GlaxoSmithKline Exits BIO, Pharmaceutical Giants Are Pulling Out!

In the recent period of time, according to the report of FIERCE Pharma, following Takeda, Pfizer, UCB, Wuxi Apptec and other well-known pharmaceutical companies have announced their withdrawal, another multinational pharmaceutical giant - GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) has also announced its decision to withdraw from the Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO) in 2025.

In an emailed statement, a spokesperson for British drugmaker GSK said that following an annual review of its corporate membership and trade association participation, the company decided not to renew its BIO membership for 2025. The company representative further added, "We remain committed to fostering a policy environment that prioritizes disease prevention, addresses barriers to health equity and access, and incentivizes sustainable innovation." At the moment, we think there are other areas where we can focus our resources."

Since December last year, several large pharmaceutical companies have announced their withdrawal from BIO. Pfizer and Urbyx exited BIO in December 2023 and January 2023, respectively, while AbbVie cut ties with BIO in 2022. On March 13, 2024, Wuxi Apptec withdrew due to BIO's support for the BioSafety Act, which was confirmed by the U.S. House of Representatives, specifically targeting five Chinese life science companies, including Wuxi Apptec and Wuxi Bio.

With the signing of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) by the Biden administration in August 2022, drug prices are facing unprecedented challenges. BIO and PhRMA appealed one after another, but in the case of high investment, they still failed to stop the government's intervention in drug prices. This has also directly led to the withdrawal of major pharmaceutical companies.