GSK lifted profit guidance for the year on Wednesday after sales of the drugmaker's 'specialty' medicines soared. 

The UK pharma firm beat expectations for sales and earnings in the second quarter, shrugging off any impact from President Trump’s tariffs.

GSK told shareholders it is well-positioned to weather any impact from looming trade tariffs, following the EU-US deal announced last weekend that will result in a 15 per cent levy on most goods, including pharmaceuticals.

Trump had previously threatened to slap a 200 per cent levy on drug imports as part of an escalation of his trade war.

The FTSE-100 listed company reported turnover reached £7.99billion while core earnings hit 46.5p per share, both ahead of consensus and driven by its speciality medicines division.

The company is focusing on expanding its drug pipeline to offset a decline in sales of top drugs and vaccines and meet its long-term sales target.

Chief executive Emma Walmsley said: ‘GSK’s strong momentum in 2025 continues with another quarter of excellent performance driven mainly by Specialty Medicines, our largest business, with double-digit sales growth in Respiratory, Immunology & Inflammation, Oncology and HIV.

‘With all this, we now expect to be towards the top end of our financial guidance for 2025 and remain confident in our long-term outlooks.’

GSK expects annual sales and profit towards the top end of its forecast range. Revenue is expected to increase between 3 and 5 per cent, with core profit growth per share of 6 to 8 per cent.

The drugmaker said its guidance had taken into account the tariffs implemented to date and the expected tariffs on European goods.

GSK added: ‘We are positioned to respond to the potential financial impact of tariffs, with mitigation options identified. Given the uncertain external environment, we will continue to monitor developments.’

GSK’s results follow a strong performance from Astrazeneca, which posted profits of £4.9billion for the first half of the year, a 26 per cent increase on 2024, while sales rose 9 per cent to £21billion.

The figures were boosted by record revenues in the three months to June, which grew 12 per cent to £11billion.

The pharma giant also indicated it could switch its main stock market listing from London to New York, and even move its headquarters stateside.

Speaking to investors, AstraZeneca chief executive Pascal Soriot did not refer to the tariffs, instead saying: ‘I love America and its focus on innovation’.

He said he expects the firm to make over half of its sales in the US by 2030 and has ‘thousands of employees’ in the country.

Shares in GSK were down 0.6 per cent in early trading.