GSK Invests $120 million in US Biopharmaceutical Manufacturing Facility

GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) has invested $120 million to expand its manufacturing facility in Upper Merion, PA to support the company’s pipeline of medicines for cancer and other specialty diseases, the company announced in a Sept. 25, 2019 press release. The newly outfitted manufacturing hub includes a new analytical lab and advanced manufacturing technology, such as equipment that is more flexible than traditional equipment. Single-use bioreactors, for example, will simplify and accelerate product changeover during manufacturing. 

“These investments will support and accelerate the transformation of our pipeline to deliver the next generation of medicines and vaccines for patients who need them. This also underscores GSK’s longstanding commitment to making innovative medicines and vaccines here in the United States,” said Emma Walmsley, CEO of GSK, in the release. “By bringing together the R&D and manufacturing teams in one facility in Upper Merion, we now have an even more highly skilled workforce, the technological and scientific capabilities, and the infrastructure to research potential new genetic targets and seamlessly manufacture them into new medicines.  With R&D and manufacturing using the same equipment, data, and analytics, we are creating efficiencies that will significantly reduce the overall time to produce a new medicine.”

Since 2017, GSK has invested close to $400 million dollars in US manufacturing capabilities across its vaccine and specialty portfolios, including this recent investment, said the company. The company has R&D and manufacturing sites in Upper Merion and Upper Providence, PA that employ approximately 3500 people, and its US corporate headquarters at Philadelphia’s Navy Yard employs more than 1000 people. 

According to the company, the Upper Merion facility will initially be producing key pipeline assets. All products are currently in clinical trials and subject to clinical trial outcomes and regulatory approval.

GSK’s Upper Merion facility is located on the Upper Merion East Campus. GSK sold its Upper Merion West campus to The Discovery Labs, which announced in a June 5, 2019 press release that it is redeveloping the Upper Merion West Campus and a campus in King of Prussia into a “coworking” ecosystem for healthcare, life sciences, and technology-enabled companies. GSK maintains a presence on the West campus as a tenant.

Source: GSK