GSK to invest £25m to expand facility in Scotland
The investment will create an additional 25 new jobs for process technicians, engineers and chemists in Montrose
UK drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) is to invest £25m to expand its operations in Montrose, Scotland to support the delivery of its new drugs pipeline. In addition to the £2.7m already ring-fenced by the local council, Scottish Enterprise is also backing the expansion by awarding Angus Council £1.5m to improve access to the site and the area around it.
GSK is investing in new state-of-the-art facilities and equipment to bring production of the ingredients for four new pharmaceutical products to Montrose. The investment will create an additional 25 jobs for process technicians, engineers and chemists, which will take the total GSK workforce in Scotland to more than 750. An additional 50 contractors will be employed during the construction phase.
This investment comes on top of GSK's pledge in 2012 to invest £100m in Montrose and the company's other Scottish manufacturing site in Irvine. In recent years, the company has also invested approximately £40m in bringing technology and capability to Scotland that was previously undertaken overseas.
Montrose currently produces active ingredients for a number of medicines in disease areas such as respiratory and HIV/AIDS, while the Irvine site manufactures antibiotics.
'Our teams in Montrose and Irvine are world class and have worked hard to bring new facilities to the two sites,' said Roger Connor, President of Global Manufacturing and Supply at GSK. 'This investment shows how highly we value our teams in Scotland.'
He added: 'Our people here in Montrose manufacture the primary ingredients that then go forward to be put in inhalers, pills, capsules and injections for patients across the globe. Montrose will work alongside our sister site in Singapore to meet international demand for some of the world's most important medicines.
'Ours is a fast-moving and competitive environment and the investment should be seen as a vote of confidence in the skills, standards and drive of the people who work here.'
