GlaxoSmithKline plc (NYSE:GSK) JPMorgan 40th Annual Healthcare Conference January 11, 2022 7:30 AM ET
Executives
Emma Walmsley – Chief Executive Officer
Luke Miels – Chief Commercial Officer
David Redfern – Chief Strategy Officer
Analysts
James Gordon – JPMorgan
James Gordon
Good morning and good afternoon. I am James Gordon, JPMorgan European pharma biotech analyst. And today, at the JP Morgan conference, I have got the pleasure of introducing the GSK presentation and Q&A. So we have GSK’s CEO, Emma Walmsley, joining us for 20 minutes and then we are going to have a 20 minutes Q&A afterwards. And so with that said, thanks a lot for joining us today, Emma.
Over to you for the presentation.
Emma Walmsley
Thank you. Good morning and good afternoon to everyone. A big thank you to James and a very happy new year to all of those attending today’s virtual conference. Let me first refer you to our usual cautionary statements on slides two. And then please turn to slide three.
2022 will be a landmark year for GSK. The de-merger of our world-leading consumer healthcare business is set to unlock tremendous value for two new businesses set up for independent delivery of competitive growth, shareholder value and scale impacts on human health. During my presentation, I am going to set out clearly why new GSK, our biopharma business, will be a growth company able to create significant value for patients, shareholders and our people from 2022 and on into the next decade. This slide sets out the key messages including our commitment to deliver attractive growth over the next five years and beyond and to operate with the highest regard for sustainability. This means a step change in performance that we expect to begin this year.
Please turn to slide four. Before we get into our ell confidence about new GSK prospects, I want to spend a couple of minutes focusing on what has been achieved over the last five years and how this creates an entirely different platform for future growth. Since 2017, we have undertaken an enormous amount of work to fix longstanding issues across the company which would be the direct cause of historic underperformance and negative impacts on total shareholder returns. Our focus has been to improve R&D productivity, commercial execution, group structure and capital allocation and very significantly drive the new culture with new leadership for more accountability, ambition and delivery. We have done this by prioritizing innovation, performance and trust driving a sustained multi-year strategic transformation and investment program.
Please turn to slide five. The scale of the changes made in the last five years is unprecedented as we sought to improve performance, strength and capabilities and prepare GSK for a new future. Our sales and cash flow performance have improved despite the loss of multi-billion pound advance generics and we have maintained operating profit levels whilst making much needed increases in R&D investment. This investment are, up 30% over the period and of how has leadership team strengthened our R&D performance and productivity. Since 2017, we delivered 13 major approvals, a top quartile performance and we have more than doubled the number of potential new vaccines and medicines in Phase 3 and registration to 23. We now have a pipeline of over 60, many of which are potential best or first in class vaccines and medicines. Luke Miels and Deborah Waterhouse have transformed our commercial execution. New and specialty medicines have reached £10 billion, growing double digits and since 2017 vaccines revenues have also increased 35% under Roger Connor’s leadership. We have made significant changes to our portfolio and manufacturing network, driving changes to our business mix, reducing our footprint, streamlining our supply chain, achieving substantial cost savings and divesting non-core brands. We have created a new world-leading consumer healthcare business following two successful global mergers and integrations with a radically transformed portfolio and a 25% increase in adjusted operating profit. And we have maintained our acknowledged leadership in ESG. Powering it all has been a new culture of more accountability and ambition. This change has started at the top where we transformed our leadership. 85% of the top 125 leaders are new enrolls since 2017 and including 30% recruited externally.
Please turn to slide six. We are now ready to deliver the most significant corporate change for GSK seen in more than 20 years, to separate and create a new GSK and a new consumer healthcare. Both of these businesses will have scale impacts on human health and the opportunity to deliver compelling performance attractive returns to shareholders.
Please turn to slide seven. We are going to create a new world leader in consumer healthcare with a planned separation in the middle of this year. A £150 billion market with very favorable dynamics for consistent future growth, expertly builds and integrated by CEO Designate Brian McNamara and his team, this business will serve 100 markets with a portfolio generating annual sales of around £10 billion pounds. It will be driven by brands and innovation with leading edge science and human understanding to deliver better everyday health. And with nine global power brands holding practically leadership positions, a significant sales presence in the U.S. and China and 11 other brands each generating more than £10 million in sales, the business is well placed to address future consumer needs and achieve our revenue ambitions. We are confident that this business will deliver sustainable organic sales growth well ahead of its categories in the years to come. Alongside prospects further of margin expansion and high cash generation, this offers a highly attractive financial profile for future investors, one that can support investment for growth and delivery of sustainable attractive returns. And the appropriately skilled independent Board will oversee it, the full composition of which will be announced shortly. And in December last year, I was delighted we announced the appointment of Sir Dave Lewis as the Chair Designate. We are going to be holding a capital markets day very soon later this quarter which is going to detail the very compelling prospects of consumer health as a new and independent company.
You can turn to the next slide please. The separation will occur in the middle of this year and we are moving at pace with our plans. The Board have reviewed multiple separation options to unlock the potential of both businesses, strengthening the new GSK’s balance sheet and most importantly of all, maximizing shareholder value. On this basis, the separation will take the form of a demerger of at least 80% of GSK’s holding in the business to shareholders. New GSK will retain up to 20% as a short-term financial investment that we will monetize in a timely and pragmatic manner to strengthen our balance sheet further. The new consumer business is expected to be a FTSE 100 company and will benefit from a premium listing on the London Stock Exchange.
Please turn to slide nine. Turning now to new GSK. With new ambition comes new purpose. For new GSK, this is to unite science, talent and technology to get ahead of disease together, all with a clear ambition of delivering human health impact, stronger and more sustainable returns and as a new exciting future-facing GSK where outstanding people thrive. Getting ahead means preventing disease as well as treating it. It means innovating together fusing ideas, capabilities and know-how inside and outside GSK. Our R&D focus is to deliver new vaccines and medicines using the science of the immune system, human genetics and advanced technologies together with a deep commitment to operate responsibly for all our stakeholders prioritizing innovation, performance and trust. We remain committed to getting ahead of issues that matter for our company’ sustainability via pricing and access, the environment or stronger diversity and inclusion. We do all this through our people and our culture with ambition, accountability and a shared responsibility to do the right thing.
Please turn to slide 10. Our bold ambitions are reflected in the new commitments to growth provided at our Investor Update in June last year. Both of these builds represent a significant step change in delivery. With strong and effective commercial execution in the next five years, we expect to deliver more than 5% sales and more than 10% adjusted operating profit growth on a compounded basis. And by 2030, we aim to deliver more than £33 billion in sales.
Please turn to slide 11. To drive this step change and growth, we will continue to prioritize investments in vaccines and specialty medicines which we expect to grow to around three quarters of our revenue base by 2026. Over the next five years, in [indiscernible] terms, we expect sales to grow at high single digits for vaccines and double digits for specialty meds. Our newly defined general medicines business will contain all our primary care medicines and we will optimize this business for profitability and cash flow. And as we have done in the last five years, we will always continue to look for opportunities to streamline the portfolio and maximize its value for shareholders. Overall, we expect general medicine sales to be broadly stable over the next five years which is a significant change from the past.
Slide 12. A key reason for prioritizing investment in vaccines and specially medicines is to realize the increasing opportunities for disease prevention and treatment. Our understanding of the relevance of the science of immune system continues to grow and modalities are converging. We have the approach, the tools, the portfolio and the capabilities to deliver growth and value.
Turning to slide 13. We continue to prioritize four therapeutic areas and also include the pursuit of opportunities in new areas that align with our strategy of focusing on the science of the immune system, human genetics to advance potential first or best in class vaccines and medicines. We expect our portfolio of marketed vaccines and medicines and our late stage pipeline to deliver strong growth over the next decade. And the next five years will see us build on the momentum we have achieved today and we expect growth to be increasingly supplemented by contributions from the late stage R&D pipeline. The value that these potential new vaccines and medicines can bring to patients, a new GSK, is very significant indeed. On a non-risk adjusted basis, we believe they have the potential to deliver peak year sales of more than £20 billion.
Turning to slide 14. Over the past year, we have made significant progress. Of the key pipeline achievements highlighted on this slide, I will call out three in particular. First is the compelling Phase 3 results from daprodustat, our potential best-in-class medicine to treat patients with anemia due to chronic kidney disease. We anticipate a regulatory submission in coming months here.
Second, we have made tremendous progress in treating COVID-19 with our potentially best-in-class monoclonal antibody Xevudy with our collaboration partners Vir. While we were not the first to enter this category, we were thinking about the risk of mutant variants and chose to pursue an approach that targets a highly conserved part of the spike protein. This rational approach to drug development appears to have paid off as Xevudy was the first monoclonal antibody to demonstrate preclinical activity against all COVID variants of concern including Omicron.
And thirdly, last month we received USA FDA regulation approval for Apretude in HIV prevention. With every two months dosing and superior efficacy to cover oral options, Apretude advances again our innovation leadership in meeting the needs of people vulnerable to HIV.
Please turn to slide 15. In the year ahead, we will continue to see R&D deliver important news flow on a high proportion of our late stage pipeline. Specifically, we expect to report data readouts on up to seven of the 11 potential new vaccines and medicines that we highlighted at our Investor Update including our older adults RSV vaccine as well as proof of concepts on our potential HEPB therapeutic. We are also planning two important regulatory submissions, first for daprodustat and second for Blenrep in third line multiple myeloma.
Please turn to slide 16. The significant contributions to our topline ambitions are summarized here. Of course, alongside expected positive contributions from the vaccines and medicines are generic explorations. From 2021 to 2026, our loss of exclusivity exposure is negligible and compares very favorably to peers. As can be seen here, our next anticipated loss of exclusivity comes from the patent expiration of dolutegravir in 2028 in the U.S. and 2029 in Europe. In November last year at our HIV Investor Event, we explain the transition we expect to see on our HIV portfolio to long acting medicines. This significantly reduces our exposure to genericization and supports profitable revenue renewal in our HIV portfolio. And at a company level, we expect the loss of dolutegravir to be more than offset by the expected sales contribution from our late stage pipeline. From 2026 to 2031, growth will be driven by several late-stage potential new vaccines and medicines, enabling us to achieve our ambition of more than £33 billion in sales. And this some ambition also does not include any significant contribution from the early stage pipeline or any contribution from future business development which we will of course continue to pursue. I should also reiterate that these outlets do not include any revenues or profits from COVID-19 solutions.
Please turn slide 17. We will leverage our topline growth to drive significant margin expansion. The operating profit margin will increase from the mid-twenties to over 30% by 2026 delivering double digit compounded profit growth over the period.. We also expect to achieve a combined total of £1.5 billion of annual cost savings by 2023. Approximately one-third of these savings are being reinvested to drive growth in the business with the remainder expected to drop through to the bottom line. These programs are expected to complete in 2022 and no further restructuring programs are planned. Our focus, however, on driving out costs is going to continue. This will include more R&D productivity initiatives, further streamlining our manufacturing network, deploying technology as a deflationary force, embedding pandemic learnings and new ways of working and prioritizing projects with the highest returns. And of course, another very critical driver of margin expansion is the change in sales mix towards higher margin vaccines and specialty care medicines.
Please turn to slide 18. Now turning to our capital allocation priorities. Our priority is to reinvest in our pipeline, including business development activity focusing on bolt-ons and in-licensing deals. You saw us take several steps in that direction in 2021 through new R&D collaborations with ATL, Selecto, Scinovo and Arrowhead, amongst others. We will also strengthen our balance sheet with the consumer demerger and the anticipated stronger operating cash flow we expect in the coming years. By 2026, we expect cash generation from operations to exceed £10 billion. This will allow us to focus capital deployment on supporting growth through successful product launches and improving the sustainability of our operations including reducing our carbon footprint. And of course, we intend to deliver attractive and growing returns to shareholders through a progressive dividend policy with an annual dividend starting at £0.45 per share in 2023.
Please turn to slide 19. For new GSK, ESG will continue to be an integral part of our strategy and our investment case. It will be a key driver in our goal to deliver health impact, builds trust, reduce risk and enable the delivery of positive social impact. We are already making tremendous progress with our number one ranking in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index and our longstanding leadership in the Access to Medicine Index. Looking ahead, we aim to deliver ambitious environmental commitments with our targets of net zero on carbon and new positive on nature by 2030 and we also intend to lead the way on diversity and inclusion. And central to our purpose is a defining measure of delivering health impact to scale. Our plan shows that new GSK can positively impact the health of more than 2.5 billion people worldwide over the next 10 years.
Please turn to slide 20. So in summary, we expect new GSK to deliver very competitive performance. Over the next five years, with 2021 as a base year, we plan to deliver highly attractive growth with sales and adjusted operating profit of more than 5% and more than 10% on the compound basis. These commitments represent a clear step-change in performance for a new GSK and we are confident that we can deliver. By 2031, we aim to achieve more than £33 billion in annual sales. Our current late stage pipeline drives this ambition before any significant contribution from our maturing early stage pipeline or future business developments. Our late stage pipeline has the potential to deliver over £20 billion in non-risk adjusted peak year sales supporting our confidence in these revenue ambitions. Importantly, this expected revenue profile sees new GSK growing through the decade, despite the anticipated loss of exclusivity for our HIV medicine dolutegravir from 2028 onwards. New GSK will prioritize innovation in vaccines and specialty medicines, maximizing opportunities across prevention and treatment of disease. We will support investments in innovation through the attractive profitability and cash flow of our general lessons business which we will continue to optimize. New GSK will benefit from a strengthened balance sheet after the demerger of consumer healthcare enabling us to pursue a growth oriented capital application policy and we will deliver this performance while meeting the high standards expected of us, retaining the leading edge ESG performance and driving a culture of ambition, accountability and responsibility. This is new GSK, on that is ambitious for patients, for shareholders and for our people.
And so with that, I am going to be joined by my colleagues, Luke and David. And I am going to hand it back James for the Q&A
Question-and-Answer Session
Q -James Gordon
Great. Thanks very much for the presentation. As Emma has mentioned, we have got Luke Miels, Chief Commercial Officer and David Redfern, Chief Strategy Officer with us. And we have got 20 minutes. And so we will kick of the questions.
Maybe just the first question would just be, can you give us an update on what you are seeing in terms of COVID and Omnicron business and whether it’s the same sort of disruption as you saw previously and in particular, products like Shingrix, how much disruption you are currently seeing?
Emma Walmsley
Thanks. Well, I think I am going to ask our Chief Commercial Officer to comment on that, although there is no change in terms of our optimism and ambition for the outlook for Shingrix or indeed all of the others I have just covered in my presentation.
But Luke, do you want to pick that up?
Luke Miels
Thanks Emma and Thanks James. You are correct. I mean I think if we go back a few months ago, there was a lot of debate around booster impact. I think Omnicron has more of an impact than boosters in terms of Shingrix. Yes, I think overall, in terms of all the products and Shingrix itself, I think we feel quite good about the direction and the manageability of what we are seeing in the U.S. and also Europe.
Emma Walmsley
David, do you want to add anything in terms of our HIV business because obviously there have been some markets that have been, particularly the switch market have been a bit hit but we see that as short term. Do you want to comment further?
David Redfern
Yes. I mean there is no doubt that COVID has impacted the switch market and the HIV market generally over the last 18 months, two years and that not continues. Hopefully, it will start to normalize as Omnicron plays through, particularly in U.S. That said, we have got very much used to that. Our market share has gone up, particularly about two drug regimens, Dovato and Juluca. And clearly we have now launched our long acting medicines as well. So we have been able to grow despite the more conservative nature of the market. I am hoping that growth will accelerate as the market returns to normal later this year.
James Gordon
Thank you. And I have also been asked in terms of oncology, how much of a headwind you are seeing there? Some other companies at the conference have called less dosing, diagnoses significant hit or reduced and for some oncology indications a lack of surgeries occurring which has been a significant headwind. Have you seen much improvement there? And is that a big headwind for GSK?
Emma Walmsley
Luke?
Luke Miels
Yes. I think this remains a challenge for ovarian. I mean it’s clearly correct. I mean if you see more extreme indications like pancreatic where the symptoms are more explicit, disease is progressing faster than those, even if you look at chemo, those rates are not as suppressed. But yes, definitely the less obvious, the harder to diagnose like ovarian, we are seeing a consistent reluctance of patients to present at primary care offices and then the flow-on effect of that and a great just reluctance on the part of physicians or just an inability to get enough surgery. So that’s still, there’s a longer tail on that than we really expect. And I think the other critical thing, sadly, when these patients do present, eventually the disease is going to be more progressed. So they are going to move through the first line setting faster or extremely rapidly which of course has implications in terms of maintenance instrument.
James Gordon
Thank you. One other question while we are on COVID. So sotro is [indiscernible], I believe it is now pronounced. I saw you just announced a contract, Xevudy, sorry a contract just announced. But is this a one-off? Or could this be a more durable partner of GSK now? How far into the future could you still have in these sales?
Emma Walmsley
Well, first of all, we have excluded, as know, James, our COVID solutions from our guidance as we did in 2021 and it’s all excluded from our outlook precisely because there is ongoing uncertainty on how it’s going to play both as a disease but also the competitive landscape and the consumer behavior as well. I mean we are all delighted to be contributing and mobilized to be contributing to COVID stations. And as you know, at Q3 we added, beyond an upgrade on our base guidance we also added an upgrade to an additional 79 points of EPS we expected from COVID situations coming from Xevudy. We were extremely deliberate on this. The science here to identify an antibody that we thought may be more variant proof and that’s what’s sort of come to bear. So very pleased to see the new announcement this morning on a quarter one contracts. Obviously, discussions are ongoing with a variety of governments and we will continue to do so. On our side, we are just mobilizing supply today the best we can for patients and we will continue to contribute as is possible. I think, so we will update more in February as we get a bit more visibility of the landscape. But this will always be relatively flexible and I think the world is trying to learn more about Omnicron as it is burning thought with these very high infection rates. No, I think there is a reasonable hypothesis that we are moving to a more endemic world and that’s also where other technology platforms, including mRNA, et cetera and how we show up as a more permanent part of our business potentially as something a question more for the future as opposed the medium term.
Luke, I don’t know if you want to add to that because your team has been mobilizing like crazy on the prospects. And there’s questions of other meds as well on this than what I can share.
Luke Miels
Yes. I agree. I think this dimension of understanding Omnicron, I think governments are trying to understand the role of meds, the role of our roles and that negotiation point or navigation point in terms of future purchasing decisions. And there’s clearly a lot of both. It just depends on how the physicians are going to — our meds going to going to your maps could be used for them all, compromised poly complication type patients in oral for younger, fitter individuals. And is there a segment that’s going to be we see combinations being deployed, particularly in people with sever disease, myeloma chemotherapy, et cetera who are suppressed. So I think it’s very interesting. I think what is pleasing, just to build on Emma’s point, is the deal was done I mean I had a clear hypothesis around preservation of activity because it’s derived from a SARS patient versus COVID. And I think what’s encouraging is that our offices hypothesis has proven correct and governments can see that as well.
James Gordon
And are you running up against any sort of capacity constraints for the product? If there’s a lot of demand out there, could you do many multiples of what you have already signed? Or could you limit to say this year how much that should be produced?
Emma Walmsley
Well, go ahead, Luke.
Luke Miels
That’s alright. I mean what we are seeing now and we will give more of an update on Q1, clearly this is an increase in demand and we are working to satisfy that. That is probably all we could say at this point.
James Gordon
Thank you. I have got question that’s come through on vaccines. The question is thought on potential entry of an mRNA shingles vaccine and if it’s incorporated in the risk adjustment for the long term planning? And maybe just to make the question a bit broader, I mean I would think the idea has been that this shingles mRNA vaccine might be better in terms of tolerability or potentially just the ability to make a lot more of it. So how much of a threat is that product? And where do you think there is an opportunity for it versus Shingrix?
Emma Walmsley
Yes. Well, I will start and Luke might want to add. Let’s begin by saying, we are incredibly confident in our shingles vaccine and remain very committed to delivering the ambition we talked about of doubling the sales over the next five years of which we share last year. This is a vaccine with 97% efficacy and over 90% on the elderly cohort. And by the way, eight years of sustained protection once you are vaccinated and a long safety track record. What matters most, if anyone do something with singles and it’s an enormous market, is that you are protected. So the barrier for efficacy is extremely high. The second thing I would point to is, we are now, initially obviously we were supply constrained. We are now not supply constrained. And you will imagine that we continue to work on lifecycle innovation. And I am not going to go further than that but to make sure that this, in every sense, remains competitive. So we have had four years of data when we submitted for approval on this vaccine. And we are very confident and we are very confident in the adjuvant technology, in so much so that it’s obviously coming through in some of our newer pipeline that we are excited about getting data on later this year.
Luke, is there anything you would like to add in terms of geo expansion and the rest?
Luke Miels
Yes. I mean the rate limiting step, as Emma has said, has been capacity more than anything and then of course COVID disruption. If you look at people completing the sequence, which I think is a pretty good indicator of tolerability, it’s one of the highest we have had. I mean it’s 1.8, 1.85. And the argument around the eight years plus, of course that will continue to build hopefully because it’s just how long we have been observing this population. So those things are going to flow in there. We did assume that there would be competition. And as Emma said, we have been quite deliberate in terms of geographical expansion. And I would like to think we have been strategic around that, particularly around pricing and expansion beyond the U.S. and European markets. And so we have got our plans. We have this. We are going to activate them. There’s a clear timeline now. So we know more than we did before and we can act on it.
James Gordon
Thank you. And while we are on vaccines, I believe in the first half, you have got your older adults RSV vaccine you have got coming up. So what’s the confidence in that Phase 3 readout? And in terms of how that might be differentiated by some of the other people going off to other adult RSV, do you think the differentiation that your product would have would be apparent in that data set or might we have to wait a bit longer so we can really see how differentiated it is?
Emma Walmsley
Yes. Well, let’s wait and see what the data shows. I am not going to make projections on that for ourselves or others, except to say we are very excited to see that as those RSV readouts come through, it’s an enormous potential market with over a billion people over 60 worldwide. The hospitalization rates on those infected are actually higher the flu. You have got to believe, by the way, that a busier market is going to create a bigger market because it usually does. And we are also in an environment where adult vaccination is now so big that it’s broadly accepted and welcome. We are the only vaccine going in but the AS01 adjuvant which is proven in an older cohort and has historically driven a level of efficacy and duration of efficacy. Obviously, the duration until time passes. But we feel very good about that and we are excited that the results was, we were able to bring them into the first half rather than the second homes. And even in a crowded space, let’s see what the date says. So there’s the question of what the data says and then there’s the question of what happens commercially. And I think we have seen time again from Luke and his team on the HIV side from Deborah and her team that we are in a competitive environment at GSK and now knows how to show up well.
So Luke, I don know if there is anything else you want to add them on that?
Luke Miels
Yes. And I think again we compete with Pfizer in the meningitis market and done very well there. We get over 70% of that business in the U. S. and have been expanding it. And you are completely agree with Emma in terms of, it’s a bit hard to speculate at this point. I think the only thing we want now is just whether these are seasonal vaccines ore have longer durability and that will show up in time and the tox profile of these vaccines.
Emma Walmsley
Yes. That’s another point. We know we are on setting a long term safety record here.
James Gordon
Thank you. I have got a follow up question from someone on that. So the first part of that question was, how confident can you be that it will readout, as in your Phase 3 readout in the first half? And what actually is the bar., given there aren’t vaccines here ready?
Emma Walmsley
Given what?
James Gordon
Given there were no approved vaccines for older adults, what is the bar? What do you actually need to show?
Emma Walmsley
I don’t know really whether we can comment at all on that. But we have committed to the first half for a readout. So that’s what we are expecting.
Luke Miels
Yes. And I think the driving is just the level of RSV circulating in the community and the combination of countries that you have to look for all companies there. In terms of a percentage, I don’t want to get into a percentage but I think if you look at the Phase 2 results that are being reported by various companies, that’s probably a good place to start. But in the end, what will matter is when everyone unblinds. And then I think the second step to this, which is really important, is you have the readout but the rate limiting step in terms of commercial success is going to be the ACIP meeting in the U.S. where you get endorsement because approval in this setting, physicians are going to hold back until they see ACIP recommendations and the category of recommendation, the strength of that. So that will actually converge a lot of company’s data sets in 2023. And then I think you are going to see a fair amount of debate from regulators potentially with some of these mechanisms, just from some of the insights we have got across from COVID vaccines. So it’ll be interesting. And as Emma said, I think the fact that you have got one of two players will help drive expansion. And I think it’s going to be quite exciting and very good news patients.
James Gordon
Thank you. There’s a question here about the synthetic lethality programs. What programs excite you the most synthetic lethality? And do we see data this year for anything?
Emma Walmsley
Luke?
Luke Miels
Yes. I mean I think the advantage of course is if we have Zejula as a backbone. I don’t think you are going to see anything being reported externally this year or in the second half. In the second half, there will be some early data from CD96 potentially at ASCO. But it’s not synthetic lethality but just in terms of earlier programs that people might be interested in. So it’s probably the leading point that we will have in the early-stage oncology pipeline. But yes, there’s been a degree of care in terms of assembling various combinations and I think the main question is going to be talks with the combinations.
James Gordon
Yes. Another question, switching gears a bit, is about consumer. So when do we get this capital markets day? What are we going to learn there? And maybe if I could just tag on to that, could you also talk, I think you have announced a Chair Designate for the consumer business? Could you talk about who has hired and what they might bring?
Emma Walmsley
Yes. Well, first of all, James, I don’t know how many years we have been doing this but it’s been some time we have got to a consumer question early in this structure. So thank you for that. This is a momentous year for the company in terms of unlocking all the value that’s been created over, frankly, the last eight years in consumer with the two biggest deals in the sector and this massive change in the portfolio now for shareholders. We are very excited to bring a lot more visibility to the value created and more importantly the value that lies ahead for consumer. We have committed to having a fully fledged but it will be a remote capital markets day this quarter. And we will be announcing very, very soon the date of that. So not in weeks. And what’s going to be exciting there is to see the visibility, as I said in my comments, what underpins the confidence in sustainable organic growth well ahead of the categories, ongoing further margin expansion and high cash conversion that we have got a highly attractive financial investment here with good prospects for growth, continuing to invest in growth but also deliver sustainable returns at the same time. It is a truly unique business because it is the only pure play 100% dedicated to consumer health business in the sector of meaningful scale with world class portfolio, particularly in the two biggest markets of the U.S. and China and leading positions in all the key sub-categories. There is a very clear strategy based on science and human understanding and competitive consumer capabilities in both digital and brand innovation and route to market at scale. And frankly, structurally, when you look at some of the, call it, inflationary pressures and other dynamics that are going in broader consumer goods, we are quite well placed on those kind of questions as well and being so purpose led, very competitive on ESG too. So lots of exciting things to share from the broader team led by our CEO Designate who has already been named. We have also named the broader leadership team that will be taking that business forward and they will be visible. We will be sharing outlooks, prospects for growth. Dave Lewis has been named as the Chair Designate. He will obviously be working on bringing together the broader both independent boards and we will, obviously, as part of that CMD also be sharing a lot more precision on the timeline forward up until the separation. So it will be a not to be missed event, James. And we have announced the HQ of that company as well. So I would just encourage everyone to at least pass on to their relevant colleagues a chance to join us and hear about this amazing business that’s being built inside GSK.
James Gordon
Looking forward to the event. Great. Thank you very much for that. We are out of time. So thanks to everyone from GSK for joining. And enjoy the rest of the conference.
Emma Walmsley
Thanks very much, James.