What is the strategic significance of GSK's $10.6 billion acquisition of Nuvalent for its oncology business?

The acquisition is GSK's biggest to date and marks a major acceleration of its decade-long effort to rebuild its oncology portfolio after exiting the sector in 2015 via a $16 billion asset swap with Novartis; it brings two late-stage lung cancer treatments targeting ROS1- and ALK-positive mutations—potentially approvable in the U.S. this year—and represents a 'very large brick' in CEO Luke Miels' 'brick-by-brick' oncology strategy, aimed at countering future patent cliffs (e.g., dolutegravir) and helping GSK reach its £40 billion sales target by 2031.

Why do investors and analysts view GSK's return to oncology—especially through the Nuvalent deal—as a correction of past strategy?

Investors like Markus Manns of Union Investment explicitly called GSK's 2015 exit from oncology 'a definite mistake' under former CEO Andrew Witty, and the Nuvalent deal is seen as reversing that strategic misstep; it delivers de-risked, late-stage assets expected to generate $3–4 billion in peak sales, strengthening GSK's position in a sector now deemed essential—per Chief Scientific Officer Tony Wood—for a 'complete' specialty pharmaceutical business.