Editing GSK plc (section)

====Merger====
Glaxo and Wellcome merged in 1995, to form Glaxo Wellcome plc.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Lesney |first=Mark S. |date=January 2004 |title=The ghosts of pharma past |url=https://pubsapp.acs.org/subscribe/journals/mdd/v07/i01/pdf/104timeline.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230107075235/https://pubsapp.acs.org/subscribe/journals/mdd/v07/i01/pdf/104timeline.pdf |archive-date=7 January 2023}}</ref><ref name=Ravenscraft2000/> The merger was then considered the biggest in the UK corporate history.<ref name=":1" /> Glaxo Wellcome restructured its R&D operation that year, cutting 10,000 jobs worldwide, closing its R&D facility in Beckenham, Kent, and opening a Medicines Research Centre in [[Stevenage]], [[Hertfordshire]].<ref>{{cite news |last=Grimond |first=Magnus |date=15 June 1995 |title=10,000 face Glaxo's axe at Wellcome |newspaper=The Independent |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/10000-face-glaxos-axe-at-wellcome-1586547.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220706142050/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/10-000-face-glaxo-s-axe-at-wellcome-1586547.html |archive-date=6 July 2022}}</ref><ref>
{{cite news |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/glaxo-warns-of-redundancies-1587568.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140226160641/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/glaxo-warns-of-redundancies-1587568.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=26 February 2014 |last=Grimond |first=Magnus |title=Glaxo warns of redundancies |newspaper=The Independent |date=21 June 1995}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Grimond |first=Magnus |date=7 September 1995 |title=Glaxo Wellcome plans to axe 7,500 jobs |newspaper=The Independent |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/glaxo-wellcome-plans-to-axe-7500-jobs-1600042.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221124164542/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/glaxo-wellcome-plans-to-axe-7-500-jobs-1600042.html |archive-date=24 November 2022}}</ref> Also that year, Glaxo Wellcome acquired the [[California]]-based Affymax, a leader in the field of [[combinatorial chemistry]].<ref>{{cite news |date=27 January 1995 |title=Glaxo to Acquire Affymax |website=[[The New York Times]] |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1995/01/27/business/glaxo-to-acquire-affymax.html |url-status=live |access-date=12 March 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230404164133/https://www.nytimes.com/1995/01/27/business/glaxo-to-acquire-affymax.html |archive-date=4 April 2023}}</ref>

By 1999, Glaxo Wellcome had become the world's third-largest pharmaceutical company by revenues (behind [[Novartis]] and Merck), with a global market share of around 4 per cent.<ref>{{cite news |date=30 March 1999 |title=Outlook: Glaxo Wellcome |newspaper=The Independent |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/outlook-glaxo-wellcome-1084036.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230316123746/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/outlook-glaxo-wellcome-1084036.html |archive-date=16 March 2023}}</ref> Its products included [[Imigran]] (for the treatment of migraine), [[salbutamol]] (Ventolin) (for the treatment of asthma), [[Zovirax]] (for the treatment of coldsores), and [[Retrovir]] and [[Epivir]] (for the treatment of AIDS). In 1999, the company was the world's largest manufacturer of drugs for the treatment of asthma and HIV/AIDS.<ref name="indep1899">{{cite news |date=1 August 1999 |title=Company of the week: Glaxo Wellcome |newspaper=The Independent |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/company-of-the-week-glaxo-wellcome-1109929.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221124161534/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/company-of-the-week-glaxo-wellcome-1109929.html |archive-date=24 November 2022}}</ref> It employed 59,000 people, including 13,400 in the UK, had 76 operating companies and 50 manufacturing facilities worldwide, and seven of its products were among the world's top 50 best-selling pharmaceuticals. The company had R&D facilities in Hertfordshire, [[Kent]], London and [[Verona]] (Italy), and manufacturing plants in Scotland and the north of England. It had R&D centres in the US and Japan, and production facilities in the US, Europe and the Far East.<ref name="bbc17100">{{cite news |date=17 January 2000 |title=Profile: Glaxo Wellcome |work=BBC News |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/606752.stm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230412181754/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/606752.stm |archive-date=12 April 2023}}</ref>