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Henry Wellcome

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GSK plc

Henry Wellcome · 2000

GSK plc is a British multinational pharmaceutical and biotechnology company formed in 2000 by the merger of Glaxo Wellcome and SmithKline Beecham. It traces its origins to Henry Wellcome’s 1880 co-founding of Burroughs Wellcome & Company. GSK developed the first malaria vaccine (RTS,S), markets WHO-listed essential medicines, and reported $42.4 billion in revenue and $9.32 billion in earnings in 2025. In 2012, it pleaded guilty in the US to unlawful drug promotion, failure to report safety data, and physician kickbacks — agreeing to a $3 billion settlement, the largest healthcare fraud case in US history and the largest in the pharmaceutical industry. The Wellcome Foundation Ltd., established by Henry Wellcome in 1924, was later sold to GSK following changes in UK charity law.