Shares in Pharmaceuticals Rise

Shares in Pharmaceuticals Rise.

Shares in Pharmaceuticals have seen a rise as a new deal is agreed between two of the leading drug makers. Novartis and GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) will exchange sectors and companies and combine over the counter units.

The exchange will allow GSK to purchase Novartis’s vaccines division excluding its flu unit for $7.1bn and Novartis will gain GSK’s cancer drug business for $16bn. On top of this both companies will be combining their over the counter sections in a bid to create extra growth for both firms.

Both companies saw a rise in their share price, with GSK rising 5% and Novartis rising 2.75%. This has also caused firms such as AstraZeneca to also see a rise as hopes come for more deals.

Novartis is currently conducting a review of its business as it continues to see sluggish growth, this new deal is a bid to help growth. The over the counter brands that are within the deal include Beechams and Tixylix.