Engineering news
GSK is to invest £275 million at three of its UK manufacturing sites to boost production and support delivery of its latest respiratory and large molecule biological medicines.
The company will invest £92 million at its site in Barnard Castle in County Durham to construct an aseptic sterile facility supporting the manufacture of existing and new biopharmaceutical assets.
It will also invest £110 million in Montrose in Angus in Scotland to provide a new facility for the manufacture of respiratory active ingredients.
GSK will spend £74 million at its site in Ware in Hertfordshire to support the further expansion of the company’s Ellipta respiratory inhaler through additional manufacturing capacity at the site.
The company said the UK is an attractive location for investment in advanced manufacturing due to a number of factors including the skilled workforce, technological and scientific capabilities & infrastructure and a competitive corporate tax system. This includes the Patent Box, which encourages investment in R&D and related manufacturing in the UK by delivering a lower rate of corporation tax on profits generated from UK-owned intellectual property.
Company chief executive 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. From their manufacture in the UK, many of these medicines will be sent to patients around the world.”
In response to the investment announcement, business and energy secretary, Greg Clark, said: "An investment of this scale is a clear vote of confidence in Britain and underlines our position as a global business leader.
"GSK's recognition of our skilled workforce, world leading scientific capabilities and competitive tax environment is further proof that there really is no place better in Europe to grow a business," he added.