Jean-Pierre Garnier has been chief executive of GlaxoSmithKline, the UK-based pharmaceuticals group, since its creation through the merger of SmithKline Beecham and Glaxo Wellcome at the end of 2000, Andrew Jack reports.

Mr Garnier trained in pharmacology in France before receiving an MBA from Stanford. He has worked in various countries, but spent much of his professional career in the US, first at Schering-Plough, then joining SmithKline Beecham in 1990.