Dec. 19 (UPI) -- Pharmaceutical giants GlaxoSmithKline and Pfizer announced Wednesday they're creating their own consumer healthcare company.
The companies said in a statement the joint venture creates GSK Consumer Healthcare, which will be a leader in pain relief, respiratory, vitamin and mineral supplements, digestive health, skin health and therapeutic oral health.
The companies said the new entity will be among the largest consumer healthcare providers in all of the United States, Europe, China, India and Australia and will operate globally under the GSK Consumer Healthcare name.
The new company is expected to create a total annual cost savings of $632 million by 2022 for expected total cash costs of $1.138 billion and non-cash charges of $379 million.
Britain-based GSK will own a 68 percent stake in the new company and New York-based Pfizer a 32 percent share, but it will be spun off to run independently. Global sales last year for both industry giants totaled about $12.7 billion.
GSK CEO Emma Walmsley said a statement the move will allow the company to strengthen its ability to produce new drugs and improve healthcare products.
"Pfizer and GSK have an excellent track record of creating successful collaborations, and we look forward to working together again to unlock the potential of our combined consumer healthcare businesses," Pfizer CEO Ian Read said.
GSK had earlier walked away from a Pfizer auction process but Walmsley said the opportunity to make an all-equity deal cleared the way for the new venture.
