GSK to invest £500m in UK manufacturing
27 Mar 2012
London - GSK is to invest more than £500 million in the UK across its manufacturing sites to increase production of key active ingredients for its pharmaceutical products and vaccines. The decision is expected to create up to 1,000 new jobs over the lifetime of the projects.
The company has selected Ulverston in Cumbria as the location for the first new GSK manufacturing facility to be built in the UK for almost 40 years. The company is also investing £100 million in its two manufacturing sites in Scotland at Montrose and Irvine.
GSK linked its investments to a UK government commitment to implement a ‘patent box’ to encourage investment in R&D and related manufacturing, by introducing a lower rate of corporation tax on profits generated from UK-owned intellectual property.
“The introduction of the patent box has transformed the way in which we view the UK as a location for new investments, ensuring that the medicines of the future will not only be discovered, but can also continue to be made here in Britain,” said GSK CEO Sir Andrew Witty (pictured).
“Consequently, we can confirm that we will build GSK’s first new UK factory for almost 40 years and that we will make other substantial capital investments in our British manufacturing base,” he added.
Witty went on to say that GSK was actively considering other investments in its UK manufacturing network.
Ulverston in Cumbria will be the location for a new £350-million biopharmaceutical manufacturing facility. The site was chosen ahead of other GSK facilities for its sterile processing skills, technical capability and existing links with local suppliers and academic partners.
Detailed planning and design of the new facility will now begin, with an anticipated start date for construction of 2014/15 dependent on portfolio timing and obtaining necessary planning and related consents. Once construction starts, it is likely to take at least six years before the plant is fully operational, said GSK.
GSK is also considering further significant manufacturing investment at Ulverston which could double the total investment at the site to around £700 mllion. This, though, depends on “continued improvements in the environment for innovation in the UK.”
In Scotland, GSK’s £100-million spend will include funding at Montrose to enable the manufacture of materials for its portfolio of respiratory medicines, and to produce aluminium adjuvants used in the manufacture of vaccines to help stimulate the body’s immune system.
At Irvine, meanwhile, GSK is to increase production capacity for antibiotics, reflecting growing demand for these medicines in emerging markets. It will also invest in ‘green’ energy production and ‘environmentally friendly’ manufacturing technologies at both sites.
Another £80 million is to be invested at GSK sites in Ware in Hertfordshire to increase manufacturing capacity for its next-generation respiratory inhalation device and at Barnard Castle in County Durham to establish a dermatology manufacturing centre of excellence.
GSK employs around 15,000 in the UK, including almost 6,000 in manufacturing. GSK is also the largest private sector funder of R&D in the UK.
The Ulverston site currently employs around 240 people and manufactures key ingredients for antibiotics.
GSK has six biopharmaceuticals in late-stage development for treatment of diseases such as lupus and diabetes and biopharmaceuticals represent approximately 20% of GSK’s overall clinical pipeline.
