GlaxoSmithKline to create up to 1,000 jobs
The pharmaceuticals giant GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) announces it will build its first new plant in almost 40 years at Ulverston in Cumbria.
The proposed biopharmaceutical facility is part of £500m of investment that GSK expects will create up to 1,000 UK jobs. The plant has been in the firm’s plans for at least two years.
Construction is expected to start in 2014-15.
The commitment to the UK follows confirmation in the budget that the government will introduce a “patent box” to encourage investment in research and development in the UK. This means that a lower rate of corporation tax will be payable on profits generated from UK-owned intellectual property.
GSK Chief Executive Sir Andrew Witty said that the new policy had transformed the company’s view of the UK as an investment location. He commented that the “medicines of the future will not only be discovered, but also continue to be made here in Britain”.
The announcement marks a reversal in fortunes for the Ulverston site, as in 2008 almost two thirds of GSK’s 540-strong workforce there were made redundant.
Read more: Where will the jobs come from?
GSK has said it might double investment at Ulverston to £700m, but that will depend on “continued improvements in the environment for innovation”, a clear sign it intends to maintain its pressure on the government to make Britain a favourable place to do business.
Existing GSK sites at Barnard Castle in County Durham and in Irvine and Montrose were also considered for the new facility. The two Scottish sites will recieve a further £100m investment, which at the Irvine plant will be used to increase production of antibiotics to keep pace with growing demand for the drugs in emerging markets.
The British economy has been particularly reliant on pharmaceutical firms for success in manufacturing, but the industry has been under pressure recently as a wave of patents have expired, forcing it to make cuts.
