GSK sees slower sales growth in 2026 as patent loss looms

(Sharecast News) - UK pharma giant GSK said turnover growth would slow this financial year as it looked to counter the expiry of an HIV drug patent and a deal with the Trump administration to lower product prices in the US. The company expects sales to grow 3 - 5% this year, on a constant currency basis compared to 7% in 2025.

It also forecast 2026 core earnings per share to grow 7 - 9%, with vaccine and general medicine sales expected to decline between a low single-digit percentage to stable and specialty medicines by low double-digit percentage to stable.

The results are the first under new chief executive Luke Miels, who took over from Emma Walmsley at the start of the year. Shares in the firm jumped 4% to top £20 for the first time in more than two decades. Shareholders were rewarded with an increase in the total dividend to 70p a share, up from 66p last year.

GSK is aiming for sales of more than £40bn by 2031 but now has to contend with Trump's erratic tariff policy and the loss of lucrative HIV treatment patents from 2028.

For 2025, turnover rose 4% at actual exchange rates to £32.6bn, with total operating profit almost doubling to £7.93bn. Core operating profit was up 8% to £9.7bn.

Miels said 2026 would be a "key year for of operational delivery and execution" amid a "strong focus on commercial launches and accelerating research and development".

Interactive Investor head of markets Richard Hunter said: "The industry is one which is notoriously difficult to navigate. Drug development is a time-consuming, costly and risky endeavour, while there is also increasing evidence of litigation for the unintended side-effects of new products."

"After products have reached peak earnings, revenues are then susceptible to patent expiries, whereby the drugs become generic at much lower prices."

"Given that GSK has 52% of its sales in the US, changes in pricing rules from the White House have inevitably had an impact. Investor sentiment has been affected by rapidly changing policy, as evidenced in many other areas from this administration, which threatens the ability to plan as well as immediate revenues."

Reporting by Frank Prenesti for Sharecast.com