GSK plc
Founders
Silvanus Bevan, Joseph Nathan, John K. Smith, Mahlon Kline, Henry Wellcome · Founded 1715 · HQ today: London, United Kingdom
GSK was founded by Silvanus Bevan, Joseph Nathan, John K. Smith, Mahlon Kline, Henry Wellcome in 1715. It is now led by Luke Miels.
GSK's oldest root is the Plough Court pharmacy that Silvanus Bevan opened in London in 1715, which later became Allen & Hanburys. In Philadelphia, John K. Smith opened a drugstore in 1830 that grew into Smith, Kline & French. Thomas Beecham began selling Beecham's Pills in England in 1842, Burroughs Wellcome & Co. was founded in London in 1880, and Joseph Nathan & Co. in New Zealand began producing Glaxo dried milk in 1904. Burroughs Wellcome scientists developed AZT, approved in 1987 as the first HIV treatment. Glaxo bought Wellcome in 1995, and Glaxo Wellcome merged with SmithKline Beecham in December 2000 to form GlaxoSmithKline, renamed GSK in 2022.
London apothecary; founder of the Plough Court pharmacy, GSK's oldest predecessor business.
Silvanus Bevan was a Quaker apothecary who opened a pharmacy at Plough Court in the City of London in 1715. The business later became Allen & Hanburys, a respiratory-medicine specialist that Glaxo acquired in 1958, which is why GSK dates its history to 1715. (Exact birth year remains publicly undisclosed).
London-born merchant who built a trading company, Joseph Nathan & Co., in Wellington, New Zealand.
Joseph Nathan emigrated from London to New Zealand and founded a general trading business in Wellington. In 1904 the firm began producing dried milk at Bunnythorpe and sold it as baby food under the Glaxo name. Glaxo later moved to London, expanded into vitamins and pharmaceuticals, and in the 1940s produced penicillin. Glaxo Laboratories became one of the companies that formed Glaxo Wellcome in 1995 and GlaxoSmithKline in 2000. (Exact birth year remains publicly undisclosed).
Philadelphia pharmacist who opened a drugstore in 1830.
John K. Smith opened a drugstore in Philadelphia in 1830. Mahlon Kline joined the business as a bookkeeper in 1865, it became Smith, Kline & Co. in 1875, and Smith, Kline & French after acquiring French, Richards & Co. in 1891. SmithKline merged with Beecham in 1989 to form SmithKline Beecham, which combined with Glaxo Wellcome in 2000. (Exact birth year remains publicly undisclosed).
Bookkeeper and salesman who became a partner and leader of the Smith, Kline business in Philadelphia.
Mahlon Kline joined John K. Smith's Philadelphia drug business as a bookkeeper in 1865 and became a partner as it grew into a wholesale and manufacturing company, renamed Smith, Kline & Co. in 1875. The firm later became Smith, Kline & French, one of the main US predecessors of GSK. (Exact birth year remains publicly undisclosed).
US-trained pharmacist and entrepreneur; co-founder of Burroughs Wellcome & Co.
Henry Wellcome was a US-born pharmacist who co-founded Burroughs Wellcome & Co. with Silas Burroughs in London in 1880. The company popularised compressed tablets under the 'Tabloid' trademark and later funded major research laboratories. After Wellcome's death in 1936 his shares passed to the Wellcome Trust. Burroughs Wellcome scientists developed AZT for HIV, and Glaxo acquired Wellcome in 1995. (Exact birth year remains publicly undisclosed).
Luke Miels
Chief Executive Officer
Joined GSK in 2017 as President of Global Pharmaceuticals and later served as Chief Commercial Officer before succeeding Emma Walmsley on January 1, 2026.
Emma Walmsley
Former Chief Executive Officer
Walmsley modernized a sprawling, inefficient corporate giant, transforming GSK into a focused, agile biopharmaceutical enterprise. While she faced intense initial skepticism from activist investors regarding her lack of a scientific background, her strategic vision and hard-nosed portfolio rationalization ultimately fortified the company's balance sheet and provided the capital necessary to fund future drug discovery. Her tenure established the essential foundation for the company's future growth.
Andrew Witty
Former Chief Executive Officer
Witty provided steady leadership during a period of significant macroeconomic volatility following the 2008 financial crisis. His diversification strategy insulated the company from the devastating patent cliffs that crippled many rival pharmaceutical firms during the early 2010s. Furthermore, his commitment to tiered pricing and expanding vaccine access in developing nations significantly improved the pharmaceutical industry's global reputation regarding corporate social responsibility.
Jean-Pierre Garnier
Former Chief Executive Officer
Garnier executed one of the largest corporate mergers in pharmaceutical history, effectively creating the modern GSK conglomerate. His leadership established the global scale required to compete in the early 21st-century pharmaceutical market, building a strong sales and marketing infrastructure that dominated the industry for a decade. His efforts during the early 2000s cemented GSK's position as a global pharmaceutical leader, paving the way for future geographic expansion and securing the financial stability needed for sustained drug discovery programs.
GSK's lineage traces back over three centuries to the founding of the Plough Court Pharmacy in London in 1715 by Silvanus Bevan. The modern enterprise was created through the merger of four historic pharmaceutical leaders: Burroughs Wellcome & Company (1880), Glaxo Laboratories (1904), Beecham Group (1842), and Smith, Kline & French (1830).
In 1880, American pharmacists Silas Burroughs and Henry Wellcome established Burroughs Wellcome & Co. in London. They pioneered the 'Tabloid' compressed pill (replacing messy medicinal powders) and established the world's first commercial pharmacological research laboratories, funded by the philanthropic Wellcome Trust.
In 1904, Joseph Nathan founded the Glaxo brand in Palmerston North, New Zealand, producing dried baby milk powder under the slogan 'Glaxo Builds Bonnie Babies'. Glaxo evolved into a global pharmaceutical research giant after producing vitamin-fortified foods and discovering novel antibiotics.
In 1830, John K. Smith opened a wholesale drug shop in Philadelphia. Partnering with Mahlon Kline and Harry French, Smith, Kline & French (SK&F) became a major American pharmaceutical innovator, discovering breakthrough tranquilizers (Thorazine) and ulcer medications (Tagamet).
Beecham Group, founded in England by Thomas Beecham in 1842, established Beecham Research Laboratories in 1947. In 1957, Beecham scientists isolated 6-APA (the core of the penicillin molecule), enabling the creation of semi-synthetic penicillins (including amoxicillin and Augmentin) that saved millions of lives.
Working at Smith, Kline & French and Wellcome, Sir James Black invented beta-blockers (propranolol for heart disease) and H2-receptor antagonists (cimetidine / Tagamet, the world's first blockbuster drug to surpass $1 billion in annual sales), earning the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 1988.
Gertrude Elion and George Hitchings developed major rational drug design methods at Burroughs Wellcome, synthesizing the first treatments for leukemia (6-mercaptopurine), immunosuppressants for organ transplantation (azathioprine), antivirals for herpes (acyclovir / Zovirax), and the first HIV medicine (AZT / Retrovir), earning the Nobel Prize in 1988.
In December 2000, Glaxo Wellcome plc and SmithKline Beecham plc completed a historic £105 billion ($180 billion) merger to form GlaxoSmithKline plc, creating the world's second-largest pharmaceutical company at the time with global leadership in vaccines and respiratory medicine.
Because it is a massive conglomerate of mergers, there is no single founder. The "Glaxo" name comes from Joseph Nathan, who started selling dried milk in New Zealand in the 1870s. The "Beecham" name comes from Thomas Beecham, who invented Beecham's Pills (a laxative) in England in 1842.
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