Consumer Healthcare

Our Consumer Healthcare business develops and markets products in Wellness, Oral health, Nutrition and Skin health. It has a portfolio of some of the world’s most trusted and best selling brands which includes Sensodyne, Voltaren, Horlicks and Panadol.

We are one of the world’s leading over-the-counter Wellness medicines company. We hold number one positions in Wellness across 36 markets, and are market leaders in specialist oral care.

We have a portfolio of loved and trusted brands that are underpinned by science including: Sensodyne, Parodontax, Poligrip, Voltaren, Panadol, Otrivin and Theraflu.

In 2016, the Consumer Healthcare business accounted for £5 billion, or 26%, of total Group turnover.

Sales by category (2016)
  £m
Wellness 3,726
Oral health 2,223
Nutrition 674
Skin health 570

Our marketplace

Today, people are taking an increasingly active role in managing their own health. This is being fuelled by an emerging global middle class, rising healthcare costs and ageing populations. Demand for consumer healthcare products is growing, particularly in emerging markets where consumers are seeking more affordable and accessible products.

Consumer healthcare products are dependent on brand loyalty and trademark protection.  Some of our heritage brands such as Horlicks and ENO are more than 140 years old but continue to be popular today.

Patient who takes Excedrin for Migraine running through the park

Our strategy

Our strategy is to combine the best of our pharmaceutical and Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) capabilities to become the first and best Fast Moving Consumer Healthcare Company driven by science and values.

child twins

To do this we are focussed on building strong global brands, relentless innovation, best in class interactions with retailers, healthcare professionals and shoppers, the highest quality products at the right time and cost, and talented committed people.

Research for product innovation

Our business is built on science and this research heritage contributes to the development of our Consumer Healthcare products, giving us a unique advantage over our competition. 

Today, we are using science to speed up the time to develop new product innovations, make them more accessible to the people who need them, and to develop benefits our consumers value, ultimately growing our business.

At the same time, we continue to ensure we meet all regulatory requirements for testing, approval, manufacturing, labelling and marketing of our products.

You can find out more about our R&D work on Consumer Healthcare products in our Research section.

If you have a product idea and believe we might like to partner with you, please visit our Consumer Healthcare External Innovation portal.

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