As Haleon presented its first earnings since spinning out of GSK back in July, the company wanted one thing to be clear: leave Haleon out of the Zantac mess.
The company stated that it is “not a party to any Zantac litigation." Nationwide, thousands of federal and state-level lawsuits target companies that had a hand in selling the popular heartburn medicine Zantac including GSK, Pfizer, Sanofi, Boehringer Ingelheim and Thermo Fisher. The plaintiffs say the drug, which was pulled from the market two years ago, caused them to develop various types of cancer.
For its part, Haleon said it has rejected requests from Pfizer and GSK to help pay for the litigation. The company argued that the structure of the companies' prior consumer healthcare joint venture doesn't require it to help fund their litigation expenses.
When GSK and Pfizer formed their consumer healthcare joint venture back in 2018, the companies didn't market over-the-counter Zantac in the U.S. or Canada, Haleon stressed.
Elsewhere in Haleon’s earnings report, the company delivered first-half revenues of £5.2 billion, growing 11.6%. The still-new company is making its way into its already established market for consumer health products with well-known brands such as Sensodyne, Advil, Theraflu, and Panadol. Two-thirds of Haleon's business gained or maintained market share in the first half of the year, the company said.
“Whilst navigating the current macro-economic challenges and uncertainties, positive momentum in our business has continued into the second half,” Brian McNamara, Haleon’s CEO, said in the company statement. “This combined with the strength of the business reinforces our confidence that we are well positioned to deliver on guidance this year and over the medium term.”
For all of 2022, the company expects to deliver revenue growth of 6% to 8%.