$62m injection in Hungary is latest boost for GSK vaccine production

By Dan Stanton

- Last updated on GMT

Image: iStock/Golden_Brown
Image: iStock/Golden_Brown

Related tags Vaccine Influenza vaccine

The investment at the Gödöllö manufacturing site adds 104 jobs and comes a week before GSK breaks ground on a $170m meningitis B vaccine facility in Germany.

Part of GlaxoSmithKline’s global vaccine manufacturing strategy, the £40m ($62m) investment will consolidate global diphtheria toxoid (DT) and tetanus toxoid (TT) production in one location, Gödöllö.

“Ultimately, this investment will help secure the long-term supply of the Infanrix/Boostrix franchise to meet global demand,”​ spokeswoman Angel Hill told Biopharma-Reporter, adding the investment will include extensions to the existing TT/DT facility and a new media preparation building at the site.

Construction is set to begin in August with commercial operations planned from 2023, following regulatory approval. Hill also confirmed 104 jobs will be added to Gödöllö’s 230 headcount as a result of this investment.

The vaccine Infanrix clocked in worldwide sales of £769m last year, while GSK’s other diphtheria and tetanus vaccine Synflorix added £504m to the UK-headquartered Big Pharma’s 2016 top line. The booster immunization against tetanus, diphtheria, and pertussis added a further £470m.

Marburg

The investment includes the transfer of Infanrix and Synflorix production from GSK’s site in Marburg, Germany, a former Novartis facility added to GSK’s network through a $7bn asset transfer deal in 2014​.

As part of the deal, GSK acquired Novartis’ vaccines unit – excluding the flu vaccine business, sold to CSL Behring – and last October the firm pledged €172m ($183m) to support production in Marburg.

This included plans to install a €10m mumps vaccine production line, and to construct a €162m ($170m) antigen production facility for its meningitis B vaccine Bexsero.

According to GSK Germany spokesman Volker Husslein, the vaccine – approved in the US in 2015 and the EU in 2016 – is still being manufactured on behalf of GSK by Novartis from its Kundl, Austria plant, but by bringing Bexsero production in-house, GSK will take complete control of the supply chain.

GSK will officially break ground at the new site this Monday.

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