The investment – worth US$361 million or 328 million euros – will be ploughed into facilities in Barnard Castle in northeastern England, Ware in the southeast, and Montrose in Scotland, GSK said in a statement.
Advertisement
A major pharmaceutical firm is to invest £110m developing its operations at its site in Angus.
“It is testament to our skilled United Kingdom workforce and the country’s leading position in life sciences that we are making these investments in advanced manufacturing here”, said group chief executive Sir Andrew Witty.
Pharmaceutical and healthcare giant GSK said the United Kingdom remains an “attractive location” for investment in advanced manufacturing as it revealed plans to plough £275m in three of its production sites.
GSK added the investment would create new jobs to boost the 6,000-strong workforce the company employs across nine different United Kingdom sites, although it did not offer any detailed figure.
The pharmaceutical giant’s chief executive Andrew Witty said Tuesday that the Britain’s “competitive corporate tax system” and skilled workforce influenced the decision to invest in the manufacturing of new respiratory and large molecule biological medicines. “From their manufacture in the United Kingdom, many of these medicines will be sent to patients around the world”.
GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) has announced it will plough £275m into expanding three of its United Kingdom manufacturing facilities in County Durham, Scotland and Hertfordshire.
The company said jobs would be created but did not specify how many.
Witty, who is retiring next year, had said before the vote that Britain should remain in the European Union, due to fears that Brexit could disrupt Europe’s unified system for drug regulation and hamper access to top scientific talent.
There is also the benefit of a cheaper pound when producing products bound for foreign markets.
The decision will, of course, be welcomed by a government keen to demonstrate that the United Kingdom remains an attractive place to invest.
Advertisement
The announcement is a boost for the Government as it moves to shore up business investment and trade following the referendum.
