PAIN relief gel and HIV drugs have given a medical company’s bottom line a boost.

GlaxoSmithKline has reported group sales of £7.5bn after consumers’ increasing clamour for its products.

The business, which has a factory in Barnard Castle, County Durham, revealed its three main businesses – pharmaceuticals, vaccines and consumer healthcare – all enjoyed growth in the third quarter.

According to its results, new product sales stood 79 per cent higher at £1.21bn after being driven by HIV and meningitis vaccines.

However, the company also benefited from off the shelf customer demand, with its Sensodyne toothpaste and Voltaren pain-relief gel pushing consumer sales higher to £1.9bn.

Sir Andrew Witty, chief executive, said: “Our results reflect the sustained progress we have made over the course of 2016.”

Earlier this year, the company revealed it would spend £92m on Barnard Castle to fit equipment used for producing vials and syringes of liquid-based products.

The base is already the company’s skin division headquarters and includes a £20m dermatology centre of excellence.

It employs up to 1,400 people at peak times, and is known for making antibiotics and liquid fillings for injections and nasal sprays.

In May, The Northern Echo exclusively revealed how the factory would oversee the development of a treatment to reduce newborn baby deaths.

The business has developed the Umbipro gel to tackle umbilical cord-related deaths in Africa and Asia, which bosses say could help save more than 420,000 lives over five years.

Using the drug chlorhexidine, which is already used in the firm’s Corsodyl mouthwash, the business expects to make at least six million sachets at Barnard Castle.