THE pharmaceutical giant, GSK, has pulled out of its commitment to building a new £350m biopharm drugs facility in Ulverston as well as throwing doubt on the future of the town’s existing site.

The drugs manufacturer today made several announcements it says are aimed at improving “the efficiency and competitiveness of its manufacturing network”. It means that its Ulverston site could be sold, and there will now be none of the planned investment in the town.

In a statement released on its website, the company said: “In pharmaceuticals, the company is to undertake a strategic review of its cephalosporins antibiotics business, with an option to sell the business including the associated manufacturing facilities. These medicines are produced at GSK sites in Ulverston, Cumbria, Verona in Italy and part of its Barnard Castle site in County Durham.

“The company has also decided to outsource some manufacturing activity at its Worthing site in the UK. GSK will continue to manufacture other antibiotics such as Augmentin and will continue to conduct research on new antibiotics. The company has also decided not to proceed with a previously planned investment to build a biopharmaceutical facility in Ulverston as it no longer needs the additional capacity.”

Barrow and Furness MP, John Woodcock announced the news about the biopharm facility on Twitter, and said he would be speaking with bosses of the drugs firm. The plant had been due to be the first built by GSK on UK soil for 30 years.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Terrible news that GSK pulling out of biopharm investment in Ulverston. Speaking to their head of global manufacturing shortly.</p>— John Woodcock (@JWoodcockMP) <a href="https://twitter.com/JWoodcockMP/status/887645966316314624">July 19, 2017</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Doubt had already been case over the plans back in December, when Mr Woodcock sought urgent talks with senior managers at GSK after the company said it was “revisiting some planning assumptions” behind the £350m biopharm plant. But at that time, he was told the company was “fully committed”, that the future facility was safe and that “different” did not mean “less” in terms of their plans for the town.

Today, Mr Woodcock continues to tweet the outcomes of his ongoing conversations with GSK.

He said: “GSK told me no Ulverston jobs immediately affected. They'll look for buyer for the site. Calling emergency meeting of town tomorrow morning.”

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">GSK told me no Ulverston jobs immediately affected. They'll look for buyer for the site. Calling emergency meeting of town tomorrow morning</p>— John Woodcock (@JWoodcockMP) <a href="https://twitter.com/JWoodcockMP/status/887656630233554944">July 19, 2017</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

On making the announcement, Roger Connor, president of GSK Global Manufacturing and Supply, said: “We have a substantial manufacturing presence in the UK and continue to support the network with new investment of more than £140million in the next 3 years. At the same time, we have had to make some decisions which we know will cause uncertainty for some of our employees. We will do all we can to support them through this process.”

Philip Thomson, president of Global Affairs, GSK, said: “We are continuing to invest in science and our core businesses in the UK and we continue to see the UK as an attractive place for the life sciences industry. We are working constructively with the Government and others to develop an ambitious plan for the sector as part of the UK’s new industrial strategy.”

GSK’s announcement in full:

GSK today set out several announcements made by the company to improve the efficiency and competitiveness of its manufacturing network. These include both investments for respiratory and HIV medicines manufacturing in the UK and strategic reviews, including the sale of several products and a proposal to close a UK manufacturing site.

Between now and 2020, the Company plans to invest more than £140million at its Ware, Hertfordshire, Barnard Castle, Co Durham and Montrose, Scotland sites. The investments will support expansion of manufacturing for respiratory and HIV medicines. This new investment is in addition to the £275million announced last year and investment of over £1.2billion in UK manufacturing since 2012.

In pharmaceuticals, the company is to undertake a strategic review of its cephalosporins antibiotics business, with an option to sell the business including the associated manufacturing facilities. These medicines are produced at GSK sites in Ulverston, Cumbria, Verona in Italy and part of its Barnard Castle site. The company has also decided to outsource some manufacturing activity at its Worthing site in the UK.

GSK will continue to manufacture other antibiotics such as Augmentin and will continue to conduct research on new antibiotics. The company has also decided not to proceed with a previously planned investment to build a biopharmaceutical facility in Ulverston as it no longer needs the additional capacity.

In its Consumer Healthcare business, the company intends to sell its Horlicks brand in the UK and is proposing to close the associated manufacturing site in Slough where UK product is made. In addition, GSK intends to sell the MaxiNutrition brand in the UK. GSK is also exploring options to divest some other smaller non-core nutrition brands.

Overall, GSK employs a total of around 17000 people across the UK of which 5000 are in UK manufacturing operations. The proposals announced today for Worthing and Slough will result in a reduction of approximately 320 permanent jobs over the next 4 years.

None of the announcements made today by the company have resulted from the UK’s decision to leave the European Union.

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