The weak dollar has depressed otherwise strong quarterly trading figures from GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), the pharmaceutical giant, which is set to launch five new drugs over the coming year.

Sales for the first three months of GSK's financial year, ended March 31 2007, decreased by 4 per cent to £5.5 billion. However, on a constant currency basis, GSK's sales rose by 4 per cent during the quarter. GSK shares dropped just over 1 per cent to £14.56.

The company said pre-tax profits declined by 1 per cent but, stripping out the effects of the weak dollar against sterling, income rose by 10 per cent to £2.1 billion.

The pound is currently worth two dollars. But to calculate the constant currency basis, GSK takes the average value of the dollar over the first quarter of last year, when each dollar was worth $1.75 to every pound, and applies it to the first three months of this year.

US turnover rose by 3 per cent to £2.4 billion, where the company was exposed to competition from generic drug makers, specifically on Wellbutrin, an antidepressant, Zofran, a post-chemotherapy treatment and Flonase, an allergy drug.

Stripping out the effects of increased generic sales, GSK said US sales rose by 16 per cent. In Europe, sales rose by just 1 per cent to £1.4 billion where generic makers also depressed growth although GSK said it saw strong revenue from its asthma drug Seretide/Advair and Avandia, which treats type 2 diabetes.

Overall sales of these drugs rose by 11 per cent to £835 million and the company is now expecting to launch both in Japan after gaining approval last week.

GSK said it will launch five new drugs this year including the cervical cancer prevention drug Cervarix and Tykerb, a treatment for breast cancer.

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