TWO OF the world’s largest pharmaceuticals groups are to combine their HIV drugs businesses into a single, jointly controlled company in a new approach to the sale and development of medicines.

Britain’s GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) and Pfizer of the US will sell 11 existing drugs and develop another six through the company, which will have annual sales of £1.6 billion and a 19 per cent share of the global HIV drugs market.

The collaboration marks a way for the two companies to pool their efforts in a market with tough scientific challenges and intense pricing pressures, and in which they have been outstripped commercially by rivals led by Gilead, the US biotech company.

The new structure may pave the way for further similar action by the companies – and other large pharmaceuticals groups – to create more innovative, tightly focused spin-offs that let them share the high risks and costs of drug development.

Under the deal, GlaxoSmithKline will initially control 85 per cent and Pfizer the remaining 15 per cent of the equity. – Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2009