The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 268 No 7189 p349-354
16 March 2002

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Sir Richard Sykes to step down as GSK chairman

Chairman of GlaxoSmithKline, Sir Richard Sykes, has announced his retirement.

Sir Richard is to step down in May. He will be replaced as chairman by Sir Christopher Hogg, who is currently a non-executive director of the company.

Sir Richard was appointed deputy chairman and chief executive of Glaxo in 1993 and became chairman of Glaxo Wellcome in 1997. Following the company's merger with SmithKline Beecham at the end of 2000, he became chairman of GSK.

Making the announcement on 11 March that his departure would take effect from this year's annual general meeting on 20 May, Sir Richard said: "Having overseen the successful merger of GlaxoSmithKline, and as I approach my 60th birthday in August, I feel that now is the right time to depart. I wish to devote my time and energy to my role as rector of Imperial College, London."

One of Sir Christopher's first jobs might be to tackle allegations of bribery that have surfaced this week in Germany. It is claimed that the company offered perks to doctors in return for prescribing GSK drugs.

A spokesman for the company told The Journal: "GSK is fully committed to ensuring that its business practices are of the highest possible standard. The company takes the prosecutor's allegations very seriously." However, he pointed out that the allegations are not proven and that the time at which the incidents are alleged to have taken place was before the company's merger. "The company is undertaking a full internal investigation of the matter and if substantiated, appropriate disciplinary action will be taken," he added.