GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) has made several announcements regarding its forthcoming plans to improve the efficiency and competitiveness of its manufacturing network. The plans include investments for respiratory and HIV medicines manufacturing in the UK and strategic reviews, which include selling several products and the closure of a UK manufacturing site.
Strategic review
The company has set out that between now and 2020 it will invest more than £140 million at several sites to support the expansion of manufacturing for respiratory and HIV medicines. Specifically, this investment will apply to the Ware, Hertfordshire, Barnard Castle, Co Durham and Montrose, Scotland sites. This new investment adds to the £275 million announced last year and investment of over £1.2 billion in UK manufacturing made by GSK since 2012.
A strategic review has been planned within the pharmaceutical sector. GSK’s cephalosporins antibiotics business is under review with an option to sell, including the associated manufacturing facilities. This will affect the sites in Ulverston, Cumbria, Verona in Italy and part of Barnard Castle. Additionally, GSK has decided to outsource some manufacturing activity at its Worthing site in the UK.
Further, the previously planned investment in a biopharmaceutical facility in Ulverston will now not proceed. The company has stated that it no longer needs the additional capacity of the proposed site.
Roger Connor, president, GSK Global Manufacturing and Supply said: “We have a substantial manufacturing presence in the UK and continue to support the network with new investment of more than £140 million in the next 3 years. At the same time, we have had to make some decisions which we know will cause uncertainty for some of our employees. We will do all we can to support them through this process.”
Philip Thomson, president, Global Affairs, GSK, added: “We are continuing to invest in science and our core businesses in the UK and we continue to see the UK as an attractive place for the life sciences industry. We are working constructively with the government and others to develop an ambitious plan for the sector as part of the UK’s new industrial strategy.”
These proposals will result in a reduction of approximately 320 permanent jobs over the next 4 years for Worthing and Slough. However, the company stressed that none of these announcements are a result of the UK’s decision to leave the European Union.
