GSK acquires rights to BMS products in Sri Lanka

Pharmaceuticals giant GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) has announced that it has acquired the rights in Sri Lanka for the products of Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS), a reputed global pharmaceuticals company, following a similar acquisition in Pakistan, the regional headquarters of BMS.  

The union of GSK’s and BMS’s globally reputed and diverse product portfolios will further strengthen supply to the  prescription drugs market, and will significantly benefit customers, GSK said.

BMS’s product portfolio in Pakistan includes many market leading antibiotics, oncology products, cardiovascular products and products to treat hepatitis, and encompasses over 30 brands.



Cardiovascular and oncology therapeutic areas are especially expected to be strengthened by the acquisition of rights by GSK, Stuart Chapman, Managing Director of GSK Pharmaceuticals in Sri Lanka, said.

The merging of the two product portfolios will be mutually beneficial as it will enable GSK to provide greater access and visibility to BMS products and enhance the company’s operations in the country while broadening the diversity of GSK’s own product portfolio with the addition of high quality BMS brands, he said.

“The partnership between GalxoSmithKline and Bristol Myers Squibb, two leading and innovative pharmaceuticals companies committed to excellence, will generate many new opportunities,” Chapman said.

“The combination of the considerable expertise and experience of the two entities, as well as research and development facilities in the region, offers much scope for future growth.”

GSK has recently further enhanced its operation in many emerging markets including Sri Lanka, with a series of mergers and acquisitions of mature brands that complement its product portfolio. GSK and BMS both posses advanced Research and Development facilities and have successfully partnered in many regions globally, including the Middle East.

Established in 1858 in Brooklyn, New York, Bristol-Myers Squibb is a global Bio Pharmaceuticals leader recognised as eighth among 500 of the largest corporations in the USA. The company’s mission is “to discover, develop and deliver innovative medicines that help patients prevail over serious diseases.”

BMS has won many prestigious awards including the National Medal of Technology in the USA, the Lasker Award for Medical Research and the Prix Galien Award. BMS medicines help millions of people to fight cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, hepatitis, obesity, psychiatric disorders, rheumatoid arthritis and HIV/AIDS.

In 2010, GSK Sri Lanka took over the local operations of Stiefel Laboratories, a specialist in dermatology and enhanced its portfolio of dermatology products in the local market.

Rated Sri Lanka’s most respected pharmaceuticals company by LMD in 2010, GSK and its predecessors have been doing business in Sri Lanka since the late 1930s. A world leading pharmaceuticals and vaccines company, GSK is the only pharmaceuticals company to tackle the three ‘priority’ diseases identified by the World Health Organization (WHO): HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria.

GSK distributes 35 doses of vaccines every second; 1,100 prescriptions are written for GSK products every minute; every hour, the company spends ₤ 300,000 on the discovery of new medicines; and every day, more than 200 million people use a GSK brand.