Our response to the situation in Ukraine

Alongside the global community, we share deep concern about the tragic events happening in Ukraine. We are taking actions guided by our purpose, and as a company dedicated to health and care for people and patients.

Our first priority is the safety, security and wellbeing of GSK people, wherever they are located. After this, our focus is to make sure our products reach the people who need them, including supporting humanitarian efforts in Ukraine and surrounding countries.

We condemn the fighting and the harm and suffering it’s causing to people in Ukraine and beyond. The actions taking place are in violent contradiction to our purpose, and unshakeable belief that all people should be treated with dignity, respect and humanity.

GSK in Ukraine

We employ 225 people and we’re doing everything we can to help them stay safe in very difficult conditions.

For GSK people remaining in or returning to Ukraine, we’re giving advice on security, counselling for them and their families, and access to mobile phone networks. For anyone who’s chosen to leave Ukraine, we’re providing logistical support where needed, temporary accommodation in neighbouring countries and access to healthcare.

How we’re helping through humanitarian aid

We want to make sure our products reach the people who need them and support humanitarian efforts in Ukraine where we can:

  • GSK people around the world have donated over £326,307 to Save the Children and the Red Cross, an amount GSK has matched.
  • GSK is providing targeted humanitarian support through long-term NGO partners who have teams on the ground in Ukraine and neighbouring countries. We’ll continue to respond as the situation evolves, guided by our humanitarian principles.
  • We’ve donated £3.25 million to the Red Cross and Save the Children who are providing food, water, first aid, medicines, warm clothes and shelter for people in Ukraine and refugees at the border.
  • We’ve also donated £1 million to Crown Agents (an NGO that has worked with the Ukrainian Ministry of Health for the past 20 years) to fund medical trauma kits. And we’re having urgent discussions with them on how we can continue to supply essential medicines into Ukraine
  • We’ve donated £2 million via the Global Fund to help  maintain HIV and TB treatment, diagnostics, and Opioid substitution therapy for internally displaced persons and hard to reach communities, who are vulnerable to treatment interruption.
  • Through ViiV Healthcare, we have donated more than 10,000 packs of anti-retroviral medicines to national HIV/AIDS programmes and NGO partners across 4 countries, to support people living with HIV in the region who have been impacted by the conflict. This includes a significant donation of paediatric Tivicay for children living with HIV in Ukraine, as well as donations to support continued access to HIV treatment for displaced people in neighbouring countries.
  • ViiV Healthcare is also providing funding of more than £850,000 from Positive Action to 12 community-based organisations, supporting humanitarian response activities both within Ukraine and surrounding countries.
  • We have donated over 600,000 units of medicine and consumer products, including antibiotics, asthma medicine, treatments for epilepsy patients and pain relief products, to the Ukrainian Ministry of Health and other local partners, either directly or through Direct Relief, our long term humanitarian product donation partner.

Our GSK teams in neighbouring countries have contributed an additional 23,000 packs of healthcare products and £100,000 in donations to local charities.

GSK in Russia

The situation in Russia is complex and rapidly changing, and we continue to keep our approach under review.

Our priorities are to support GSK people and access to medicines and vaccines.

We support global sanctions and comply with them fully. We have taken a precautionary approach to stop, to the fullest extent possible, any direct involvement and support to the Russian government and military.

In line with our purpose to support people’s health, regardless of race, sex, nationality, ethnicity, language or religion, we believe everyone has the right to access healthcare and, as an innovator and supplier of needed medicines and vaccines, we have a responsibility to make them available while we can.

We continue to supply medicines and vaccines to Russia. Where we experience challenges delivering them, we will prioritise supply of products that are essential for people’s health (always in compliance with sanctions). This prioritisation will take into account medical criticality, patient need and availability of alternatives.

We have stopped promotional activities in Russia and any profits we make from our operations in Russia in the interim will be used to support humanitarian relief efforts.

We will not start any new clinical trials and are not enrolling new patients into existing clinical trials.

 

Last updated: June 2023