GSK sales dip, cost-cutting to continue

Pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline reported a 5 percent drop in global sales for the third quarter and said it will continue reducing its operating costs.

Affirming its commitment to investors, GSK boosted its dividend by 6 percent.

Sales dipped to $10.3 billion after adjusting for currency fluctuations, the London-based company said Wednesday. Operating profit totaled just over $2.6 billion, down 18 percent. The figures were reported in British pounds and converted to U.S. dollars.

GSK said European markets are especially challenging but the company has plenty of momentum in developing countries, especially for its vaccine lines.

"Despite these challenges, we expect to see sales grow in the fourth quarter," CEO Andrew Witty said in a statement.

GSK last month settled a $3 billion fraud case brought by the U.S. Justice Department for allegedly using illegal schemes to market and prices drugs such as Paxil, Wellbutrin, Advair, Lamictal and Zofran, some of which are manufactured in GSK's Zebulon facility.

GSK has about 17,000 US employees, 4,000 of them in Research Triangle Park. GSK's RTP functions include sales, marketing, HR, Legal, IT and R&D.

GSK has about about 600 workers in Zebulon, where it makes respiratory treatments Advair and Ventolin, as well as HIV medicines Combivir, Retrovir, Trizivir and Ziagen.

In the third quarter, U.S. sales dropped 6 percent and European sales fell 9 percent. But sales in developing countries increased 11 percent and went up by 6 percent in Japan.

"Sustained efforts to manage our cost base and to deliver financial efficiencies also continue," Witty's statement said. "We expect additional cost reductions."