FORMER Tesco boss Sir Dave Lewis is set to lead the £40bn separation of Glaxo Smith Kline's (GSK) consumer healthcare arm.

According to Sky News, Lewis has agreed to become non-executive chairman of the arm of GSK which owns brands such as Panadol painkillers and Sensodyne toothpaste.

Sources say the announcement is imminent and signals a major coup for GSK, who have been under pressure from Elliott Advisers, the activist investor.

GSK's consumer healthcare business is one of the largest in the world, which will be given a new name in the new year, with sales last year of £10bn.

It comes as part of a joint venture with Pfizer, with GSK owning a 68 per cent stake, and it will be Lewis' responsibility to build the board for the new company and making it a separately traded company.

GSK announced that it had poached a Pfizer vaccine executive after failing to bring its own Covid jab to market during the pandemic.

The break-up of GSK will allow the company to focus on pharmaceutical products and vaccines.

The pharmaceuticals giant announced that Phil Dormitzer will be joining the company as global head of vaccines and R&D effective.

Dormitzer joins from Pfizer where he was vice president and chief scientific officer and headed up the team which produced Pfizer's vaccine.

(c) 2021 City A.M., source Newspaper