Glaxo may swallow £523m painkillers

DRUGS giant GlaxoSmithKline is tipped as a buyer for Bristol-Myers Squibb's Excedrin line of pain relievers in a deal that could be worth $1bn (£532m).

Bristol-Myers is said to be looking to dispose of parts of its consumer medicine business, which markets over-the-counter medications, and reports in the US said the sale could be announced as early as next week.

The New York-based company has been shedding businesses to provide cash to develop new products. Its current ones include Pravachol for cholesterol and Taxol for cancer.

It last month sold its Oncology Therapeutics Network, a cancer drug distribution company, to the private equity arm of JP Morgan Chase.

Sales at Bristol-Myers' consumer medicine business have slumped in recent years, and now account for less than 2% of the company's annual total of $20bn.

However, Bristol-Myers recently said that growing revenue from new products and from medicines soon to be approved are likely to offset declining sales in 2005 and 2006 of products facing generic competition.