK signed off on a $950 million acquisition of Canada’s 35Pharma, following its $2.2 billion move for RAPT Therapeutics in January. The aim: build out its late-stage pipeline—essentially, drugs nearing commercialization—before looming patent expiries hit its main HIV lineup.
Yet the outlook remains murky. GSK flagged that revenue growth in 2026 will slip compared to 2025, while U.S. vaccine uptake is anything but predictable. The jury’s out on whether upcoming launches will really balance out the HIV business’s looming declines. No surprise, then, that Hold and Neutral ratings persist on the stock, despite the recent rally.
GSK’s first-quarter results are slated for April 29. Shares are managing to keep their recent advance intact for now, though broker commentary stays cautious.
