GSK plc (LSE/NYSE: GSK) today announces that Luke Miels is appointed CEO Designate, GSK. He will assume full responsibilities as CEO and join the Board on 1st January 2026.
Luke joined GSK in 2017 and is currently Chief Commercial Officer, with world-wide responsibility for medicines and vaccines1. He has been instrumental in building GSK’s specialty medicines portfolio, notably in oncology and respiratory. Luke is a highly respected, experienced global biopharma leader, having worked at senior levels in the US, Europe and Asia, at AstraZeneca, Roche and Sanofi-Aventis, prior to joining GSK. This experience, and significant contribution to GSK, mean he is exceptionally well-qualified to lead the company, and to deliver the patient and shareholder value inherent in the company’s future ambitions.
Luke will succeed current CEO, Dame Emma Walmsley. Since her appointment as CEO, Emma has delivered a comprehensive step-change in GSK’s operating performance, portfolio and pipeline, prioritising the development of specialty medicines and vaccines, and delivering multiple major new products. R&D has been reinvigorated during her tenure, with 15 major pipeline opportunities now set to launch in 2025-31. At the same time, GSK’s balance sheet has been strengthened, and following the successful demerger of consumer healthcare, a new industry-leading company, Haleon, has been created.
GSK is now performing to a new standard, with clear outlooks for long-term growth including total sales expectations of more than £40 billion by 20312 and 2026 marks the start of a pivotal new phase for GSK to deliver these outlooks.
Sir Jonathan Symonds CBE, Chair of GSK, said: “On behalf of the Board, I want to thank Emma and acknowledge her outstanding leadership in delivering a strategic transformation of GSK, including the successful demerger of Haleon. GSK today is necessarily very different to the company she was appointed to nine years ago and has a bright and ambitious future. The company is performing to a new, more competitive standard, with performance anchored in a stronger portfolio balanced across specialty medicines and vaccines.
“I am delighted to announce that Luke will be the next CEO of GSK. He has outstanding global biopharma development and commercial experience, together with a deep understanding of the company, its prospects and its people. He is extremely well placed to lead, deliver and surpass the ambitions we have set for GSK, and to generate new growth and value for patients and shareholders.”
Dame Emma Walmsley, CEO of GSK, said: “2026 is a pivotal year for GSK to define its path for the decade ahead, and I believe the right moment for new leadership. As CEO, you hope to leave the company you love stronger than you found it and prepare for seamless succession. I’m proud to have done both - and to have created Haleon, a new world-leader in consumer health. Today, GSK is a biopharma innovator, with far stronger momentum and prospects than nine years ago. Most importantly, the inspiring people in our labs, factories, and markets worldwide are delivering innovation that matters to get ahead of disease. I know Luke will lead them brilliantly to even greater impact for patients. I look forward to supporting this transition and to cheering GSK’s future success as I begin my own new adventures.”
Luke Miels, CEO Designate of GSK, said: “I am deeply honoured to be appointed as the next CEO of GSK, and grateful to all the people who have supported me on this journey, especially Emma. GSK is a very special company, with outstanding prospects and enormous capacity to impact people’s health and to change lives. As the next CEO, I am privileged to take on this responsibility, with humility and ambition.”
About GSK
GSK is a global biopharma company with a purpose to unite science, technology, and talent to get ahead of disease together.
Notes
1. Excluding ViiV Healthcare
2. Totals sales in 2031 on a risk adjusted basis expected to be more than £40 billion