Glaxo Profits Reflect Strong Sterling

The company's vaccine business posted a 6% sales gain to $721 million; the Coreg family of drugs for high blood pressure and chronic heart failure advanced 8% to $425 million; and the Avandia family of diabetes drugs gained 19% to $811 million.

Popular drugs whose sales were hammered due to generic competition in the U.S. included the antidepressant Wellbutrin XL, sales of which fell 37%; the antihistamine Flonase, which dropped 49%; and Zofran, the anti-nausea drug for patients receiving chemotherapy, which fell 60%.

GlaxoSmithKline's stock was down 5 cents to $58.76 in recent afternoon trading.