GSK shares tumbled again

GSK shares continued to tumble despite the FSTE-listed drugs giant reporting  “ truly exceptional trial results on a potential blockbuster vaccine”.

GSK says its respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) vaccine candidate for people aged over 60 showed overall efficacy of 82.6  per cent with data from the late-stage clinical trial also revealing a 94.1 per cent decline in severe disease.

GSK is in a race with Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson to make the breakthrough for the £ 5billion market. 

Investors were unmoved, however, as their focus remains on the potential for US litigation around the heartburn drug Zantac, which was responsible for a recent slide in GSK’s valuation.

GSK shares were more than 1750p in mid-July which now stands at 1345p including today’s fall of 13.5p.

The lackluster performance of GSK shares reflected another downbeat session as the FTSE 100 index remained near an 18-month low, falling 11.57 points to 6814.58 ahead of the release of pivotal US inflation figures.

NatWest, Lloyds, and Roll-Royce all rose after sustaining heavy losses yesterday. Stocks including Taylor Wimpey, Tesco, and WPP all were on the fallers board as they  began trading without the right to their latest dividend awards,

The FTSE 250 index improved 25.62 points to 16, 636.78 helped by a 2  per cent recovery for housebuilders Redrow and Bellway and a 3 per cent gain for fast fashion retailer Asos.