HEALTH
From Times Staff and Wire Reports
Glaxo Chairman to Retire: The British drug maker said Sir Paul Girolami will step down at the end of June, prompting speculation that the company may be near a multibillion-dollar acquisition in the United States. Glaxo’s American Depository Receipts rose 50 cents to $17.75 on the New York Stock Exchange, helped by the view that Girolami’s departure will free company management to use its growing cash resources. In May, analysts tipped Glaxo--maker of the world’s biggest-selling prescription drug, ulcer treatment Zantac--as the most likely candidate to take over U.S. health care group McKesson Corp. McKesson gained $1.875 to $79.375 on a revival of the takeover talk.
