GSK, the London-listed drugmaker, has reaffirmed its full-year guidance after specialty medicines drove third-quarter sales growth.
Sales rose 5% at constant exchange rates to £8.9 billion.
Core operating profit, which excludes one-off items such as restructuring costs, rose 5% to £3.1 billion.
Total operating profit fell 16% to £2.1 billion, after £328 million of charges for a new restructuring programme.
GSK is targeting £1.9 billion of annual savings by 2029 through the "Accelerate Growth" programme, at a total cost of £2.4 billion.
Most of those charges will fall in 2026 and 2027, with the savings to be reinvested mainly in research and development.
Specialty medicines lead
Specialty medicines, which treat complex or chronic conditions, grew 15% to £3.9 billion.
HIV sales rose 10% to £2.1 billion, with long-acting injectables accounting for 80% of the growth.
Respiratory, immunology and inflammation sales climbed 21% to £1.1 billion, and oncology sales rose 23% to £622 million.
Vaccines fell 2% to £2.6 billion, as sales of the shingles vaccine Shingrix declined 5% and Arexvy, its respiratory syncytial virus jab, dropped 24%.
General medicines were flat at £2.4 billion.
Guidance and pipeline
GSK still expects sales growth of 3% to 5% and core operating profit growth of 7% to 9% for 2026, both in the upper half of their ranges.
Core earnings per share growth of 7% to 9% is expected in the lower half of the range, reflecting higher interest costs from the $10.8 billion Nuvalent acquisition.
Core earnings per share rose 1% to 54.6p, while total earnings per share fell 21% to 38.5p.
Cash generated from operations rose to £3.1 billion, and free cash flow reached £2.1 billion.
Net debt stood at £20.7 billion, up from £14.5 billion at the end of 2025.
The US approved Hibsago, a treatment for chronic hepatitis B, and Jemperli for rectal cancer during the period.
The third-quarter dividend is 17p a share, up from 16p a year earlier.
Luke Miels, chief executive, said GSK had "delivered another strong quarter".
