GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) has completed a $120 million expansion of its manufacturing site in the Philadelphia suburb of Upper Merion, PA. The upgrade will enable it to accelerate the development of next-generation biologics.
GSK said the expansion will bring together its R&D and manufacturing teams into a single facility, with access to the same equipment, data, and analytics—as well as streamline its quality and commercial testing processes, and enhance the flexibility of the facility, which opened in 1996. Upper Merion includes bioreactors with single-use and disposable components, eliminating the need for retrofitting and sterilizing, as well as a new analytical lab.
The pharma giant did not disclose which products it will manufacture with the additional capacity, except to say it “will initially be producing key pipeline assets,” all of which are now in clinical trials.
“These investments will support and accelerate the transformation of our pipeline to deliver the next generation of medicines and vaccines for patients who need them,” GSK CEO Emma Walmsley said in a statement. “This also underscores GSK’s longstanding commitment to making innovative medicines and vaccines here in the U.S.”
GSK employs 350 at the Upper Merion manufacturing facility.