British drugs group GSK targets savings after profits slide

British pharmaceutical giant GSK on Tuesday said it was targeting future annual savings of £1.9 billion ($2.5 billion) after bottom-line profits tumbled in the second quarter.

Net profit in the April-June period slumped 70 percent to £435 million compared with the 2025 second quarter after the company abandoned a chronic cough treatment, GSK said in an earnings statement.

GSK said it had taken a hit totalling £1.3 billion after not proceeding further with camlipixant following final stage trials.

The company announced earlier this month that the most recent tests showed "limited efficacy" and that the treatment was therefore "unlikely to transform patient care".

London-headquartered GSK on Tuesday announced also the start of "a three-year cost savings programme to simplify the organisation and to reallocate capital and resources".

It added that a 2029 target had been set for the £1.9-billion annual savings, without being drawn on possible job losses.

"We're not going to give a number today in terms of people changes," GSK chief executive Luke Miels told a call with media.

"That's because I want the chance... to discuss this with our people first."

Stripping out the hit caused by camlipixant, GSK said its core operating profit rose seven percent in the second quarter to £2.8 billion.

Group revenue grew five percent to £8.4 billion.

"GSK has delivered another quarter of strong core results performance, with our key growth drivers performing well," Miels said in the earnings release.

"We remain focused on operational delivery, execution, and accelerating" research and development.

Oncology again performed well, with sales up 18 percent.

GSK in June announced a $10.6-billion deal for Nuvalent, a Boston-based specialist in cancer treatments, furthering its push into both oncology and the United States.

GSK separately announced Tuesday that it plans to invest £400 million on a new major R&D centre in university city Cambridge, eastern England.

The site, to be operational by 2029, will serve the company's research and development in the UK with the help of more than 1,000 scientists.

"This investment by GSK is a vote of confidence in British business," new UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham said in a statement.

It is "a boost for home grown innovation and expertise. And a step towards more people getting access to new medicines and cutting edge treatments that will change lives for the better".

GSK said it invests more than £6 billion in R&D each year, of which around one quarter of the amount is in the UK.