Accredited companies : GSK

About us

We have a challenging and inspiring mission: to improve the quality of human life by enabling people to do more, feel better and live longer. This mission gives us the purpose to develop innovative medicines and products that help millions of people around the world. In fact, we believe we are the only pharmaceutical company researching both medicines and vaccines for the World Health Organization's three priority diseases - HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria, and are very proud to have developed some of the leading global medicines in these fields.

Headquartered in the UK and with operations based in the US, we are one of the industry leaders, with an estimated seven per cent of the world's pharmaceutical market.

But being a leader brings responsibility. This means that we care about the impact that we have on the people and places touched by our mission to improve health around the world.

It also means that we must help developing countries where debilitating disease affects millions of people and access to life-changing medicines and vaccines is a problem. To meet this challenge, we are committed to providing discounted medicines where they are needed the most.

As a company with a firm foundation in science, we have a flair for research and a track record of turning that research into powerful, marketable drugs. Every hour we spend more than £300,000 (US$562,000) to find new medicines.

We produce medicines that treat six major disease areas - asthma, virus control, infections, mental health, diabetes and digestive conditions. In addition, we are a leader in the important area of vaccines and are developing new treatments for cancer.

We also market other products, many of which are among the market leaders:

• Over-the-counter (OTC) medicines including Gaviscon and Panadol.
• Dental products such as Aquafresh and Macleans.
• Smoking control products Nicorette/Niquitin.
• Nutritional healthcare drinks such as Lucozade, Ribena and Horlicks.

GSK UK Chemistry and Drug Metabolism Industrial Placement Programme.

GSK UK Chemistry piloted the Quality Mark with NCWE three years ago and have now had the Chemistry Industrial Placement Programme reaccredited. This independent recognition of the high standard of training provided at GSK has given us a competitive edge in attracting students and has enabled us to secure reciprocal accreditation by the French Chemical Society and free membership of the Society of Chemical Industry for the students on our programme. Drug Metabolism received accreditation two years ago.

We offer industrial placements of 3 to 12 months' duration which are designed to allow the student to develop either practical chemistry or bioanalytical skills, and general employability skills in a way that are complementary to the skills learned at university. Whilst at GSK, the students are fully integrated into the multi-disciplinary teams working on discovering and developing tomorrow's medicines and will benefit from the experience whatever their chosen career. Find out more about Working at GSK.