A small Chapel Hill company developing a safer form of aspirin reported a bigger-than-expected net loss for the second quarter.

Pozen's loss of $6.4 million came as the company spends millions to develop  aspirin for patients who are at risk of developing gastric ulcers. The company expects to seek Food and Drug Administration approval for the drug late next year.

Revenue for the second quarter fell to $4.6 million, which was also less than Wall Street analysts had expected.

Most of Pozen's revenue comes from its Treximet migraine medicine, which is sold by larger partner GlaxoSmithKline, and its Vimovo arthritis pain reliever, sold by AstraZeneca. Pozen receives royalties from the sales.

GlaxoSmithKline reported a decline in quarterly sales this morning, but CEO Andrew Witty said the drug maker expects to see healthier results during the next year.

Revenue fell about 4 percent to $10.9 billion, after converting from British pounds, hurt by weaker sales of the controversial diabetes drug Avandia, the Valtrex herpes treatment and pandemic flu products.

Excluding those products, GSK sales rose 5 percent, boosted by higher revenue in Japan and various emerging markets.

The British corporation also reported a profit of $1.8 billion, reversing a loss during the same period last year.

The company, which employs about 4,400 people in the Triangle, has slashed costs and thousands of jobs worldwide in recent years to offset slower sales growth.

GlaxoSmithKline is attracting multiple bidders for the consumer-health brands it plans to sell, CEO Andrew Witty said today in Brussels.

The sale process "will start to roll at the end of the summer," Witty said after a news conference in Brussels, Bloomberg News reported.

GSK announced earlier this year that it wants to sell 19 brands, including the Alli diet pill, Beano gas relief, Nytol sleep aid, and Goody's and BC headache powders.

The assets are getting strong interest from private equity firms and pharmaceutical companies, Witty said. "I am very pleased with the interest," he said.

Combined, the products contribute more than $800 a year in revenue for GSK, the British company with a North American headquarters in Research Triangle Park.

Pozen reported weaker first-quarter revenue this morning, as the Chapel Hill company waits for its pain medicines to increase in popularity among physicians and patients.

Larger partners GlaxoSmithKline and AstraZeneca are selling Pozen's Treximet migraine treatment and Vimovo arthritis pain reliever. Pozen receives royalties from the sales.

Vimovo won approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration a year ago, and AstraZeneca is running a major marketing campaign with ads in newspapers and national magazines such as Newsweek. But sales of the drug, a pain reliever that decreases the risk of gastric ulcers in arthritis patients, have been slow to start.

GlaxoSmithKline, the Triangle's largest drug maker, reported stronger first-quarter profit, even as sales continued to slow.

The British pharmaceutical company saw a steep drop in sales of pandemic flu vaccines and its controversial diabetes drug Avandia. Sales declines in the United States and Europe were offset by gains in emerging markets and Asia.

The results met or exceeded most analysts' expectations. Most analysts expect GSK sales to rise in the second half of the year.

"GSK is making good progress against our strategic priorities and we had a very positive start to the year," CEO Andrew Witty said on a conference call. "We are continuing to see good underlying sales growth momentum."

Pozen has filed another patent infringement lawsuit, as the Chapel Hill drug company fights to protect its portfolio of medicines from cheaper, copycat competitors.

Pozen and larger partner AstraZeneca filed the lawsuit in federal court in New Jersey, in an effort to block Dr. Reddy's Laboratories from selling a generic version of Vimovo.

Pozen and AstraZeneca won Food and Drug Administration approval to sell that drug as a treatment for arthritis pain a year ago. The companies contend the drug is protected by a patent that expires in 2023.

Last month, Dr. Reddy's notified the companies that it planned to seek FDA approval to market a generic version. Dr. Reddy's is one of India's biggest drug companies.

GlaxoSmithKline plans to sell 19 of its consumer-health brands, including the controversial Alli weight-loss drug and Goody's, the headache powder invented in Winston-Salem.

CEO Andrew Witty announced in February that the pharmaceutical giant planned to sell some "non-core" brands to raise money and focus attention on faster-growing products.

Today, the company released a list of products it plans to divest, including Beano gas relief, Debrox ear wax cleanser, Nytol sleep aid and others.

Combined, the products contribute more than $800 million a year in revenue for GSK, the British corporation that has its North American headquarters in Research Triangle Park.

Bob Ingram is in no danger of getting bored.

On May 18, the retired CEO of Glaxo Wellcome plans to join the board of PPD, the Wilmington-based pharmaceutical research company with a large operation in the Triangle. It's just the latest role for one of this region's busiest and most experienced corporate leaders.

Ingram, 68, is also a general partner with Durham-based investment firm Hatteras Venture Partners. In January, he became chairman of Elan Corp., an Irish biotechnology firm.

He's also on the boards of other public companies Allergan, Cree, Edwards Lifesciences and Valeant Pharmaceuticals. And he serves as a strategic advisor to GlaxoSmithKline CEO Andrew Witty.

GlaxoSmithKline is eliminating an undisclosed number of research and development jobs in Research Triangle Park.

The job losses are part of reductions in GSK's Neurosciences Medicine Development Center. 

The total job cuts in the U.S. are fewer than 50 with less than half of those located in RTP, said Melinda Stubbee, a spokeswoman.

The rest of the cuts are at various clinical trial sites in the U.S., but not at the company's R&D facilities in the Philadelphia area.

GSK empoys about 4,000 people in RTP.

The company made an internal announcement about the job cuts on Monday.

At least one major Triangle employer will allow workers to switch their health coverage if Aetna's contract with the UNC Health Care System is terminated next week.

GlaxoSmithKline, which employs about 5,000 people in this region, has told workers who are signed up for Aetna coverage that they can transfer to a similar health plan offered by UnitedHealthcare. Employees chose between Aetna and United for their coverage last fall, said GSK spokeswoman Mary Anne Rhyne.

"Health insurance is an important benefit for our employees," she said. "The company doesn't want them to have any disruption."

The move by GSK could increase pressure on Aetna to settle its contract dispute with UNC Health. The insurer doesn't want to lose members, and has been working to coordinate care with other local physicians and hospitals.