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.

Nonprofits that aim to improve access to health care can apply for one of ten $40,000 grants being funded by GlaxoSmithKline and the Triangle Community Foundation.

The grants, called the GlaxoSmithKline IMPACT Awarda, are in their fourth year and are available to nonprofits in 14 Triad counties, up from last year's 11 counties.

The grants seek to reward nonprofits that provide quality and accesible health care in their communities in the face of a sluggish economic climate and scarce financial resources. Past winners include groups that provided health services to cancer patients and pediatric therapy for children with special needs.

Applicants must be located in one of the following counties to qualify: Alamance, Chatham, Durham, Forsyth, Franklin, Guilford, Harnett, Johnston, Lee, Moore, Orange, Person, Randolph and Wake.

Applicants must also provide access to healthcare services as a part of their main mission, have annual operating expenses between $160,000 and $3 million and have been in existance as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization for at least five years.

Applications are due March 28 and can be accessed at the GSK website at www.gskimpact-us.com. The awards will be presented at a ceremony in Research Triangle Park later this year.

GlaxoSmithKline and Valeant Pharmaceuticals will have to wait a few more months for U.S. regulators to review their epilepsy drug.

The companies announced this morning that the Food and Drug Administration has extended the target date for reviewing the drug from Aug. 30 to Nov. 30.

The drug in question is ezogabine, which would be used to treat epilepsy in adults with partial onset seizures. It is designed to be used in conjunction with other drugs.

The FDA needed more time for the review because it only recently received the companies risk evaluation of the drug, according to a statement from the companies.

GSK, which maintains its U.S. headquarters in Research Triangle Park, and California-based Valeant, submitted a new drug application for ezogabine on Oct. 30, 2009.

Valeant has a small presence in the Triangle but has had discussions about signing on to Diamond View III, the third and final office building planned just beyond the walls of the Durham Bulls Athletic Park.

Valeant announced in June that it is merging with Biovail, Canada's largest publicly traded drug maker.

The merged company's headquarters will be in Toronto.

Stiefel Laboratories will close a Duluth, Ga., facility and move some of its 200 jobs there to its facility in Research Triangle Park.

The move follows the April announcement that Stiefel would be acquired by GlaxoSmithKline for $2.9 billion.

Stiefel spokeswoman Erin Singer said that the employees at the Georgia plant would be notified later this year about which jobs will be moved here and which will be eliminated.

"They have been told since the acquisition was announced in April that there will be redundancies," she said.

However, the company does not expect to announce how many jobs will be moved here until the end of the year.