Press release

For immediate release:

100GSK employees from all over Ireland to take part in ‘GSK Wheelie Good Cause’ annual charity cycle in Barretstown, Co. Kildare on 5thSeptember

Funds raised go to Barretstown and The Irish Hospice Foundation

100 employees of GSK in Ireland and their family members are gathering in Barretstown, Co.Kildare on Saturday 5thSeptember to take part in a charity cycle to raise funds forBarretstown andThe Irish Hospice Foundation, GSK’s Charity of the Year.

Now in its fourth year, the ‘GSK Wheelie Good Cause’ is an annual cycle which is open to all employees across the four GSK locations in Dungarvan, Cork, Dublin and Sligo.Participants can choose to cycle either 50km or 100km through Irish countryside.

The cyclists will leave Barretstown Castle, with those cycling 100km taking to the road at 11am, while those cycling 50km, will take off at 12.30pm. Everyone is encouraged to come along and cheer on the cyclists as they navigate the high-ways and by-ways of the region! A cheque presentation will be made later that evening in Barretstown.

All funds raised go to Barretstown and The Irish Hospice Foundation. GSK have been long-term supporters of Barretstown since the site first opened in 1994, while the Irish Hospice Foundation was selected by GSK employees as the chosen GSK Charity of the Year2015.So far this year, GSK has provided more than €20,000 to the two charities, with each of GSK’s five individual businesses in Ireland contributing to the total. GSK employees also have the opportunity to share their expertise withBarretstown andThe Irish Hospice Foundation through GSK’s volunteer programme and support the charities in building organisational capabilities.

Aidan Lynch, General Manager for GSK Irelandsaid: “We’re looking forward to gathering at Barretstown for our annual GSK Wheelie Good Cause cycle this year. For many years, Barretstown has been close to our hearts in GSK and will provide a magical setting for our annual cycle.Our employees relish the opportunities to work with amazing charities like Barretstown and The Irish Hospice Foundation and we’re proud to continue this work.

As a science-led healthcare company, we have huge potential to help improve Irish people’s health and well-being. Our ‘charity of the year’ initiative and annual cycle are just twoof the ways we focus on doing the right thing, putting patients first, supporting a healthy Ireland and making a difference to the communities we work in.”

The Irish Hospice Foundation is a national charity dedicated to all matters relating to dying, death and bereavement in Ireland.The IHF receives no core funding from the state and therefore relies on the generosity of donations to fund many services, including;

  • Children’s Outreach Nurses, which means very ill children can be cared for at home surrounded by the family.
  • Nurses for Night Care, which provides vital care and support to patients with life limiting illnesses.
  • Training 3,000 people every year in providing bereavement support
  • Improving the environment in hospitals in which people die through the Hospice Friendly Hospitals programme

Helen McVeigh, Corporate and Events Manager with the Irish Hospice Foundation, commented “We are really looking forward to our second GSK Wheelie Good Cause, following the success of the event in 2014. Having GSK as our Charity Partner this year and last has given our fundraisinga real boost with such invaluable support from one of the world’s leading research-based pharmaceuticals and healthcare companies. Without the support of organisations like GSK, we would be unable to continue our work as we strive for the bestcare at end of life for people all across Ireland. So, I would like to thank all the GSK employees for taking part and making such a difference.”

Barretstown is a specially-designed camp that provides therapeutic recreation programmes for children with serious illnesses – primarily cancer and serious blood disease – from Ireland, Britain and throughout Europe, and their families.Barretstown was founded by Hollywood actor Paul Newman in 1994 and modelled on his renowned Hole in the Wall Gang Camp in Connecticut, USA.

Dee Ahearn, CEO,Barretstown said:“We’re very excited to be the venue for this year’s Wheelie Good Cause - an eventI know many GSK employees look forward to each year. GSK and its employees are active supporters of our work – they’re an example of a company that really understand the importance of building happy, healthy communities. Days like today show that.

We’ve been working with GSK since the camp first opened 21 years ago, so many of the team there are familiar faces at Barretstown. As always, it’s a pleasure to have them here – the support they provide makes such a difference to what we’re able to achieve here in providing support for children with serious illness and their families.”

Ends

About the Irish Hospice Foundation:

The Irish Hospice Foundation’s (IHF) vision is that no one should face death or bereavement without the care and support they need.. Our works centres on improving access to hospice services, building support for the hospice philosophy in all care settings and ensuring the continuous development of high-quality care for people with life-limiting illness and their families, from initial diagnosis through to bereavement.

For more information on our work see

About Barretstown:

GSK – one of the world’s leading research-based pharmaceutical and healthcare companies – is committed to improving the quality of human life by enabling people to do more, feel better and live longer. For further information please visit

GSK in Ireland:
GSK’s Irish operations make an important contribution to our global business. We employ 1,500 people in four locations throughout the country. Our manufacturing sites in Cork, Dungarvan and Sligo produce high quality products and distribute them through our global network. Our Pharmaceuticals and Consumer Healthcare businesses provide a huge range of medicines, vaccines and consumer products to Irish people.

–Approximately half of our Irish employees are based at our consumer healthcare manufacturing site in Dungarvan where we produce ‘over-the-counter’ pharmacy and oral care products including Panadol, Polygrip and NiQuitin.

–The next largest employee base is at our manufacturing site in Cork that produces the active pharmaceutical ingredients for a range of GSK products used to treat depression, diabetes, congestive heart failure, HIV, cancer, Parkinson’s disease and arthritis.

–We also have a specialist manufacturing operation in Sligo – Stiefel a GSK company - that produces skin healthcare products including Oilatum and Physiogel.

–The remaining employees work in our commercial operations in our consumer healthcare and pharmaceutical businesses in Dublin.

For more information, please visit

Enquiries:

GSK in Ireland Media enquiries: Claire Taaffe086 8053251

Lisa Porter 087 7444067

Cautionary statement regarding forward-looking statements
GSK cautions investors that any forward-looking statements or projections made by GSK, including those made in this announcement, are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially from those projected. Such factors include, but are not limited to, those described under Item 3.D 'Risk factors' in the company's Annual Report on Form 20-F for 2013.

Registered in Ireland:
GlaxoSmithKline (Ireland) Limited, a private company limited by shares, and a member of the GlaxoSmithKline group of companies. Registered in Ireland with Company Number 15513.
Registered Office:
Stonemasons Way,
Rathfarnham,
Dublin 16,
Ireland.

Page 1