GlaxoSmithKline P.L.C. and Pfizer Inc. announced a deal that would combine their HIV operations into a new company that would account for almost 20 percent of sales of drugs to fight the virus.
In recent years, competitors, most notably Gilead Sciences Inc. and Bristol-Myers Squibb Co., have seized the lead in sales of HIV drugs.
That pressure is especially intense in the competition for new drugs to treat HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. Demand for new HIV drugs is constant because the disease changes quickly.
While demand for HIV drugs – especially new ones – is strong, companies often cannot charge high prices for them.
Most people who have HIV live in extremely poor countries, with little or no ability to pay for drugs. Even in wealthier countries, the drugs are so crucial to survival that high prices create political furor that keeps a lid on what companies can charge. More broadly, the Obama administration is seeking to lower prescription costs for all drugs.
London-based Glaxo, which employs about 4,500 people in the Philadelphia area, will own about 85 percent of the new firm. New York-based Pfizer will own the remainder.
Pfizer expects to complete the acquisition of Wyeth, which has its U.S. pharmaceutical headquarters in Collegeville, by the end of this year.
Glaxo’s HIV operations are based at its U.S. headquarters in Research Triangle Park, N.C. Yesterday’s announcement will have no effect on the company’s Philadelphia operations, a spokesman said.
Creating a new company is unusual in the pharmaceutical world, where firms more often merge or strike licensing deals.
