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Bristol Zoo

Bristol Zoo was a zoo in the city of Bristol in South West England. The zoo's stated mission was to "maintain and defend" biodiversity through breeding endangered species, conserving threatened species and habitats and promoting a wider understanding of the natural world".

The mammal collection at the zoo numbered around 300, representing 50 species, including: gorillas, Asiatic lions, goodfellow's tree-kangaroo, and red pandas. Among species on view at Bristol which are rare or absent in other UK zoos were Livingstone's fruit bats, aye ayes and quolls.

The zoo's Twilight Zone was the first of its kind when it opened, there were many other indoor exhibits including an insect and reptile house and aquarium meanwhile outside there were several aviaries and a seal and penguin enclosure. The lakes' islands were home to gorillas, golden lion tamarins, golden-headed lion tamarins, gibbons and squirrel monkeys.

The Zoo announced on 27 November 2020 that after more than 186 years its main centre in Clifton would close in 2022, with its animals moving to its Wild Place Project site close to the M5 motorway and the zoo reopening there in early 2024. In the event, it closed its gates for the last time on 3 September 2022. The site is being redeveloped for housing. It was listed as an asset of community value in 2021.

Animal exhibits

 * Seal and Penguin Coasts was a major attraction at the zoo; opened in 1999, it allowed South American fur seals and African penguins to be watched both above and below the water. The most notable of these African Penguins being CGP Grey the penguin named after internet personality CGP Grey, CGP Grey the penguin died in 2017 (No exact date was given but was first reported on 13 May 2017). The two pools contained 145000 impgal of salt water, with waves, waterfalls, rocks and pebble beaches to simulate the natural habitat. The exhibit had a large net over the top to allow Inca terns and common eiders to be kept in the same enclosure.[[Image:PiffPuffPenguin.jpg|thumb|right|Penguins at Bristol Zoo]]
 * Gorilla Island was home to a family of western lowland gorillas. One silverback, Jock as well as Kera, Kala and Touni. In February 2016, Kera's first baby Afia was born after an emergency caesarean section. In April 2017, Touni gave birth to baby Ayana. In August 2020, Kala gave birth to a baby Hasani. Also in December 2020, Touni gave birth to her second baby called Juni. As well as an indoor house, they had a large island. Despite the gorilla's herbivorous diet, keepers did not enter the same space as the apes. This is because not only is there a great risk of injury with these powerful primates, but they also wanted to let the gorillas socialize on their own without human interference.
 * The Top Terrace was one of the oldest parts of the zoo. It was home to a pair of Asiatic lions, keas, red pandas, Livingstone's fruit bats, and Greater Flamingos.
 * The Reptile House housed a collection of reptiles and amphibians. The house itself was heated and gave a sense of the heat of the rainforest. There were three sections to the house: Desert (Gila monsters, geckos and tortoises), Rainforest (dwarf crocodiles, terrapins and snakes) and the Rearing Room where visitors could view the raising of reptiles and amphibian and also learn about the zoo's conservation work. Outside, but still considered part of the reptile house, was a giant tortoise and rhinoceros iguana enclosure where the animals had access to a heated indoor house and an outdoor enclosure.
 * The Aquarium had around 70 species of fish. The aquarium had three sections: The Amazon River (catfish, pacu and piranha), Africa (cichlids) and the coral reef (seahorses, corals and various species of fish). On the outside of the building there was a water sculpture. There were several exhibits of conservation significance on view. Notably, there was a display of endangered cichlids from Lake Barombi Mbo in Cameroon and a display of goodeids from Mexico and paddlefish and alligator gar from North America.
 * Bug World, was the zoo's collection of invertebrates, includes species such as Partula snails, stick and leaf insects and corals. Other displays included tarantulas, giant millipedes, honey bees, leaf-cutting ants and Lord Howe Island stick insects. Bug World also housed the Critically Endangered Desertas Wolf Spider. Previous displays included peacock mantis shrimp and black widow spiders.[[Image:Bristol Zoo Butterfly Forest.JPG|thumb|Butterfly Forest]]
 * Monkey Jungle opened in 2006 and featured four new exhibits replacing the old monkey house. An enclosure was home to crowned lemurs and ring-tailed lemurs where visitors could walk in with the lemurs without any boundaries. The other enclosures were home to brown spider monkeys and lion-tailed macaques. There was also a nearby enclosure for black howler monkeys and six-banded armadillos. The islands opposite Gorilla Island housed a family of squirrel monkeys, a pair of agile gibbons and also golden-headed lion tamarins.
 * The Butterfly House was made up of an undercover walk-through in a sustainably-heated, climate-controlled polytunnel. . Species on show included the blue morpho butterflies, glasswings, leopard lacewings and atlas moths. The exhibit was linked to sustainable butterfly producers in Costa Rica. The zoo also supported work to protect the rare silky wave moth in Avon Gorge.

History
Opened in 1836 by the Bristol, Clifton and West of England Zoological Society, Bristol Zoo was the world's oldest provincial zoo. It was a Victorian walled zoo located between Clifton Down and Clifton College, near Brunel's Clifton Suspension Bridge; it covered a small area by modern standards, but with a considerable number of species. In the 1960s the zoo came to national prominence by appearing in the UK television series, Animal Magic, hosted by the comic animal 'communicator', Johnny Morris. Morris would play keeper and voice all the animals there.

The zoo's official name was Bristol Zoological Gardens ('Bristol Zoo Gardens' for commercial purposes). This was not in recognition of the flower displays but recognises the first use of that title at the Regent's Park Zoological Gardens. Bristol, like its earlier London counterpart, included several original buildings which have been praised for their architectural quirks, despite being unsuitable for the care of animals; the (former) Giraffe House joined the main entrance lodge and the south gates on Guthrie Road as a Grade II listed building. The old Monkey Temple, resembling a southern Asian temple, was home to an exhibit called "Smarty plants", an interactive exhibit which shows how plants use and manipulate animals to survive.

The zoo also has breeding firsts, including the first black rhino born in Britain in 1958, the first squirrel monkey born in captivity in 1953 and the first chimpanzee born in Europe in 1934.

Conservation
Bristol Zoological Society (BZS) supports wildlife conservation, education and breeding programmes worldwide. For example, Bristol worked with other zoos around the world to breed lemurs in captivity. Native to Madagascar, the lemurs are critically endangered because their forest habitat is being destroyed.

Similarly, BZS supports the UK–US charity Ape Action Africa, which rescues and rehabilitates primates in Cameroon, West Africa. Closer to home, the zoo helped to reintroduce the water vole and the white-clawed crayfish to parts of Southern England. They also had conservation projects for Kordofan giraffe, Agalychnis lemur, Negros bleeding-heart pigeon, Sanje Mangabey and Hogna ingens

In 2021, as part of the Bristol Zoological Society's focus on conservation, the zoo has been involved in the ongoing captive breeding program to rescue two species of critically endangered Madeiran land snail, (Discula lyelliana and Geomitra grabhami). Since the early 20th century, the snails were believed to be extinct, but remnant populations were rediscovered in 2013.

Wild Place Project
The Wild Place Project is designed to house larger animals than the former Bristol Zoo. The zoo is split into biomes, representing species found only in specific habitats. Current areas include: Bear wood, Gelada rocks, Discover Madagascar and Benoue National Park. The species list currently includes red river hog, cheetah, zebra, common eland, meerkat, gelada baboon, reticulated giraffe, wolverine, eurasian lynx, grey wolf, brown bear, Visayan spotted deer, Ostrich and the newest red panda.

The new conservation breeding centre will include Annam leaf turtle, Lesser Antillean iguana, Pancake Tortoise, Radiated tortoise, Roti Island snake-necked turtle, Indochinese box turtle, Agalychnis lemur, Leptodactylus fallax, Marshall's pygmy chameleon, Lygodactylus williamsi, Varanus macraei, Uroplatus, Hogna ingens, Polynesian tree snail, Lord Howe Island stick insect, Socorro dove, Visayan tarictic hornbill, Sumatran laughingthrush, Philippine cockatoo, Javan green magpie, European turtle dove, Mindanao bleeding-heart, Negros bleeding-heart pigeon, pink pigeon, Malagasy cichlids, Malagasy rainbow fish and powder blue panchax, Pupfish and goodeids and White clawed crayfish.

Finally, there will be a new entrance with a new café, new gift shop and new entry exhibits.

The site officially opened on 22 July 2013 as Wild Place Project.

Future plans include a Bristol Zoo-managed conservation breeding centre with climate-controlled enclosures, learning centre and conservation medicine centre.

Closure
In 2020, BZS announced that Bristol Zoo Gardens would close in 2022 and the Wild Place Project will become the new Bristol zoo in early 2024 and will be home to new exhibits:

 * Western lowland gorilla, collared mangabey, African grey parrots, slender-snouted crocodiles, Okapi and Mandrill will be in a new central African rainforest area.
 * The Eastern black rhinoceros and Ostrich will join the giraffe, zebra, eland, red river hog and cheetah in the Benoue National Park area.

Event hosting
The WOMAD music festival came to the zoo in 2011, with a subsequent event in 2012.

title: Bristol Zoo


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Planetesimal

Planetesimals are solid objects thought to exist in protoplanetary disks and debris disks. Believed to have formed in the Solar System about 4.6 billion years ago, they aid study of its formation.

Formation
A widely accepted theory of planet formation, the planetesimal hypothesis of Viktor Safronov, states that planets form from cosmic dust grains that collide and stick to form ever-larger bodies. Once a body reaches around a kilometer in size, its constituent grains can attract each other directly through mutual gravity, enormously aiding further growth into moon-sized protoplanets. Smaller bodies must instead rely on Brownian motion or turbulence to cause the collisions leading to sticking. The mechanics of collisions and mechanisms of sticking are intricate. Alternatively, planetesimals may form in a very dense layer of dust grains that undergoes a collective gravitational instability in the mid-plane of a protoplanetary disk—or via the concentration and gravitational collapse of swarms of larger particles in streaming instabilities. Many planetesimals eventually break apart during violent collisions, as 4 Vesta and 90 Antiope may have, but a few of the largest ones may survive such encounters and grow into protoplanets and, later, planets.

Planetesimals in the Solar System
It has been inferred that about 3.8 billion years ago, after a period known as the Late Heavy Bombardment, most of the planetesimals within the Solar System had either been ejected from the Solar System entirely, into distant eccentric orbits such as the Oort cloud, or had collided with larger objects due to the regular gravitational nudges from the giant planets (particularly Jupiter and Neptune). A few planetesimals may have been captured as moons, such as Phoebe (a moon of Saturn) and many other small high-inclination moons of the giant planets.

Planetesimals that have survived to the current day are valuable to science because they contain information about the formation of the Solar System. Although their exteriors are subjected to intense solar radiation that can alter their chemistry, their interiors contain pristine material essentially untouched since the planetesimal was formed. This makes each planetesimal a 'time capsule', and their composition might reveal the conditions in the Solar Nebula from which our planetary system was formed. The most primitive planetesimals visited by spacecraft are the contact binary Arrokoth.

Definition of planetesimal
The word planetesimal is derived from the word infinitesimal and means an ultimately small fraction of a planet.

While the name is always applied to small bodies during the process of planet formation, some scientists also use the term planetesimal as a general term to refer to many small Solar System bodies – such as asteroids and comets – which are left over from the formation process. A group of the world's leading planet formation experts decided at a conference in 2006 on the following definition of a planetesimal: A planetesimal is a solid object arising during the accumulation of orbiting bodies whose internal strength is dominated by self-gravity and whose orbital dynamics is not significantly affected by gas drag. This corresponds to objects larger than approximately 1 km in the solar nebula. Bodies large enough not only to keep together by gravitation but to change the path of approaching rocks over distances of several radii start to grow faster. These bodies, larger than 100 km to 1000 km, are called embryos or protoplanets.

In the current Solar System, these small bodies are usually also classified by dynamics and composition, and may have subsequently evolved to become comets, Kuiper belt objects or trojan asteroids, for example. In other words, some planetesimals became other types of body once planetary formation had finished, and may be referred to by either or both names.

The above definition is not endorsed by the International Astronomical Union, and other working groups may choose to adopt the same or a different definition. The dividing line between a planetesimal and protoplanet is typically framed in terms of the size and the stages of development that the potential planet has already gone through: planetesimals combine to form a protoplanet, and protoplanets continue to grow (faster than planetesimals).

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Planetesimal


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Hans Memling

Hans Memling (also spelled Memlinc; c. 1430 – 11 August 1494) was a German-Flemish painter who worked in the tradition of Early Netherlandish painting. Born in the Middle Rhine region, he probably spent his childhood in Mainz. During his apprenticeship as a painter he moved to the Netherlands and spent time in the Brussels workshop of Rogier van der Weyden. In 1465 he was made a citizen of Bruges, where he became one of the leading artists and the master of a large workshop. A tax document from 1480 lists him among the wealthiest citizens. Memling's religious works often incorporated donor portraits of the clergymen, aristocrats, and burghers (bankers, merchants, and politicians) who were his patrons. These portraits built upon the styles which Memling learned in his youth.

He married Anna de Valkenaere sometime between 1470 and 1480, and they had three children. Memling's art was rediscovered in the 19th century, attaining wide popularity.

Life and works
Born in Seligenstadt, near Frankfurt in the Middle Main region, Memling served his apprenticeship at Mainz or Cologne and later worked in the Low Countries under Rogier van der Weyden (c. 1455–1460) in Brussels, Duchy of Brabant. He then worked at Bruges, County of Flanders by 1465. He painted for the Hospitallers in 1479 and 1480. In 1477, when he was believed dead, he was under contract to create an altarpiece for the gild-chapel of the booksellers of Bruges. This altarpiece, Scenes of the Passion of Christ, is now in the Galleria Sabauda of Turin. The Last Judgment, which had been in Gdańsk since 1473 is now in the National Museum there. The Last Judgment was commissioned by Angelo Tani, erstwhile director of the Bruges branch of the Medici Bank, for a chapel at what is now the Badia Fiesolana in Fiesole. When the triptych is closed Tani and his wife are shown kneeling in prayer. It was shipped to Fiesole on a vessel that was captured by Danzig privateer Paul Beneke in April 1473.

The oldest allusions to pictures connected to Memling point to his relations with the Burgundian court, which was held in Brussels. The inventories of Margaret of Austria, drawn up in 1524, allude to a triptych of the God of Pity by Rogier van der Weyden, of which the wings containing angels were painted by "Master Hans".

Memling's painting of John the Baptist (c. 1470) is in the Munich Alte Pinakothek. He painted the Last Judgment in Gdańsk.

Memling's portraits, in particular, were popular in Italy. According to Paula Nuttall, Memling's distinctive contribution to portraiture was his use of landscape backgrounds, characterized by "a balanced counterpoint between top and bottom, foreground and background: the head offset by the neutral expanse of sky, and the neutral area of the shoulders enlivened by the landscape detail beyond". Memling's portrait style influenced the work of numerous late-15th-century Italian painters, and is evident in works such as Raphael's Portraits of Agnolo and Maddalena Doni. Purchasers of his paintings include Cardinal Grimani and Cardinal Bembo at Venice, and the heads of the House of Medici at Florence.

Other paintings include the Madonna and Saints (which passed from the Duchatel collection to the Louvre), the Virgin and Child (painted for Sir John Donne and now at the National Gallery, London), and the four attributed portraits in the Uffizi Gallery of Florence (including the Portrait of Folco Portinari), the Scenes from the Passion of Christ in the Galleria Sabauda of Turin and the Advent and Triumph of Christ

Around 1492, Memling was commissioned to paint the Najera Altarpiece for the Benedictine Monastery of Santa Maria la Real in Najera, Rioja, Spain. The altarpiece, which was completed in Flanders, consisted of an image of God surrounded by angels playing a variety of musical instruments while atop a row of clouds before a golden background. Recent scholarship by Bart Fransen has determined that Gonzalo de Cabredo and Abbot Pablo Martinez commissioned the creation of this artwork.

Memling became sufficiently prosperous that his name appears on a list of the 875 richest citizens of Bruges who were obligatory subscribers to the loan raised by Maximilian I of Austria, to finance hostilities towards France in 1480. Memling's name does not appear on subsequent subscription lists of this type.

In his later years, he painted the Shrine of St Ursula in the museum of the hospital of Bruges, St Christopher and Saints (1484) in the academy, the Diptych of Maarten van Nieuwenhove in the hospital of Bruges, and a large Crucifixion, with scenes from the Passion, (1491) from the Lübeck Cathedral (Dom) of Lübeck, now in Lübeck's St. Annen Museum. Near the close of Memling's career, the registers of the painters' guild at Bruges give the names of two apprentices who served their time with Memling and paid dues on admission to the guild in 1480 and 1486.

He died in Bruges. The trustees of his will appeared before the court of wards at Bruges on 10 December 1495, and records indicate Memling left behind several children and considerable property.

Memling carpets
There are four works by Memling that feature an oriental carpet. They are the triptych with the Virgin and Child Enthroned (Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum), the triptych of John Donne (London, National Gallery), the Virgin and Child Enthroned with a large family (Paris, Louvre), and the Flowers in a jug (Madrid, Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum). They all feature an indefinitely repeated pattern that is representative of an archaic strand of ornamentation in Turkoman carpets from Anatolia and Armenia. This type of carpet is named after Memling and is known as Memling carpets. They are characterized by guls with "hooked" lines radiating from a central body.

References and sources

 * References

 * Sources
 * Batari, Ferenc (1994). The "Memling" carpets in de Vos, Dirk, editor (1994). Essays Hans Memling. Essay bundle published with the catalogue of the exhibit Hans Memling, vijf eeuwen werkelijkheid en fictie in the Groeningen Museum, Brugge 12 August – 15 November 1994.
 * Batari, Ferenc (1994). The "Memling" carpets in de Vos, Dirk, editor (1994). Essays Hans Memling. Essay bundle published with the catalogue of the exhibit Hans Memling, vijf eeuwen werkelijkheid en fictie in the Groeningen Museum, Brugge 12 August – 15 November 1994.

title: Hans Memling


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Offenbach (district)

Offenbach is a Kreis (district) in the south of Hesse, Germany and is part of the Frankfurt/Rhine-Main Metropolitan Region. Neighbouring districts are Main-Kinzig, Aschaffenburg, Darmstadt-Dieburg, Groß-Gerau and the cities of Darmstadt, Frankfurt and Offenbach.

History
The district Offenbach was first formed in 1832 when the previous Landratsbezirke Langen (partially), Seligenstadt and Offenbach were merged. In 1852 the district area was enlarged in a westerly direction, while some of the southern part was moved into the district of Dieburg. In 1938 the area of the Frankfurt airport was added to the district, and the city Offenbach left the district to become a district-free city. However the seat of administration stayed in Offenbach.

After two minor changes in 1942 and 1974, in 1977 the district was given its current borders, and also the municipalities in the district were merged to 10 cities and 3 municipalities. In 2002, the capital of the district was moved from Offenbach to Dietzenbach.

Geography
A large part of this very urbanised district is wooded. Most towns are part of the Frankfurt urban area. The river Main is a part of the northern border of the district.

Economy
In 2015 (latest data available) the GDP per inhabitant was €38,469. This places the district 8th out of 26 districts (rural and urban) in Hesse(overall average: €42,732).

Coat of arms
The oak tree in the coat of arms symbolize the formerly big oak forests of Dreieich (three oaks). The escutcheon in the middle shows a combination of the coat of arms of the Counts of Isenburg in the left and the Wheel of Mainz in the right, as the districts area belonged to these two counties in the past.

title: Offenbach (district)


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Pedanius Dioscorides

Pedanius Dioscorides (Πεδάνιος Διοσκουρίδης, Pedánios Dioskourídēs; c. 40–90 AD),  "the father of pharmacognosy", was a Greek physician, pharmacologist, botanist, and author of De materia medica (Περὶ ὕλης ἰατρικῆς, On Medical Material), a 5-volume Greek encyclopedia about herbal medicine and related medicinal substances (a pharmacopeia), that was widely read for more than 1,500 years. For almost two millennia Dioscorides was regarded as the most prominent writer on plants and plant drugs.

Life
A native of Anazarbus, Cilicia, Asia Minor, Dioscorides likely studied medicine nearby at the school in Tarsus, which had a pharmacological emphasis, and he dedicated his medical books to Laecanius Arius, a medical practitioner there. Though he writes he lived a "soldier's life" or "soldier-like life", his pharmacopeia refers almost solely to plants found in the Greek-speaking eastern Mediterranean, making it likely that he served in campaigns, or travelled in a civilian capacity, less widely as supposed. The name Pedanius is Roman, suggesting that an aristocrat of that name sponsored him to become a Roman citizen.

De materia medica
Between AD 50 and 70 Dioscorides wrote a five-volume book in his native Greek, Περὶ ὕλης ἰατρικῆς (Perì hylēs íatrikēs), known in Western Europe more often by its Latin title De materia medica ("On Medical Material"), which became the precursor to all modern pharmacopeias.

In contrast to many classical authors, Dioscorides' works were not "rediscovered" in the Renaissance, because his book had never left circulation; indeed, with regard to Western materia medica through the early modern period, Dioscorides' text eclipsed the Hippocratic corpus.

In the medieval period, De materia medica was circulated in Greek, as well as Latin and Arabic translation.

While being reproduced in manuscript form through the centuries, it was often supplemented with commentary and minor additions from Arabic and Indian sources. Ibn al-Baitar's commentary on Dioscorides' De materia medica, entitled Tafsīr Kitāb Diāsqūrīdūs: تفسير كتاب دياسقوريدوس, has been used by scholars to identify many of the flora mentioned by Dioscorides.

A number of illustrated manuscripts of De materia medica survive. The most famous of these is the lavishly illustrated Vienna Dioscurides, produced in Constantinople in 512/513 AD. Densely illustrated Arabic copies survive from the 12th and 13th centuries, while Greek manuscripts survive today in the monasteries of Mount Athos.

De materia medica is the prime historical source of information about the medicines used by the Greeks, Romans, and other cultures of antiquity. The work also records the Dacian, Thracian, Roman, ancient Egyptian and North African (Carthaginian) names for some plants, which otherwise would have been lost. The work presents about 600 plants in all, although the descriptions are sometimes obscurely phrased, leading to comments such as: "Numerous individuals from the Middle Ages on have struggled with the identity of the recondite kinds", while some of the botanical identifications of Dioscorides' plants remain merely guesses.

John Goodyer translated the work into English in 1655, and bequeathed it to Magdalen College, Oxford; it was published by the Oxford University Press in 1934.

De materia medica formed the core of the European pharmacopeia through the 19th century, suggesting that "the timelessness of Dioscorides' work resulted from an empirical tradition based on trial and error; that it worked for generation after generation despite social and cultural changes and changes in medical theory".

The plant genus Dioscorea, which includes the yam, was named after him by Linnaeus. A butterfly, the bush hopper, Ampittia dioscorides which is found from India southeast towards Indonesia and east towards China, is named after him.

title: Pedanius Dioscorides


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Shirk (Islam)

Shirk (شِرْك) in Islam is a sin often roughly translated as 'idolatry' or 'polytheism', but more accurately meaning 'association [with God]'. It refers to accepting other divinities or powers alongside God as associates. In contrast, Islam teaches that God does not share divine attributes with anyone, as it is disallowed according to the Islamic doctrine of tawhid. The Quran, the central religious text of Islam, states in 4:48 that God will not forgive shirk if one dies without repenting of it.

The one who commits shirk is called a mushrik. The opposite of shirk is tawhid and the opposite of mushrik is muwahhid.

Etymology
The word shirk comes from the Arabic root sh-r-k (ش ر ك), with the general meaning of 'to share'. In the context of the Quran, the particular sense of 'sharing as an equal partner' is usually understood, so that polytheism means 'attributing a partner to God'. In the Quran, shirk and the related word mushrikūn (مشركون)—those who commit shirk and plot against Islam—often refer to the enemies of Islam (as in al-Tawbah verses 9:1–15).

Quran
According to the Encyclopaedia of Islam, the Quran states twice in An-Nisa verses 48 and 116 that God can forgive all sins save one: shirk.

"Indeed, Allah does not forgive associating others with Him ˹in worship˺, but forgives anything else of whoever He wills. And whoever associates others with Allah has indeed committed a grave sin."

Islamic commentators on the Quran have emphasized that a number of pre-Islamic Arabian deities and jinn, most notably the three goddesses Manat, al-Lat and al-Uzza mentioned in al-Najm, were considered associates of God.

Entities worshipped besides God are called shurakāʾ (شُرَكَاء). After Judgement Day, they will be cast into Hell along with devils and evil jinn, to whom the polytheists are said to sacrifice in order to gain protection.

Charles Adams writes that the Quran reproaches the People of the Book with kufr for rejecting Muhammad's message when they should have been the first to accept it as possessors of earlier revelations, and he singles out Christians for disregarding the evidence of God's unity. The Quranic verse Al-Ma'idah 5:73  ("Certainly they disbelieve [kafara] who say: God is the third of three"), among other verses, has been traditionally understood in Islam as rejection of the Christian Trinity doctrine, but modern scholarship has suggested alternative interpretations. Other Quranic verses strongly deny the divinity of Jesus Christ, the son of Mary, and reproach the people who treat Jesus as equal with God as disbelievers, who will be doomed to eternal punishment in Hell. The Quran also does not recognise the attribute of Jesus as the Son of God or God himself but respects Jesus as a prophet and messenger of God, who was sent to children of Israel. Some Muslim thinkers such as Mohamed Talbi have viewed the most extreme Qur'anic presentations of the dogmas of the Trinity and divinity of Jesus (Al-Ma'idah 5:19, 5:75-76, 5:119) as non-Christian formulas, which were rejected by the Church.

Cyril Glasse criticises the use of kafirun (pl. of kafir) to describe Christians as a "loose usage". According to the Encyclopaedia of Islam, traditional Islamic jurisprudence has ahl al-kitab being "usually regarded more leniently than other kuffar [pl. of kafir]," and "in theory," a Muslim commits a punishable offense if he says to a Jew or a Christian, "Thou unbeliever."

Historically, People of the Book permanently residing under Islamic rule were entitled to a special status known as dhimmi, and those who were visiting Muslim lands received a different status known as musta'min. In the Quran Jews and Christians, although accused of believing shared divinity by asserting lineage between God and Ezra or Jesus respectively, are not described as mushrik. The term is reserved for pre-Islamic beliefs who associated partners with God. Nonetheless, medieval Muslim philosophers identified belief in the Trinity with shirk ("associationism"), by limiting the infinity of God by associating his divinity with physical existence.

Theological interpretation
In a theological context, one commits shirk by associating some lesser being with God (Allah). The sin is committed if one imagines that there is another power associated with Allah as a partner. It is stated in the Quran: "Allah forgives not that partners should be set up with Him, but He forgives anything else, to whom He pleases, to set up partners with Allah is to devise a sin most heinous indeed" (Quran An-Nisa 4:48).

The term is often translated as polytheism, however more complex than the English translation. The term also implies that humans need to renounce claiming divine status for themselves by regarding themselves as better than others. Besides worshipping only one God, it also postulates that God must be considered as entirely unique and condemns anthropomorphization. Shirk further implies that God's attributes cannot be associated with any other entity or that any other entity can exist independent from God.

Forms of shirk
Shirk is classified into two categories:
 * Shirk al-akbar (شِرْك ٱلْأَكْبَر; lit. 'greater shirk'): open and apparent
 * Shirk al-asghar or al-shirk al-khafi (شِرْك ٱلْأَصْغَر; lit. 'lesser shirk'): concealed or hidden. It is when people perform the necessary rituals but not for God but for the sake of others, including social recognition. Hidden shirk might be unwitting, yet punishable, although to a lesser extent than greater forms of shirk.

Shirk al-akbar
Shirk al-akbar is defined as open association and has been described in two forms:
 * To associate anything with God
 * To associate anything with God's attributes

Shirk al-asghar
Shirke al-asghar may be committed by one who professes tawhid, but for the sake of others.

"One who offers the ritual prayers in an ostentatious way is a polytheist. One who keeps the fast, or gives alms, or performs the hajj to show the public his righteousness or to earn good name is a polytheist."

- Sayyed Qasim Mujtaba Moosavi Kamoonpuri

Mahmud ibn Lubayd reported, "Allah's messenger said: "The thing I fear for you the most is ash-Shirk al-Asghar."

The companions asked, "O messenger of Allah, what is that?"

He replied, "Ar-Riya (showing off), for verily Allah will say on the Day of Resurrection when people are receiving their rewards, 'Go to those for whom you were showing off in the material world and see if you can find any reward from them.""

Mahmud ibn Lubayd also said, "The Prophet came out and announced, "O people, beware of secret Shirk!"

The people asked, "O messenger of Allah, what is secret Shirk?"

He replied, "When a man gets up to pray and strives to beautify his prayer because people are looking at him; that is secret Shirk.""

Umar ibn al-Khattab narrated that the Messenger of Allah said: "Whoever swears by other than Allah has committed an act of kufr or shirk." (graded hasan by Al-Tirmidhi and saheeh by Al-Hakim)

According to Ibn Mas’ood, one of Muhammad's companions said: "That I should swear by Allah upon a lie is more preferable to me than that I should swear by another upon the truth."

Sufism
According to Sufi teachings, to avoid "hidden shirk" (al-shirk al-khafi), it is necessary to focus solely on God and give up one's own will.

Some Sufi scholars even go so far as to describe a belief in free will as a form of shirk. According to such an uncompromising view, beliefs usually accommodated within Islamic monotheism, such as that in a personal devil (rather than the unregenerate self deficient in God) as the source of evil, or a belief in the concept of free will, are regarded as beliefs in creative powers other than (i.e. standing beside/external to) God, and are thus equated with shirk.

Abdullah Ansari describes the highest stage of tawhid a human can possess, when the mind becomes fully immersed in the presence of God and understand how all things are put into their proper places.

Wahhabism
Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab, founder of the Wahhabi movement, classified shirk into three main categories. However, ibn Taymiyya is considered to have been the spiritual founder of this distinction.

 * tawhid al-rububiyyah (Lordship): the verbal profession that God (Allah) is the sole creator and ruler over the world.
 * tawhid al-Asma wa's-Sifat (names and attributes): accepting the attributes of God as written in the Quran without interpretation.
 * tawhid al-ibada (servitude): the commitment of religious or spiritual duties to God without intermediaries.

For abd al-Wahhab, tawhid al-ibada was the decisive factor to determine the identity of a Muslim and also the execution of tawhid al-rububiyyah. Muslims who violated his interpretation of tawhid al-ibada were considered to be "associators" (mushrikūn) and "unbelievers" (kāfirūn).

title: Shirk (Islam)


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GSK plc

GSK plc (an acronym from its former name  GlaxoSmithKline plc) is a British multinational pharmaceutical and biotechnology company with global headquarters in London. It was established in 2000 by a merger of Glaxo Wellcome and SmithKline Beecham, which was itself a merger of a number of pharmaceutical companies around the Smith, Kline & French firm.

GSK is the tenth largest pharmaceutical company and #294 on the 2022 Fortune Global 500, ranked behind other pharmaceutical companies China Resources, Sinopharm, Johnson & Johnson, Pfizer, Roche, AbbVie, Novartis, Bayer, and Merck Sharp & Dohme.

The company has a primary listing on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. As of February 2024, it had a market capitalisation of £69 billion, the eighth largest on the London Stock Exchange.

The company developed the first malaria vaccine, RTS,S, which it said in 2014, it would make available for five per cent above cost. Legacy products developed at GSK include several listed in the World Health Organization's List of Essential Medicines, such as amoxicillin, mercaptopurine, pyrimethamine and zidovudine.

In 2012, under prosecution by the United States Department of Justice (DoJ) based on combined investigations of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS-OIG), FDA and FBI, primarily concerning sales and marketing of the drugs Avandia, Paxil and Wellbutrin, GSK pleaded guilty to promotion of drugs for unapproved uses, failure to report safety data and kickbacks to physicians in the United States and agreed to pay a US$3billion (£1.9bn) settlement. It was the largest health-care fraud case to date in the US and the largest settlement in the pharmaceutical industry.

Glaxo
Joseph Nathan and Co. was founded in 1873, as a general trading company in Wellington, New Zealand, by a Londoner, Joseph Edward Nathan. In 1904, it began producing a dried-milk baby food from excess milk produced on dairy farms near Bunnythorpe. The resulting product was first known as Defiance, then as Glaxo (from lacto), and sold with the slogan "Glaxo builds bonnie babies." The Glaxo Laboratories sign is still visible on what is now a car repair shop on the main street of Bunnythorpe. The company's first pharmaceutical product, released in 1924, was vitamin D.

Glaxo Laboratories was incorporated as a distinct subsidiary company in London in 1935. Joseph Nathan's shareholders reorganised the group's structure in 1947, making Glaxo the parent and obtained a listing on the London Stock Exchange. Glaxo acquired Allen & Hanburys in 1958. The Scottish pharmacologist David Jack was hired as a researcher for Allen & Hanburys a few years after Glaxo took it over; he went on to lead the company's research and development (R&D) until 1987. After Glaxo bought Meyer Laboratories in 1978, it began to play an important role in the US market. In 1983, the American arm, Glaxo Inc., moved to Research Triangle Park (US headquarters/research) and Zebulon (US manufacturing) in North Carolina.

Burroughs Wellcome
Burroughs Wellcome & Company was founded in 1880, in London by the American pharmacists Henry Wellcome and Silas Burroughs. The Wellcome Tropical Research Laboratories opened in 1902. In the 1920s, Burroughs Wellcome established research and manufacturing facilities in Tuckahoe, New York,  which served as the US headquarters until the company moved to Research Triangle Park in North Carolina in 1971. The Nobel Prize winning scientists Gertrude B. Elion and George H. Hitchings worked there and invented drugs still used many years later, such as mercaptopurine. In 1959, the Wellcome Foundation bought Cooper, McDougall & Robertson Inc to become more active in animal health.

When Burroughs Wellcome decided to move its headquarters, the company selected Paul Rudolph to design its new building. The Elion-Hitchings Building "was celebrated worldwide when it was built," according to Paul Rudolph Heritage Foundation president Kelvin Dickinson. Alex Sayf Cummings of Georgia State University wrote in 2016, that the "iconic building helped define the image of RTP," saying, "Love it or hate it, Rudolph's design remains an impressively audacious creative gesture and an important part of the history of both architecture and Research Triangle Park." United Therapeutics, which bought the building in 2012, announced plans in 2020, to tear it down.

Merger
Glaxo and Wellcome merged in 1995, to form Glaxo Wellcome plc. The merger was then considered the biggest in the UK corporate history. Glaxo Wellcome restructured its R&D operation that year, cutting 10,000 jobs worldwide, closing its R&D facility in Beckenham, Kent, and opening a Medicines Research Centre in Stevenage, Hertfordshire. Also that year, Glaxo Wellcome acquired the California-based Affymax, a leader in the field of combinatorial chemistry.

By 1999, Glaxo Wellcome had become the world's third-largest pharmaceutical company by revenues (behind Novartis and Merck), with a global market share of around 4 per cent. Its products included Imigran (for the treatment of migraine), salbutamol (Ventolin) (for the treatment of asthma), Zovirax (for the treatment of coldsores), and Retrovir and Epivir (for the treatment of AIDS). In 1999, the company was the world's largest manufacturer of drugs for the treatment of asthma and HIV/AIDS. It employed 59,000 people, including 13,400 in the UK, had 76 operating companies and 50 manufacturing facilities worldwide, and seven of its products were among the world's top 50 best-selling pharmaceuticals. The company had R&D facilities in Hertfordshire, Kent, London and Verona (Italy), and manufacturing plants in Scotland and the north of England. It had R&D centres in the US and Japan, and production facilities in the US, Europe and the Far East.

Beecham
In 1848, Thomas Beecham launched his Beecham's Pills laxative in England, giving birth to the Beecham Group. In 1859, Beecham opened its first factory in St Helens, Lancashire. By the 1960s, Beecham was extensively involved in pharmaceuticals and consumer products such as Macleans toothpaste, Lucozade and synthetic penicillin research.

SmithKline
John K. Smith opened his first pharmacy in Philadelphia in 1830. In 1865, Mahlon Kline joined the business, which 10 years later became Smith, Kline & Co. In 1891, it merged with French, Richard and Company, and in 1929, changed its name to Smith Kline & French Laboratories as it focused more on research. Years later it bought Norden Laboratories, a business doing research into animal health, and Recherche et Industrie Thérapeutiques in Belgium in 1963, to focus on vaccines. The company began to expand globally, buying seven laboratories in Canada and the United States in 1969. In 1982, it bought Allergan, a manufacturer of eye and skincare products.

Smith Kline & French merged with Beckman Inc. in 1982, and changed its name to SmithKline Beckman. In 1988, it bought International Clinical Laboratories.

Merger
In 1989, SmithKline Beckman merged with Beecham Group to form SmithKline Beecham P.L.C.. The headquarters moved from the United States to England. To expand R&D in the United States, the company bought a new research center in 1995; another opened in 1997, in England at New Frontiers Science Park, Harlow.

2000: Glaxo Wellcome and SmithKline Beecham merger
Glaxo Wellcome and SmithKline Beecham announced their intention to merge in January 2000. The merger was completed on 27 December that year, forming GlaxoSmithKline (GSK). The company's global headquarters were at GSK House, Brentford, London, officially opened in 2002, by then-Prime Minister Tony Blair. The building was erected at a cost of £300million and was home to 3,000 administrative staff.

2001–2010

GSK completed the acquisition of New Jersey-based Block Drug in 2001, for US$1.24 billion. In 2006, GSK acquired the US-based consumer healthcare company CNS Inc., whose products included Breathe Right nasal strips and FiberChoice dietary supplements, for US$566million in cash.

Chris Gent, previously CEO of Vodafone, was appointed chairman of the board in 2005. GSK opened its first R&D centre in China in 2007, in Shanghai, initially focused on neurodegenerative diseases. Andrew Witty became the chief executive officer in 2008. Witty joined Glaxo in 1985, and had been president of GSK's Pharmaceuticals Europe since 2003.

In 2009, GSK acquired Stiefel Laboratories, then the world's largest independent dermatology drug company, for US$3.6 billion. In November 2009, the FDA approved GSK's vaccine for 2009 H1N1 influenza protection, manufactured by the company's ID Biomedical Corp in Canada. Also in November 2009, GSK formed a joint venture with Pfizer to create ViiV Healthcare, which specializes in HIV research. In 2010, the company acquired Laboratorios Phoenix, an Argentine pharmaceutical company, for US$253m, and the UK-based sports nutrition company Maxinutrition for £162million (US$256million).

2011–2022
In 2011, in a US$660-million deal, Prestige Brands Holdings took over 17 GSK brands with sales of US$210million, including BC Powder, Beano, Ecotrin, Fiber Choice, Goody's Powder, Sominex and Tagamet. In 2012, the company announced that it would invest £500million in manufacturing facilities in Ulverston, northern England, designating it as the site for a previously announced biotech plant. In May that year it acquired CellZome, a German biotech company, for US$98million, and in June, worldwide rights to alitretinoin (Toctino), an eczema drug, for US$302million. In 2013, GSK acquired Human Genome Sciences (HGS) for US$3billion; the companies had collaborated on developing the lupus drug Belimumab (Benlysta), albiglutide for type 2 diabetes, and darapladib for atherosclerosis, and in September, sold its beverage division to Suntory. This included the brands Lucozade and Ribena; however, the deal did not include Horlicks.

In March 2014, GSK paid US$1billion to raise its stake in its Indian pharmaceutical unit, GlaxoSmithKline Pharmaceuticals, to 75 per cent as part of a move to focus on emerging markets. In April 2014, Novartis and Glaxo agreed on more than US$20billion in deals, with Novartis selling its vaccine business to GSK and buying GSK's cancer business. In February 2015, GSK announced that it would acquire GlycoVaxyn, a Swiss pharmaceutical company, for US$190million, and in June that year that it would sell two meningitis drugs to Pfizer, Nimenrix and Mencevax for around US$130million.

Philip Hampton, at that time chair of the Royal Bank of Scotland, became GSK chairman in September 2015.

On 31 March 2017, Emma Walmsley became CEO. She is the first female CEO of the company.

In December 2017, Reuters reported that Glaxo had increased its stake in its Saudi Arabian unit to 75% (from 49%) taking over control from its Saudi partner Banaja KSA Holding Company.

With respect to rare diseases, the company divested its portfolio of gene therapy drugs to Orchard Therapeutics in April 2018. In November 2018, Reuters reported that Unilever was in prime position to acquire GSK's interest in its Indian unit, GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare Ltd, in a sale that could generate around US$4billion for the company. Nestlé and Coca-Cola have also been reported to be interested in the business unit as they look to strengthen their presence in India. On 3 December 2018, GSK announced that Unilever would acquire the Indian-listed GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare business for US$3.8billion (£2.98billion). Unilever will pay the majority of the deal in cash, with the remaining being paid in shares in its Indian operation, Hindustan Unilever Limited. Upon completion, GSK will then own around 5.7% of Hindustan Unilever Limited, selling those shares in a number of tranches. The same day, the company also announced it would acquire oncology specialist, Tesaro, for US$5.1billion. The deal will give GSK control of ovarian cancer treatment, Zejula - a member of the class of poly ADP ribose polymerase (PARP) inhibitors.

In October 2019, GSK agreed to sell its rabies vaccine, RabAvert, and its tick-borne encephalitis vaccine, Encepur, to Bavarian Nordic for US$1.06billion (€955million).

In July 2020, GSK acquired a 10% stake in German biotech company CureVac.

GSK–Novartis consumer healthcare buy-out
In March 2018, GSK announced that it has reached an agreement with Novartis to acquire Novartis's 36.5% stake in their Consumer Healthcare Joint Venture for US$13billion (£9.2billion).

GSK–Pfizer joint venture
In December 2018, GSK announced that it, along with Pfizer, had reached an agreement to merge and combine their consumer healthcare divisions into a single entity. The combined entity would have sales of around £9.8billion ($12.7billion), with GSK maintaining a 68% controlling stake in the joint venture. Pfizer would own the remaining 32% shareholding. The deal builds on an earlier 2018 deal where GSK bought out Novartis' stake in the GSK-Novartis consumer healthcare joint business.

Subsequent split
The culmination of the Consumer Healthcare string of deals will result in GSK splitting into two separate companies, via a demerger and subsequent listing of the joint venture. This will create two publicly traded companies, one focusing on pharmaceuticals and research & development, the other on consumer healthcare. On 22 February 2022, GSK announced that the spin-off consumer healthcare company will be called Haleon.

In January 2022, the company announced that they had received three unsolicited offers from Unilever to acquire the Consumer Healthcare business unit, with the final proposal valuing the business unit at £50 billion (£41.7 billion in cash, plus £8.3 billion in Unilever shares).

Subsequently, GSK declined all outside offers/attempts to acquire its consumer healthcare business and moved forward with its plan to complete the demerger from the main biopharmaceutical business.

Recent developments
In April 2022, the business announced it would acquire Sierra Oncology Inc for $1.9 billion ($55 per share). In May 2022, GSK announced it would acquire Affinivax and its phase II 24-valent pneumococcal vaccine candidate for up to $3.3 billion, strengthening its vaccine business.

On 16 May 2022, the company changed its name from GlaxoSmithKline to GSK.

In April 2023, GSK announced it would acquire Bellus Health Inc. for $2 billion.

In February 2024, the company acquired Aiolos Bio for over $1 billion, adding to its existing asthma business through AIO-001 a long-acting monoclonal antibody that targets the thymic stromal lymphopoietin cytokine.

In May 2024, GSK sold off its 4.2% shares in Haleon for $1.58 billion.

In July 2024, GSK moved its headquarters from Brentford to New Oxford Street in central London.

Acquisition-history diagram

 * GSK
 * GlaxoSmithKline
 * SmithKline Beecham Plc (Renamed 1989)
 * SmithKline Beckman (Renamed 1982)
 * SmithKline-RIT (Renamed 1968)
 * Smith, Kline & French (Reorganized 1929 into Smith Kline and French Laboratories)
 * French, Richards and Company (Acquired 1891)
 * Smith, Kline and Company
 * Recherche et Industrie Thérapeutiques (Acquired 1968)
 * Beckman Instruments, Inc. (Merged 1982, Sold 1989)
 * Specialized Instruments Corp. (Acquired 1954)
 * Offner Electronics (Acquired 1961)
 * International Clinical Laboratories (Acquired 1989)
 * Reckitt & Colman (Acquired 1999)
 * Beecham Group Plc (Merged 1989)
 * Beecham Group Ltd
 * S. E. Massengill Company (Acquired 1971)
 * C.L. Bencard (Acquired 1953)
 * County Chemicals
 * Norcliff Thayer (Acquired 1986)
 * Glaxo Wellcome
 * Glaxo (Merged 1995)
 * Joseph Nathan & Co
 * Allen & Hanburys (Founded 1715, acquired 1958)
 * Meyer Laboratories (Merged 1978)
 * Affymax (Acquired 1995)
 * Wellcome Foundation (Renamed 1924, merged 1995)
 * Burroughs Wellcome & Company (Founded 1880)
 * McDougall & Robertson Inc (Acquired 1959)
 * Block Drug (Acquired 2001)
 * CNS Inc. (Acquired 2006)
 * Stiefel Laboratories (Acquired 2009)
 * Laboratorios Phoenix (Acquired 2010)
 * Maxinutrition (Acquired 2010)
 * CellZome (Acquired 2011)
 * Human Genome Sciences (Acquired 2013)
 * GlycoVaxyn (Acquired 2015)
 * Tesaro (Acquired 2019)
 * Sitari Pharmaceuticals (Acquired 2019)
 * Sierra Oncology (Acquired 2022)
 * Affinivax (Acquired 2022)
 * Bellus Health Inc. (Acquired 2023)
 * Aiolos Bio (Acquired 2024)

Pharmaceuticals
GSK manufactures products for major disease areas such as asthma, cancer, infections, diabetes, and mental health. Medicines historically discovered or developed at GSK and its legacy companies and now sold as generics include amoxicillin and amoxicillin-clavulanate, ticarcillin-clavulanate, mupirocin, and ceftazidime for bacterial infections, zidovudine for HIV infection, valacyclovir for herpes virus infections, albendazole for parasitic infections, sumatriptan for migraine, lamotrigine for epilepsy, bupropion and paroxetine for major depressive disorder, cimetidine and ranitidine for gastroesophageal reflux disorder, mercaptopurine and thioguanine for the treatment of leukemia, allopurinol for gout, pyrimethamine for malaria, and the antibacterial trimethoprim.

Among these, albendazole, amoxicillin, amoxicillin-clavulanate, allopurinol, mercaptopurine, mupirocin, pyrimethamine, ranitidine, thioguanine, trimethoprim, and zidovudine are on the World Health Organization's List of Essential Medicines.

Malaria vaccine
In 2014, GSK applied for regulatory approval for the first malaria vaccine. Malaria is responsible for over 650,000 deaths annually, mainly in Africa. Known as RTS,S, the vaccine was developed as a joint project with the PATH vaccines initiative and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The company has committed to making the vaccine available in developing countries for five per cent above the cost of production.

, RTS,S, which uses GSK's proprietary AS01 adjuvant, was being examined in a Phase 3 trial in eight African countries. PATH reported that "[i]n the 12-month period following vaccination, RTS,S conferred approximately 50% protection from clinical Plasmodium falciparum disease in children aged 5-17 months, and approximately 30% protection in children aged 6-12 weeks when administered in conjunction with Expanded Program for Immunization (EPI) vaccines." In 2014, Glaxo said it had spent more than US$350million and expected to spend an additional US$260million before seeking regulatory approval.

Consumer healthcare
GSK's consumer healthcare division, which earned £5.2billion in 2013, sells oral healthcare, including Aquafresh, Macleans and Sensodyne toothpastes. GSK also previously owned the Lucozade and Ribena brands of soft drinks, but they were sold in 2013, to Suntory for £1.35bn. Other products include Abreva to treat cold sores; Night Nurse, a cold remedy; Breathe Right nasal strips; and Nicoderm and Nicorette nicotine replacements. In March 2014, it recalled Alli, an over-the-counter weight-loss drug, in the United States and Puerto Rico because of possible tampering, following customer complaints.

Facilities
, GSK had offices in over 115 countries and employed over 99,000 people, 12,500 in R&D. The company's single largest market is the United States. Its US headquarters are in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and Durham, North Carolina; its consumer-products division is in Moon Township, Pennsylvania.

COVID-19 vaccine
In July 2020, the UK government signed up for 60 million doses of a COVID-19 vaccine developed by GSK and Sanofi. It uses a recombinant protein-based technology from Sanofi and GSK's pandemic technology. The companies claimed to be able to produce one billion doses, subject to successful trials and regulatory approval, during the first half of 2021. The company also agreed to a $2.1 billion deal with the United States to produce 100 million doses of the vaccine.

Venture arms
SR One was established in 1985, by SmithKline Beecham to invest in new biotechnology companies and continued operating after GSK was formed; by 2003, GSK had formed another subsidiary, GSK Ventures, to out-license or start new companies around drug candidates that it did not intend to develop further. , SR One tended to invest only if the company aligned with GSK's business.

In September 2019, Avalon Ventures announced that it entered into a definitive agreement with GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) for the acquisition of Sitari Pharmaceuticals by GSK. This includes its transglutaminase 2 (TG2) small molecule program for the treatment of celiac disease.

Scientific recognition
Four GlaxoSmithKline scientists have been recognized by the Nobel Committee for their contributions to basic medical science and/or therapeutics development.
 * Henry Dale, a former student of Paul Ehrlich, received the 1936 Nobel Prize in Medicine for his work on the chemical transmission of neural impulses. Dale served as a pharmacologist and then as Director of the Wellcome Physiological Research Laboratories from 1904 to 1914, and later served as Trustee and chairman of the board of the Wellcome Trust.
 * John Vane of Wellcome Research Laboratories shared the 1982 Nobel Prize for Medicine for his work on prostaglandin biology and the discovery of prostacyclin. Vane served as group research and development director for The Wellcome Foundation from 1973 to 1985.
 * Gertrude B. Elion and George Hitchings, both of the Wellcome Research Laboratories, shared the 1988 Nobel Prize in Medicine with Sir James W. Black, formerly of Smith Kline & French and the Wellcome Foundation, ""for their discoveries of important principles for drug treatment"." Elion and Hitchings were responsible for the discovery of a plethora of important drugs, including mercaptopurine and thioguanine for the treatment of leukemia, the immunosuppressant azothioprine, allopurinol for gout, pyrimethamine for malaria, the antibacterial trimethoprim, acyclovir for herpes virus infection, and nelarabine for cancer treatment.

Philanthropy and social responsibility
Since 2010, GlaxoSmithKline has several times ranked first among pharmaceutical companies on the Global Access to Medicines Index, which is funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. In 2014, the Human Rights Campaign, an LGBT-rights advocacy group gave GSK a score of 100 per cent in its Corporate Equality Index.

GSK has been active, with the World Health Organization (WHO), in the Global Alliance to Eliminate Lymphatic Filariasis (GAELF). Around 120million people globally are believed to be infected with lymphatic filariasis. In 2012, the company endorsed the London Declaration on Neglected Tropical Diseases; it agreed to donate 400million albendazole tablets to the WHO each year to fight soil-transmitted helminthiasis and to provide 600million albendazole tablets every year for lymphatic filariasis until the disease is eradicated. , over 5billion treatments had been delivered, and 18 of 73 countries in which the disease is considered endemic had progressed to the surveillance stage.

In 2009, the company said it would cut drug prices by 25 per cent in 50 of the poorest nations, release intellectual property rights for substances and processes relevant to neglected disease into a patent pool to encourage new drug development, and invest 20 per cent of profits from the least-developed countries in medical infrastructure for those countries. Médecins Sans Frontières welcomed the decision, but criticized GSK for failing to include HIV patents in its patent pool and for not including middle-income countries in the initiative.

In 2013, GSK licensed its HIV portfolio to the Medicines Patent Pool for use in children, and agreed to negotiate a license for dolutegravir, an integrase inhibitor then in clinical development. In 2014, this license was extended to include dolutegravir and adults with HIV. The licenses include countries in which 93 per cent of adults and 99 per cent of children with HIV live. Also in 2013 GSK joined AllTrials, a British campaign to ensure that all clinical trials are registered and the results reported. The company said it would make its past clinical-trial reports available and future ones within a year of the studies' end.

GSK has largely had an access strategy, providing medicines at a subsidized price to lower and middle income markets including Africa under the former CEO Andrew Witty. In 2017, its new CEO, Emma Walmsley, shifted away from this with GSK exiting all Sub-Saharan African markets and there being no plans to provide its newer expensive oncology and genetics pipeline to this population.

1973 Antitrust case over griseofulvin
In the 1960s, Glaxo Group Ltd. (Glaxo) and Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI) each owned patents covering various aspects of the antifungal drug griseofulvin. They created a patent pool by cross-licensing their patents, subject to express licensing restrictions that the chemical from which the "finished" form of the drug (tablets and capsules) was made must not be resold in bulk form, and they licensed other drug companies to sell the drug in finished form and subject to similar restrictions. The effect and intent of the bulk-sale restriction was to keep the drug chemical out of the hands of small companies that might act as price-cutters, and the effect was to maintain stable, uniform prices.

The United States brought an antitrust suit against the two companies—United States v. Glaxo Group Ltd.—charging them with violation of the Sherman Act and also seeking to have the patents declared invalid. The trial court found that the defendants had engaged in several unlawful conspiracies, but dismissed the part of the suit seeking invalidation of patents and refused to grant as relief mandatory sales of the bulk drug chemical and compulsory licensing of the patents. The government appealed to the Supreme Court, which reversed, in United States v. Glaxo Group Ltd., 410 U.S. 52 (1973).

2000s Ribena
There were concerns in the 2000s about the sugar and vitamin content of Ribena, a blackcurrant-based syrup and soft drink owned by GSK until 2013. Produced in England by H.W. Carter & Co from the 1930s, the company's unbranded syrup was distributed to children as a source of vitamin C during World War II, which gave the drink a reputation as good for health. Beecham bought H. W. Carter in 1955.

In 2001, the British Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) required GSK to withdraw its claim that Ribena Toothkind, a lower-sugar variety, did not encourage tooth decay. A company poster showed bottles of Toothkind in place of the bristles on a toothbrush. The ASA's ruling was upheld by the High Court. In 2007, GSK was fined US$217,000 in New Zealand over its claim that ready-to-drink Ribena contained high levels of vitamin C, after it was found to contain no detectable vitamin C. In 2013, GSK sold Ribena and another drink, Lucozade, to the Japanese multinational Suntory for £1.35billion.

SB Pharmco Puerto Rico
In 2010, the US Department of Justice announced that GSK would pay a US$150million criminal fine and forfeiture, and a civil settlement of US$600million under the False Claims Act. The fines stemmed from production of improperly made and adulterated drugs from 2001 to 2005, at GSK's subsidiary, SB Pharmco Puerto Rico Inc., in Cidra, Puerto Rico, which at the time produced US$5.5 billion of products each year. The drugs involved were Kytril, an antiemetic; Bactroban, used to treat skin infections; Paxil, the anti-depressant; and Avandamet, a diabetes drug. GSK closed the factory in 2009.

The case began in 2002, when GSK sent experts to fix problems cited by the FDA. The lead inspector recommended recalls of defective products, but they were not authorised; she was fired in 2003, and filed a whistleblower lawsuit. In 2005, federal marshals seized US$2billion worth of products, the largest such seizure in history. In the 2010 settlement SB Pharmco pleaded guilty to criminal charges, and agreed to pay US$150 million in a criminal fine and forfeiture, at that time the largest such payment ever by a manufacturer of adulterated drugs, and US$600 million in civil penalties to settle the civil lawsuit.

2010 Pandemrix connected with narcolepsy
The Pandemrix influenza vaccine was developed by GlaxoSmithKline in 2006. It was used by Finland and Sweden in the H1N1 mass vaccination of the population against the 2009 swine flu pandemic. In August 2010, The Swedish Medical Products Agency (MPA) and The Finnish National Institute for Health and Welfare (THL) launched investigations regarding the development of narcolepsy as a possible side effect to Pandemrix flu vaccination in children, and found a 6.6-fold increased risk among children and youths, resulting in 3.6 additional cases of narcolepsy per 100,000 vaccinated subjects.

In February 2011, The Finnish National Institute for Health and Welfare (THL) concluded that there is a clear connection between the Pandemrix vaccination campaign of 2009 and 2010, and the narcolepsy epidemic in Finland. A total of 152 cases of narcolepsy were found in Finland during 2009–2010, and ninety per cent of them had received the Pandemrix vaccination. Sweden however observed very few influenza cases totally in 2009 and especially 2010 as compared to most other years. In 2015, it was reported that the British Department of Health was paying for Sodium oxybate medication for 80 patients who are taking legal action over problems linked to the use of the swine flu vaccine, at a cost to the government of £12,000 per patient per year.

Overview
In July 2012, GSK pleaded guilty in the United States to criminal charges, and agreed to pay US$3billion, in what was the largest settlement until then between the Justice Department and a drug company. The US$3billion included a criminal fine of US$956,814,400 and forfeiture of US$43,185,600. The remaining US$2billion covered a civil settlement with the government under the False Claims Act. The investigation was launched largely on the basis of information from four whistleblowers who filed qui tam (whistleblower) lawsuits against the company under the False Claims Act.

The charges stemmed from GSK's promotion of the anti-depressants Paxil (paroxetine) and Wellbutrin (bupropion) for unapproved uses from 1998 to 2003, specifically as suitable for patients under the age of 18, and from its failure to report safety data about Avandia (rosiglitazone), both in violation of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act. Other drugs promoted for unapproved uses were two inhalers, Advair (fluticasone/salmeterol) and Flovent (fluticasone propionate), as well as Zofran (ondansetron), Imitrex (sumatriptan), Lotronex (alosetron) and Valtrex (valaciclovir).

The settlement also covered reporting false best prices and underpaying rebates owed under the Medicaid Drug Rebate Program, and kickbacks to physicians to prescribe GSK's drugs. There were all-expenses-paid spa treatments and hunting trips for doctors and their spouses, speakers' fees at conferences, and payment for articles ghostwritten by the company and placed by physicians in medical journals. The company set up a ghostwriting programme called CASPPER, initially to produce articles about Paxil but which was extended to cover Avandia.

As part of the settlement GSK signed a five-year corporate integrity agreement with the Department of Health and Human Services, which obliged the company to make major changes in the way it did business, including changing its compensation programmes for its sales force and executives, and to implement and maintain transparency in its research practices and publication policies. It announced in 2013, that it would no longer pay doctors to promote its drugs or attend medical conferences, and that its sales staff would no longer have prescription targets.

Rosiglitazone (Avandia)
The 2012 settlement included a criminal fine of US$242,612,800 for failing to report safety data to the FDA about Avandia (rosiglitazone), a diabetes drug approved in 1999, and a civil settlement of US$657million for making false claims about it. The Justice Department said GSK had promoted rosiglitazone to physicians with misleading information, including that it conferred cardiovascular benefits despite an FDA-mandated label warning of cardiovascular risks.

In 1999, John Buse, a diabetes specialist, told medical conferences that rosiglitazone might carry an increased risk of cardiovascular problems. GSK threatened to sue him, called his university head of department, and persuaded him to sign a retraction. GSK raised questions internally about the drug's safety in 2000, and in 2002, the company ghostwrote an article in Circulation describing a GSK funded clinical trial that suggested rosiglitazone might have a beneficial effect on cardiovascular risk. From 2001, reports began to link the thiazolidinediones (the class of drugs to which rosiglitazone belongs) to heart failure. In April that year, GSK began a six-year, open-label, randomized trial, known as RECORD, to examine rosiglitazone and cardiovascular events. Two GSK meta-analyses in 2005, and 2006, showed an increased risk of cardiovascular problems with rosiglitazone; the information was passed to the FDA and posted on the company website, but not otherwise published. By December 2006, rosiglitazone had become the top-selling diabetes drug, with annual sales of US$3.3billion.

In June 2007, The New England Journal of Medicine published a meta-analysis that associated the drug with an increased risk of heart attack. GSK had reportedly tried to persuade one of the authors, Steven Nissen, not to publish it, after receiving an advance copy from one of the journal's peer reviewers, a GSK consultant. In July 2007, FDA scientists suggested that rosiglitazone had caused 83,000 excess heart attacks between 1999 and 2007. The FDA placed restrictions on the drug, including adding a boxed warning, but did not withdraw it. (In 2013, the FDA rejected that the drug had caused excess heart attacks.) A Senate Finance Committee inquiry concluded in 2010, that GSK had sought to intimidate scientists who had concerns about rosiglitazone. In February that year the company tried to halt publication of an editorial about the controversy by Nissen in the European Heart Journal.

The results of GSK's RECORD trial were published in June 2009. It confirmed an association between rosiglitazone and an increased risk of heart failure and fractures, but not of heart attack, and concluded that it "does not increase the risk of overall cardiovascular morbidity or mortality compared with standard glucose-lowering drugs." Steven Nissan and Kathy Wolkski argued that the study's low event rates reduced its statistical power. In September 2009, rosiglitazone was suspended in Europe. The results of the RECORD study were confirmed in 2013, by the Duke Clinical Research Institute, in an independent review required by the FDA. In November that year the FDA lifted the restrictions it had placed on the drug. "FDA requires removal of certain restrictions on the diabetes drug Avandia", Food and Drug Administration, 25 November 2013. "Readjudication of the Rosiglitazone Evaluated for Cardiovascular Outcomes and Regulation of Glycemia in Diabetes Trial (RECORD)", Joint Meeting of the Endocrinologic and Metabolic Drugs Advisory Committee and the Drug Safety and Risk Management Advisory Committee, Food and Drug Administration, 5–6 June 2013. Steven Nissen, "Steven Nissen: The Hidden Agenda Behind The FDA's New Avandia Hearings", Forbes, 23 May 2013. "The FDA Responds To Steve Nissen's Criticism Of Upcoming Avandia Meeting", Forbes, 23 May 2013. The boxed warning about heart attack was removed; the warning about heart failure remained in place.

Paroxetine (Paxil/Seroxat)
GSK was fined for promoting Paxil/Seroxat (paroxetine) for treating depression in the under-18s, although the drug had not been approved for pediatric use. Paxil had US$4.97billion worldwide sales in 2003. The company conducted nine clinical trials between 1994, and 2002, none of which showed that Paxil helped children with depression. From 1998, to 2003, it promoted the drug for the under-18s, paying physicians to go on all-expenses paid trips, five-star hotels and spas. From 2004, Paxil's label, along with those of similar drugs, included an FDA-mandated boxed warning that it might increase the risk of suicidal ideation and behaviour in patients under 18.

An internal SmithKline Beecham document said in 1998, about withheld data from two GSK studies: "It would be commercially unacceptable to include a statement that [pediatric] efficacy had not been demonstrated, as this would undermine the profile of paroxetine." The company ghostwrote an article, published in 2001, in the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, that misreported the results of one of its clinical trials, Study 329. The article concluded that Paxil was "generally well tolerated and effective for major depression in adolescents." The suppression of the research findings is the subject of the 2008 book Side Effects by Alison Bass.

For 10 years GSK marketed Paxil as non-habit forming. In 2001, 35 patients filed a class-action suit alleging they had had withdrawal symptoms, and in 2002, a Los Angeles court issued an injunction preventing GSK from advertising that the drug was not habit forming. The court withdrew the injunction after the FDA objected that the court had no jurisdiction over drug marketing that the FDA had approved. In 2003, a World Health Organization committee reported that Paxil was among the top 30 drugs, and top three antidepressants, for which dependence had been reported.

Bupropion (Wellbutrin)
The company was also fined for promoting Wellbutrin (bupropion) – approved at the time for major depressive disorder and also sold as a smoking-cessation aid, Zyban – for weight loss and the treatment of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, sexual dysfunction and substance addiction. GSK paid doctors to promote these off-label uses, and set up supposedly independent advisory boards and Continuing Medical Education programmes.

China
In 2013, Chinese authorities announced that, since 2007, GSK had funnelled HK$3.8billion in kickbacks to GSK managers, doctors, hospitals and others who prescribed their drugs, using over 700 travel agencies and consulting firms. Chinese authorities arrested four GSK executives as part of a four-month investigation into claims that doctors were bribed with cash and sexual favours. In 2014, a Chinese court found the company guilty of bribery and imposed a fine of US$490million. Mark Reilly, the British head of GSK's Chinese operations, received a three-year suspended prison sentence after a one-day trial held in secret. Reilly was reportedly deported from China and dismissed by the company.

Market manipulation in the UK
In February 2016, the company was fined over £37million in the UK by the Competition and Markets Authority for paying Generics UK, Alpharma and Norton Healthcare more than £50m between 2001, and 2004, to keep generic varieties of paroxetine out of the UK market. The generics companies were fined a further £8million. At the end of 2003, when generics became available in the UK, the price of paroxetine dropped by 70 per cent.

Miscellaneous
Italian police sought bribery charges in May 2004, against 4,400 doctors and 273 GSK employees. GSK and its predecessor were accused of having spent £152m on physicians, pharmacists and others, giving them cameras, computers, holidays and cash. Doctors were alleged to have received cash based on the number of patients they treated with a cancer drug, topotecan (Hycamtin). The following month prosecutors in Munich accused 70–100 doctors of having accepted bribes from SmithKline Beecham between 1997 and 1999. The inquiry was opened over allegations that the company had given over 4,000 hospital doctors money and free trips. All charges were dismissed by the Verona court in January 2009.

In 2006, in the United States GSK settled the largest tax dispute in IRS history, agreeing to pay US$3.1 billion. At issue were Zantac and other products sold in 1989–2005. The case revolved around intracompany transfer pricing—determining the share of profit attributable to the US subsidiaries of GSK and subject to tax by the IRS.

The UK's Serious Fraud Office (SFO) opened a criminal inquiry in 2014 into GSK's sales practices, using powers granted by the Bribery Act 2010. The SFO said it was collaborating with Chinese authorities to investigate bringing charges in the UK related to GSK's activities in China, Europe and the Middle East. Also, the US Department of Justice was investigating GSK with reference to the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.

In October 2020, GSK told some staff that while at work they should disable the contact tracing function of the NHS test-and-trace app which monitors the spread of COVID-19. GSK explained the reason for this was due to social distancing measures in place at their sites rendering the technology unnecessary.

title: GSK plc