Pfizer is getting out of the business of developing and marketing HIV medicines by exiting its minority stake in ViiV Healthcare, a company the pharmaceutical giant formed in partnership with GSK 17 years ago.
Under a new agreement, Pfizer’s ownership in ViiV will be replaced by Shionogi, another minority shareholder of the HIV company. According to deal terms announced Tuesday, ViiV is canceling Pfizer’s 11.7% stake in the company and Pfizer will receive $1.875 billion. Meanwhile, ViiV will issue new shares to Shionogi for $2.125 billion, boosting the Japanese company’s stake in ViiV to from 10% to 21.7%.
GSK, which has been ViiV’s majority shareholder since the company’s inception, will maintain a 78.3% stake. The London-based pharma company will also receive a special dividend of $250 million, payable in British pounds. The transaction still requires regulatory clearances in certain markets, but is expected to close in the current quarter.
NEMT Partner Guide: Why Payers and Providers Should Choose MediDrive’s TMS
Alan Murray on improving access for medical transportation.
ViiV launched in 2009 with a portfolio of 10 HIV medicines from GSK and Pfizer along with plans for the development of new drugs stemming from the research of both companies. At the time, GSK owned 85% of ViiV and Pfizer owned 15%. In 2012, ViiV acquired global rights to HIV drugs developed in collaboration with Shionogi. In return, Shionogi became a 10% shareholder in ViiV and gained a seat on the company’s board of directors.
The ViiV portfolio currently has 15 approved medicines whose revenue is recorded by GSK. In 2024, GSK reported HIV medicines generated £7.1 billion (about $9.5 billion) in sales, a 10.9% increase compared to the prior year. The top ViiV product is Dovato, a once-daily pill approved for treating HIV in patients age 12 and older. GSK reported £2.2 billion (about $2.9 billion) in 2024 revenue for Dovato.
Pfizer’s financial reports had recognized dividends from ViiV as income. In the context of HIV drug sales, these payments are nominal. For 2024, Pfizer reported a $272 million dividend from ViiV; in the prior year, the dividend was $265 million.
ViiV’s main rival in HIV medicines is Gilead Sciences. The newest product in Gilead’s HIV portfolio is Yeztugo, a twice-yearly injection that last summer won FDA approval for HIV-1 pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP). ViiV’s FDA-approved PrEP drug Apretude is administered as an injection every other month, but the company has been testing an ultra-long-acting version of the drug that could enable dosing intervals of four to six months. That work, along with a ViiV pipeline of four preclinical HIV medicines, will now proceed with just two partners.
The Power of One: Redefining Healthcare with an AI-Driven Unified Platform
In a landscape where complexity has long been the norm, the power of one lies not just in unification, but in intelligence and automation.
“This agreement simplifies ViiV’s shareholder structure and we look forward to continuing our highly successful collaboration with Shionogi to advance ViiV’s pipeline and portfolio of long-acting injectable HIV treatment and prevention medicines,” David Redfern, chair of ViiV Healthcare, said in a prepared statement.