Do we like them?

Do we like CSL?

Makes plasma-based medicines, flu vaccines and kidney/iron therapies; based in Melbourne, Australia.

Our score: 6 out of 10. Makes real life-saving medicines and the legal record is fairly light. But there's a messy year of layoffs, a surprise CEO exit and a stalled spin-off, so we'd back it with caution.

CSL grew out of Australia's Commonwealth Serum Laboratories, set up in 1916 to make vaccines for Australians. It later merged with Germany's Behringwerke lineage. Today it is a Melbourne-based biotech with plasma (CSL Behring), flu vaccines (Seqirus) and kidney/iron drugs (Vifor).

In August 2025 it announced a big reset. Up to 15% of staff would go, R&D would be trimmed and flu-vaccine arm Seqirus would be spun off. Fierce Biotech said the layoffs would cost $700m to $770m before tax. Pharma Executive reported 22 US plasma centres would close.

The spin-off then stalled. CSL said at its 2025 AGM it was no longer aiming to demerge Seqirus in FY2026, because US flu vaccination rates had been unpredictable. Capital Brief also reported that CEO Paul McKenzie was dramatically removed in February 2026, and long-time exec Gordon Naylor became interim CEO.

On 21 October 2026 CSL named ViiV Healthcare boss Deborah Waterhouse as CEO from 1 February 2027. Naylor will take over as chair from Brian McNamee on 31 March. CSL is also running a A$1.15bn share buy-back. A fresh start, but the proof is still to come.

On the legal side, CSL Plasma settled a US class action over donor fingerprint scans, and a US court found for CSL Behring in an employee discrimination suit. The mix of important medicines, a shaky year and some privacy lapses lands it a cautious 6.