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LONDON, July 23 (Reuters) - GlaxoSmithKline has seen"very significant" interest from mid-sized pharmaceuticalcompanies and private equity firms in acquiring a range of olderdrugs that it plans to divest, the drugmaker's chief executivesaid on Wednesday.
Andrew Witty said he hoped to sell the portfolio of maturedrugs, known as established products, by the end of the year.
Reuters reported exclusively on Tuesday that Indian genericsfirm Lupin, some U.S. drugmakers looking for atax-saving deal in Europe and private equity funds were allplanning to bid for the assets, which have together have annualsales of around 1 billion pounds ($1.70 billion).
GSK is only planning to sell the rights to establishedproducts in North America and Western Europe. It plans to retainthem in emerging markets and Japan.
($1 = 0.5870 British Pounds) (Reporting by Ben Hirschler; Editing by Kate Kelland)
