London, Feb 26, 2026, 08:25 GMT — Regular session
- GSK slipped roughly 0.4% at the open, following its $950 million acquisition of 35Pharma announced just a day earlier.
- Drugmaker noted China has given linerixibat, its liver-disease itch therapy, a priority review.
- Investors are sizing up the pace of pipeline expansion, but execution risk and the threat of upcoming patent cliffs are heavy on their minds.
GSK slipped roughly 0.4% to 2,206 pence in early London moves Thursday, with the stock under slight pressure as the British drugmaker rolled out a batch of new pipeline updates over the past 48 hours.
These steps are key for GSK as its new chief executive looks to plug looming holes in the late-decade pipeline, with patents on leading HIV treatments approaching expiration. GSK has struck a $950 million takeover for Canada’s 35Pharma and, this week, inked a kidney-disease licensing agreement worth up to $1 billion, according to Reuters.
GSK’s head of R&D, Tony Wood, pitched the 35Pharma acquisition as a wager on HS235—a pipeline pulmonary hypertension treatment—suggesting the therapy might offer both “potential metabolic benefits” and a new safety angle for patients.
Pulmonary hypertension cuts lives short, characterized by elevated blood pressure in the lungs. Reuters points to Merck’s injectable Winrevair among available therapies, highlighting the high hurdle facing newcomers.
In another move, Frontier Biotechnologies out of China announced an agreement giving GSK global rights to advance two small interfering RNA therapies aimed at kidney disease. The deal comes with potential milestone payments that could push the total value up to $1 billion.
On Thursday, GSK said Chinese regulators have agreed to review its linerixibat submission on a priority basis for cholestatic pruritus, the severe itching that comes with primary biliary cholangitis, a rare autoimmune liver condition. The drug targets IBAT, a gut transporter tied to bile-acid reuptake. At this point, GSK notes, linerixibat hasn’t been cleared for use in any market.
The company said in its stock-exchange filing that the 35Pharma deal is still subject to U.S. antitrust scrutiny under the Hart-Scott-Rodino process, as well as Canadian regulatory sign-off.
Investors face the possibility that GSK is shelling out for assets still in the early stages—where even the most compelling biology can stumble in human trials, hit safety snags, or run into hurdles from reimbursement or evolving treatment standards. On top of that, regulatory pushback could drag out deal timelines.
Eyes are on U.S. regulators, as GSK noted the FDA has targeted March 24, 2026 for its decision on linerixibat.
After the immediate drug catalysts, focus shifts to April 29. That’s when GSK posts its first-quarter numbers.
