(Bloomberg) -- U.K. drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline Plc hasn’t made any plans to pursue an initial public offering of the consumer company it set up with Pfizer Inc., said a top Glaxo executive.

That appears to be a shift from what the drugmaker said when the venture with Pfizer was announced, and from remarks Tuesday by Pfizer Chief Executive Officer Albert Bourla.

The Pfizer CEO said he expected Glaxo to pursue an IPO in three to four years. “This is the time that we will be able to exit from this partnership, and I’m sure that this business will have a fantastic IPO,” Bourla said.

That’s not necessarily the case, said David Redfern, Glaxo’s chief strategy officer, in an interview at the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference in San Francisco.

“No, actually we haven’t decided anything. We haven’t really thought about” an IPO, Redfern said Wednesday. “We’ve said when we announced the deal, we said we expect it to separate within three years, but actually up to five years. And it’s entirely our decision.”

Redfern said the consumer business needed to focus on integration and growing sales, not a spinoff or IPO.

“We don’t want it too distracted right now thinking about capital markets,” Redfern said. “Whether its an IPO or just a straight spin, all options are on the table. We’ve literally had no discussion” with Pfizer, he said.

With annual sales of about $13 billion, the consumer venture has brought under one roof Advil painkillers, Tums stomach tablets, Sensodyne toothpaste and Nicorette gum.

Both Glaxo, the majority owner, and Pfizer, which has about a third of the business, are looking to focus more on science-heavy drug development. Recent shifts in the health-care business and in the broader economy have challenged a model in which drugmakers control every corner of home medicine cabinets.

--With assistance from Mark Schoifet.

To contact the reporter on this story: Riley Griffin in New York at rgriffin42@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Drew Armstrong at darmstrong17@bloomberg.net

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