GSK to invest £500m in UK and build new biopharmaceutical factory
GSK\'s first UK factory in 40 years will create 1,000 new jobs at Ulverston, Cumbria
The investments could create up to 1,000 new jobs, GSK said.
The firm will build a new £350m manufacturing plant in Ulverston, Cumbria, the first GSK plant to be built in the UK for almost 40 years.
GSK said it would also investment £100m at its two manufacturing sites at Montrose and Irvine in Scotland.
The investment at Montrose will enable the plant to produce key materials for GSK’s respiratory medicines, and to produce aluminium adjuvants used in the manufacture of vaccines.
At Irvine, GSK will increase production capacity for antibiotics, to meet growing in emerging markets.
‘These investments represent one of the largest commitments to the UK life-sciences sector in recent years,’ GSK said.
The firm said it was motivated by Chancellor George Osborne’s confirmation in the Budget yesterday that the Government would introduce a ‘patent box’ to encourage investment in r&d and related manufacturing in the UK.
This allows corporations to pay 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’s chief executive Sir Andrew Witty.
‘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.’
Prime Minister David Cameron said: ‘This is excellent news, a major investment that will create many highly skilled jobs and provide a great boost to the economy’.
GSK will start building the new Ulverston plant in 2014/15 and it will take at least six years to complete.
The current factory employs about 240 people and produces ingredients for antibiotics.
GSK said it could increase its investment at Ulverston to £700m and create further jobs depending on ‘continued improvements in the environment for innovation in the UK.’
The company has recently launched a £50m UK venture capital fund focusing on investments in ‘early stage healthcare companies and spin outs from academia in the UK’.
GSK will also make other investments totalling £80m at its 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 people in the UK, including almost 6,000 in manufacturing.