Advair Generic Looms, But GSK Says Growth Will Return Regardless

The clock appears to be ticking for GlaxoSmithKline PLC on the time it has left to enjoy exclusivity on its blockbuster asthma medication Advair Diskus in the US, but CEO Andrew Witty insisted during the company’s fourth quarter and year-end financial call Feb. 3 that GSK’s five-year outlook is not contingent on the timing of a generic launch.

“It may come in ’17. It may not come in ’17,” Witty said of the generic threat. “Our framework of what we’ve laid out over the next five years is...