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CEO/Chairman's statement

Through our products GSK delivers clear benefits to patients around the world. Great products, however, are not the whole story – society expects companies to act responsibly in their pursuit of success. If anything, the fact that our business is about human health makes it even more important that we operate to the highest standards.

Corporate responsibility is not just a job for selected people at GSK, it defines the way we do business. Our ten corporate responsibility principles set the standard for everyone, since responsible business is only a reality if it is practised by all employees at all times. In this report we show our progress against each principle.

We are reporting significant achievements in 2004. GSK is one of the leading pharmaceutical companies in the essential area of improving access to medicines in the developing world. For example, this year we tripled shipments of our preferentially-priced Combivir tablets to help alleviate HIV/AIDS in the developing world. Over 80% of these went to Africa, and we also granted five more voluntary licences to African companies to produce HIV treatments locally.

We are proud of our commitment to communities around the world. Our total community investment in 2004 was £328 million ($600 million). This includes our donation of 67 million tablets to support the elimination of lymphatic filariasis, a debilitating disease that threatens one billion people in the developing world.

Responsible business practices are also the key to a good reputation. In 2004, the pharmaceutical industry and GSK continued to come under public scrutiny on how medicines are developed, tested and marketed. To meet this challenge we must act with integrity and be open about our approach to these important issues. We took an important step this year with the launch of our Clinical trial register, providing public access to our product information.

We also want to make information on our corporate responsibility performance more widely available. The transition of the 2004 report to the internet, and the integration of our environmental, health and safety information, means this information is now accessible by more of our stakeholders.

We invite you to read this report for more information on all our corporate responsibility principles, and we welcome your comments and suggestions.