Singapore: The total remuneration of GlaxoSmithKline's (GSK) chief executive officer, Sir (Dr) Andrew Witty, has been slashed by around $4.37 million (£2.9 million) following decrease in the pharma giant's sales and drop in core operating profits.

Moreover, Dr Witty's performance-related bonuses were cut in half, from $8.59 million (£5.7 million) to $4.22 million (£2.8 million), leaving the overall pay at $5.88 million (£3.9 million), down from $10.24 million (£6.8 million) in 2011. The drop of one percent in group sales during the year 2012 was also due to the tough trading conditions in Europe.

GSK is know to make employees' remuneration related to the company's performance. One year ago the firm's remuneration chairman, Sir Crispin Davis, hiked the limit for Sir Andrew's performance share plan to 600 percent of salary, due to fears that the CEO's pay was too low as compared to many of Glaxo's pharmaceutical peers.