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Leading pharma firm GSK unveils 360 mln USD investment in Britain

Xinhua, July 27, 2016 Adjust font size:

Leading pharmaceutical company GSK announced plans on Wednesday to spend more than 360 million U.S. dollars across three of its sites in Britain.

The investment at GSK sites at in Hertfordshire, County Durham and Montrose in Scotland, will be seen as a boost for the British economy after fears that the decision to leave the EU would harm industry.

GSK said the investment will be in advanced manufacturing of new respiratory and biopharmaceuticals portfolio to boost production and support delivery of its latest innovative respiratory and large molecule biological medicines.

The pharma giant said the vast majority of the products will be for export to global markets.

GSK has a significant manufacturing presence in Britain with nine sites employing approximately 6,000 people.

A spokesman for the company said: "We view the UK as an attractive location for investment in advanced manufacturing due to a number of factors including the skilled workforce, technological and scientific capabilities and infrastructure and a competitive corporate tax system."

GSK CEO Andrew Witty said: "Today's announcement reflects further investment to support our pharmaceutical pipeline and meet growing demand for our innovative portfolio of newly launched products. It is testament to our skilled UK workforce and the country's leading position in life sciences that we are making these investments in advanced manufacturing here."

The new investment will be split across three sites in Britain.

Barnard Castle in County Durham, one of GSK's biggest secondary manufacturing sites, employs 1,100 people.

The investment of 121 million U.S. dollars will fund the construction of an aseptic sterile facility supporting the manufacture of existing and new biopharmaceutical facilities in the pipeline.

Montrose in Angus manufactures active ingredients for respiratory, HIV and vaccine products and employs over 450 staff. The investment of approximately 144 million U.S. dollars will provide a new, state-of-the-art facility for the manufacture of respiratory active ingredients.

At Ware in Hertfordshire, GSK employs 1,200 staff, manufacturing innovative respiratory products. An investment of 97 million U.S. dollars will support further expansion of the company's new Ellipta respiratory inhaler through additional manufacturing capacity at the site.

British Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Greg Clark welcomed the GSK announcement, saying: "An investment of this scale is a clear vote of confidence in Britain." Enditem