Emma Walmsley, chief executive officer of GlaxoSmithKline PLC, listens during a meeting with the Coronavirus Task Force and pharmaceutical executives in the Cabinet Room of the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S. on Monday, March 2, 2020.
Kevin Dietsch | Bloomberg | Getty Images
GSK’s CEO Emma Walmsley will step down in December and be replaced by insider Luke Miels, the British drugmaker said on Monday, tasking the new leader to deliver shareholder value and prepare for the next wave of R&D.
After nine years in the role, Walmsley, the most senior female CEO in the UK, will step down before her contract ends in September next year.
Since taking over in 2017, she has overseen the separation of consumer healthcare group Haleon and turned GSK’s focus to cancer and infectious diseases as she drove efforts to counter a combination of patent expiries and declining revenue from its best-selling medicines by 2030.
However, she has struggled to win over investors due to concerns about GSK’s drug pipeline.
GSK’s shares, which have fallen about 11% since Walmsley took over as CEO, rose 3% in early trading on Monday as investors welcomed the leadership change.
“2026 is a pivotal year for GSK to define its path for the decade ahead, and I believe the right moment for new leadership,” said Walmsley, 56.
Miels will be tasked with leading the company into this new phase and delivering GSK’s annual sales target of more than 40 billion pounds ($53.76 billion) by 2031, despite a challenging economic and geopolitical backdrop that includes potential U.S. tariffs on the sector.
Miels, 50, joined GSK in 2017 and is currently the drugmaker’s chief commercial officer, overseeing the company’s global medicines and vaccines portfolio.
“We see Luke Miels’s appointment as allowing him time ahead of the dolutegravir patent expiry in April 2028 to focus on the next phase of GSK’s growth,” analysts at J.P.Morgan said in a note, referring to GSK’s HIV drug.
Earlier this month, GSK announced plans to invest $30 billion in U.S. research and development and supply chain infrastructure over five years. The investment includes $1.2 billion to build a new factory in Pennsylvania that will produce new medicines for respiratory disease and cancer, with construction to commence in 2026.
“Given the potential impact to GSK’s operating environment arising from geopolitics and new technologies, the Board has asked Emma to support the company and the new CEO on these matters,” GSK said.
Walmsley will step down from GSK’s board at the end of the year but will remain with GSK until her notice period ends on September 30, 2026.
Miels will assume full responsibilities as chief executive on January 1.
According to GSK, he will receive a base salary of 1.38 million pounds, below Walmsley’s current compensation, reflecting his newness to the role, GSK said. The on-target annual bonus is set at 150%, with a maximum of 300%.
Miels started his career at AstraZeneca and later held senior roles at Sanofi-Aventis in the U.S. and Asia, worked in Roche’s Asia-Pacific division, and served as executive vice president of European operations at AstraZeneca.
He had been widely expected to be Walmsley’s eventual successor and is well regarded by investors. Walmsley praised his blend of research and development insight and commercial acumen when announcing his appointment as chief commercial officer.
The appointment of Miels as CEO designate was the result of a “rigorous process” conducted by the board, which considered both internal and external candidates, GSK said.