While GlaxoSmithKline’s vaccine business has been slow to recover during the pandemic, sales of its Vir Biotechnology-partnered COVID-19 antibodies helped to compensate for the shortfall last year.
And as a result, CEO Emma Walmsley received a significant pay bump, making 8.2 million pounds sterling ($10.88 million) last year. Walmsley, the lone female CEO in Big Pharma, made 7 million pounds ($9.25 million) in 2020, a drop from her 8.1 million pound figure for 2019.
A major chunk of her 17% increase in pay came from a bonus, which rose from 1.17 million pounds ($1.5 million) in 2020 to 2.27 million pounds ($3 million) this year.
Walmsley’s compensation still ranks well below that received by male counterparts such as Eli Lilly’s David Ricks, who made $23.7 million in 2020 and Pascal Soriot who pulled in $21.5 million in 2020 at AstraZeneca.
Last month, GSK reported 2021 revenue came in at 34 billion pounds ($45.54 billion), which was a 5% increase from 2020. The COVID-19 antibody treatment, Xevudy, delivered 958 million pounds ($1.27 billion) in sales last year.
"Overall, 2021 was a year of strong sales performance and strategic progress for GSK," the company said in the report. "In terms of innovation, we made significant progress in 2021 in further strengthening our R&D biopharma pipeline."
Change is afoot at GSK as it is separating its consumer health business through a demerger and starting a new independent company, Haleon, which will debut in the middle of this year.
Departing president and R&D chief Hal Barron, who led GSK’s revitalization and will take over at startup Altos Labs, received $12.5 million last year, an increase from his 2020 compensation of $11.2 million.
Chief financial officer Iain Mackay saw his pay rise from 2 million pounds to 5.3 million pounds, most of it chalked up to the vesting of his first profit-sharing plan award since joining the company in 2019. This added 2.4 million pounds to his compensation.
In addition, GSK reported that Moncef Slaoui, who left as chairman of the board of its Galvani Bioelectronics, agreed to return $3.86 million in cash as the company “applied clawback provisions” under its “recoupment policy.” Slaoui stepped down amid allegations of sexual harassment when he was the chief of vaccines at GSK.