GSK opens new state of the art respiratory manufacturing facility in Ware, UK

Issued: London UK

• Opening creates 150 jobs; more than 400 created at the site since 2013
• Facility needed to meet growing export demand for GSK respiratory medicines

GSK today opens a £56 million state of the art manufacturing facility, creating 150 new jobs in the UK, in response to demand for GSK’s portfolio of respiratory medicines delivered by the innovative Ellipta inhaler.

The new 4500m² facility will be opened by UK Life Sciences Minister George Freeman MP and GSK Chief Executive Officer Sir Andrew Witty. It is the latest expansion for Ellipta manufacturing at Ware, with investment totalling over £100 million over the past five years. The new facility opening today is expected to nearly double production of Ellipta inhalers at Ware to at least 37 million per year by 2017, 95% of which will be exported.  

Since 2013, over 400 additional roles will have been created at the manufacturing site in Ware, bringing staff numbers to more than 1200. This includes over 30 apprentice and 50 graduate roles as part of GSK’s commitment to creating highly skilled roles for young people.

Sir Andrew Witty, CEO, GSK said, “This new facility demonstrates our commitment to manufacturing in the UK which continues to be a very positive environment for life sciences investment. We have been leaders in respiratory since the 1960s when we first began making inhalers for the treatment of respiratory diseases in Ware and it continues to be a critically important site for us, both in terms of researching and developing innovative new inhaler technology, and as a world-leading manufacturing hub. We currently export Ellipta inhalers from Ware to over 74 countries and the new facility opened today will increase capacity to meet growing demand for our new portfolio of respiratory medicines worldwide.”

Life Sciences Minister George Freeman MP said, “This £56 million investment by GSK is fantastic news for Ware and the UK’s thriving life sciences industry. As well as driving growth and creating 150 new jobs, this expansion of GSK's medicines manufacturing facility in Ware is a strong endorsement of the UK's leadership in manufacturing and respiratory medicine."

Notes to Editors

GSK has been a leader in respiratory for over 45 years, and we have been developing and producing inhalers to deliver our respiratory medicines at the site in Ware since 1969. It has since become GSK’s lead manufacturing site for new product introduction, and has launched seven new medicines in the past four years to countries worldwide. In total, GSK employs over 2000 people across manufacturing and R&D facilities in Ware, Hertfordshire, UK.

The £56 million manufacturing facility opening today forms part of the investments in Ellipta manufacturing at Ware which were announced in 2012 and 2013.

The Ellipta inhaler is a multi-dose dry powder inhaler (DPI) developed to deliver GSK’s portfolio of once-daily respiratory medicines. It is the result of more than 10 years of design and development by a team of more than 200 scientists and engineers.

GSK has nine manufacturing sites in the UK, four sites making active ingredients for medicines, three sites making finished medicine products, and two consumer healthcare sites. In total, products to the value of approximately £2 billion are exported from GSK manufacturing sites in the UK each year.

GSK – one of the world’s leading research-based pharmaceutical and healthcare companies – is committed to improving the quality of human life by enabling people to do more, feel better and live longer.  For further information please visit www.gsk.com/about-us/.

Cautionary statement regarding forward-looking statements
GSK cautions investors that any forward-looking statements or projections made by GSK, including those made in this announcement, are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially from those projected. Such factors include, but are not limited to, those described under Item 3.D 'Risk factors' in the company's Annual Report on Form 20-F for 2015.