GSK to set up Rs 864-crore pharma facility in India

As part of its strategy to consolidate its business in India, GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) has announced investment of Rs 864 crore in a new pharmaceutical manufacturing facility, creating 250 jobs in the country. During his visit to India, Andrew Witty, Chief Executive Officer, GSK, said the location of the new factory is yet to be finalised, but that the lead site is in Bangalore.
 
Witty added, “GSK is a long-standing investor in India and we fully support the Government in their efforts to increase access to affordable medicines and to improve healthcare. This new facility will substantially increase the capacity of our manufacturing base and enable us to bring more medicines to the people of India.”
 
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GSK will partner with local design and construction companies to build a state of the art manufacturing facility which is expected to benefit from leading edge technologies including continuous manufacturing and automated systems.
 
GSK is proactively building capacity in in India, where the company has invested Rs 1017 crore over the last decade, as it delivers its portfolio of products in areas such as gastroenterology and anti-inflammatory medicines. When complete, the new factory will make pharmaceutical products for the Indian market at a rate of up eight billion tablets and one billion capsules a year. The facility, expected to be operational by 2017, will also include a warehouse, site infrastructure and utilities to support the manufacturing and packing of the medicines.
 
Around 8500 people work in India for GSK. The company is a leader in dermatology and vaccines, with vaccines such as Rotarix against severe diarrhoea, and Synflorix used to protect children against streptococcus pneumonia. In addition, GSK’s consumer business continues to be a market leader with six billion cups of its best known product Horlicks consumed by over 30 million households every year.