With GSK kicking its research and development engine into high gear in recent years, a shuffling of the scientific priorities is only natural. But that redistribution of resources will mean job cuts for a subset of staffers, even as GSK eyes major R&D investments on the horizon.
GSK has grown its R&D investment by nearly 90% since 2018, helping fuel the company’s ambition to bring 14 new medicines with blockbuster sales potential to market before 2031. Part and parcel of that goal is focusing on "allocating resources to these priorities and making sure we have the right people in the right teams,” a GSK spokesperson said in an emailed statement to Fierce.
In turn, a “very limited number of positions will be impacted” across GSK’s global R&D workforce of more than 12,000, the spokesperson explained. The British drugmaker did not disclose the specific number of roles that will be cut.
As select roles are eliminated, the company will continue using new technologies to “maximize” its scientific capabilities and boost productivity, according to the spokesperson. GSK is also “planning significant investment in our key global R&D sites over the next five years to accelerate drug discovery and research,” the spokesperson added.
The company did not elaborate on the scope or setting of those investments.
Currently, GSK boasts R&D operations in Belgium, China, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Poland, Singapore, Spain, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the U.S. Among that spread, GSK’s global R&D hubs are located in the U.S., U.K. and Belgium, while its “key expert facilities” are based in Italy and Spain, according to the company’s website.
Over the last few years, GSK has been bulking up in R&D discovery. For instance, following a deal-heavy end to 2024, GSK acquired precision biotech IDRx and its late-stage TKI asset for gastrointestinal cancer in a $1 billion upfront deal unveiled at the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference.
And GSK doesn’t intend to stop pursuing external opportunities, Tony Wood, Ph.D., the company’s chief scientific officer, noted in an interview with Fierce Biotech earlier this year, highlighting the appeal of partnerships in particular.
The British pharma has remained keen on outright acquisitions, too. In January, Chief Commercial Officer Luke Miels told Fierce Biotech that transactions like the $2 billion buyout of Bellus Health or the $1.9 billion takeover of Sierra Oncology reflect the company’s M&A strategy of acquiring assets with validated targets and unmet need.
Still, as is often the case with acquisitions, being bought by a bigger fish can have consequences for the employees of the company that was absorbed.
Back in March, GSK confirmed that an undisclosed number of Bellus employees were set to lose their jobs following the combination of the two companies.
“During the GSK Bellus acquisition, we retained employees to a predetermined date to ensure the successful integration of the business,” a GSK spokesperson told Fierce Biotech at the time. “As often is the case during this process, redundancies may occur.”
The pace of GSK's R&D expenditures may reflect the company’s goal to bring more than a dozen assets with billion-dollar sales potential across the regulatory finish line by early next decade.
Some of the assets featured in GSK’s 2031 launch roadmap include the long-acting asthma candidate depemokimab, a pneumococcal vaccine, mRNA shots and a chronic cough prospect inherited from Bellus.