GSK's £40 Billion Ambition: How Much Can Chinese Pharma Contribute?
GSK
Pharmaceutical R&D Manufacturer
Hansoh Pharma
Pharmaceutical Research, Production, and Sales
Nikki Wu | Author
Under the spotlight at the AACR conference in San Diego, GSK presented multiple preclinical and translational medicine data on the B7-H3 ADC developed in collaboration with Hansoh Pharma. As one of the fastest-progressing ADC projects globally targeting the same antigen, the drug has already initiated a global Phase III clinical trial for recurrent extensive-stage small cell lung cancer.
For GSK, this B7-H3 ADC, along with the B7-H4 ADC drug that previously drew attention at the SGO Annual Meeting,Together, they form two key pivots in the competition for the next generation of ADCs — and both of these pivots come from Hansoh Pharma in China.
But dramatically, the oncology pipeline that GSK values so much today was once its abandoned child.
In 2014, GSK conducted a large-scale asset swap with Novartis.Novartis Acquires GSK's Oncology Business for $14.5 Billion, While GSK Takes Over Novartis' Vaccine Business for $7.1 Billion Plus RoyaltiesAt that time, GSK's logic was to focus on vaccines and exit the oncology track.
Vaccines are indeed a traditional strength of GSK. However, Arexvy (RSV vaccine) was affected by U.S. policy changes, leading to a decline in sales; the sales revenue of Shingrix (shingles vaccine) in the U.S. market also decreased.GSK can only rely on overseas market sales to offset the downturn.At the same time, GSK's layout in the mRNA vaccine field is also significantly lagging behind its competitors. In the HIV sector, the patent for the core product Dovato will expire in 2028, and the pressure of the patent cliff is already approaching.
Against this backdrop, GSK has placed its growth hopes in the oncology sector.
From the list of late-stage clinical pipelines recently announced by GSK, this strategy is clearly visible: while consolidating traditional strengths such as vaccines, HIV, and respiratory therapies, it places a major focus on the oncology field, particularly in ADC and next-generation technology platforms.
GSK has always been in the position of a goalkeeper among global multinational pharmaceutical companies. The year 2025 marks a turning point for GSK's market value, with its stock price increasing by more than 50% throughout the year, representing the best performance in the capital market in recent years. The market has given an initial positive response to its transformation story.
But GSK has higher ambitions, and the new CEO, Luke Miels, has set a long-term goal for GSK:Achieve £40 billion in revenue by 2031. This figure is significantly higher than the analysts' forecast of £35.29 billion.
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Boarding by paying the fare difference
After the completion of the swap transaction between GSK and Novartis, GSK once surpassed Sanofi and Merck.Becoming the Global Vaccine Leader。
At the time, it seemed like a clear strategic choice. But the drama of the business world often lies in the fact that the track you give up turns out to be the one with the fastest growth later on.
In the years following its withdrawal, the global oncology drug market has continued to expand, with expectations to surpass $150 billion by 2020. However, GSK could only be a spectator in this rapidly growing market. It watched as Novartis Oncology gradually became the leader in the blood cancer细分 market and observed Merck's rise with Keytruda.
Three years later, the new CEO Emma Walmsley decided to lead GSK back to the oncology track. The acquisition of TESARO was a key step under her leadership.
This $5.1 billion deal directly brought GSK two core assets.One is the PARP inhibitor Zejula, an oncology drug that has already been launched and is generating revenue. With it, GSK can immediately re-enter the oncology market. The other is the PD-1 antibody Jemperli, which has secured a valuable entry ticket for GSK in the highly competitive immuno-oncology market.
From the later results, GSK's "make-up ticket" this time can be considered successful. In 2025, GSK's oncology business sales reached nearly £2 billion, with a year-on-year growth rate as high as 43%, making it the fastest-growing segment in the specialty medicine sector. Among them, the sales of the two core products, Jemperli and Ojjaara/Omjjara, surged by 89% and 60%, respectively.
But in the competition of ADC, its path is much more tortuous.
Blenrep is an ADC drug targeting BCMA, which obtained FDA accelerated approval in August 2020 based on Phase II clinical data for last-line treatment. However, the good times didn’t last long. In November 2022, its confirmatory Phase III DREAMM-3 trial failed. The data showed that Blenrep monotherapy was not superior to the standard treatment regimen. GSK withdrew the drug from the market at lightning speed just 15 days later.
But GSK did not give up. It shifted the focus of its R&D from single drugs to combination therapies, fully advancing clinical trials for two combination therapy regimens. Now, one of these combination treatments has received FDA approval, but it is restricted to third-line therapy. This gives Blenrep a lifeline, but also limits its market potential.
ADC remains the core bet for GSK in the oncology field.GSK has successively introduced multiple ADC assets: the HER2 ADC drug XMT-2056 from Mersana, the B7-H4 ADC HS-20089 and B7-H3 ADC HS-20093 from Hansoh Pharma, as well as preclinical ADCs from DualityBio and Syndivia.
From a complete exit in 2014 to rapid growth by 2025, although the journey has been circuitous, at least it is back on the table.
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BD's Ideals and Mistakes
Like other multinational pharmaceutical companies, GSK has been continuously divesting non-core businesses. In 2009, it established ViiV to focus on HIV, and in 2022, it spun off its consumer health division, Haleon.
By 2025, this downsizing has entered a more specific phase, with a net reduction of 1,800 employees globally. There are also plans to cut up to 350 R&D positions by early 2026, primarily aiming to eliminate redundant R&D roles.
Newly Appointed CEO Luke Miels Did Not Hold Back,果断叫停Early Data That Was Not Ideal. A typical example is that GSK terminated the Phase 2 development of the 24-valent pneumococcal vaccine acquired from Affinivax.
While large-scale layoffs and pipeline cleanups are underway, new projects from BD continue to increase. Although external assistance can improve efficiency, in practice, it is also a severe test of management capabilities.
Embarrassingly, it's already 2026, and GSK is still being undercut by "middlemen."
After the JPM conference, GSK announced a $2.2 billion acquisition of RAPT Therapeutics to obtain an IgE antibody. This pipeline isRAPTIn 2024, it was introduced from Shanghai Jiyu Pharmaceuticals. GSK not only has to pay $2.2 billion as the acquisition price but also assume subsequent milestone payments to Jiyu Pharmaceuticals.
This is already the second time. In 2025, GSK had just acquired Aiolos Bio – whose core assets also came from China's Hansoh Pharma and were similarly resold at a high price shortly after acquisition. The two identical operations have raised questions about GSK’s business development execution.Why Always Let Middlemen Make Profits?
If we look at it optimistically, it could be said that GSK chose to save effort by directly purchasing an asset package that had already undergone preliminary validation, rather than starting from scratch with screening, negotiations, and due diligence. Even if this meant paying a higher premium, it at least spared them the前期繁琐的工作.
The pipeline that was acquired despite the markup by intermediaries indicates that they are highly aligned with GSK's current BD strategy.
In fact, after Luke Miels took office, he clarified the future transaction logic: precise "accretive acquisitions," with an ideal deal size between $2 billion and $4 billion, targeting "hidden in plain sight" non-mainstream assets.
At the 2026 JPM Conference, GSK further clarified its focus: seeking assets that can drive near-term (before 2031) sales growth or accelerate pipeline development, with an emphasis on long-acting formulations and new technology collaborations, such as ADCs, oligonucleotide reprogrammed cells, etc.
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Chinese pharmaceutical companies, part of the plan
In GSK's blueprint to reach 40 billion pounds, the Chinese market has also been included.
Compared with peers like AstraZeneca, Novartis, and Pfizer, who have deeply established local R&D centers in China, GSK does not hold an advantage in terms of its depth of presence in China. GSK China has set a very pragmatic goal: by 2030, it aims to be among the top ten multinational pharmaceutical companies in China.
The path to achieving this goal is also relatively clear, relying on vaccines in the short term and special drugs in the long term.
GSK China General Manager Yu Hui-ming said at the 2025 CIIE that China is not only a growth engine but also an innovation hub.This is not a mere formality. Over 80% of GSK's research and development projects in China have been integrated into global synchronized development, and it is expected that approximately 18 new products and new indications will be approved in China over the next three years.
The evolution of the cooperation model also clearly shows that GSK's strategy in China is being adjusted. In the early days, commercial cooperation was the main focus, a typical example being the cooperation with ZF Bio.
In recent years, GSK's strategy has clearly shifted towards deep binding in the early pipeline, in addition to the licensing collaboration with Hansoh Pharma.Lock in the early pipelines of Hengrui and Frontier Biotech in advance through flexible cooperation methods.
Every multinational pharmaceutical company has its own challenges. Nowadays, among their solutions, there is definitely one — leveraging the strength of Chinese pharmaceutical companies.
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