GSK Celebrates 40 Years of Pharmaceutical Manufacturing in Singapore
Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and GSK CEO Sir Andrew Witty lead celebrations at Commemoration Event
Quality Road site to receive S$40m to S$60m investment in sustainable manufacturing technology
SINGAPORE, Nov. 1, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) today celebrates its long-standing relationship with Singapore by marking the 30th and 40th anniversaries of its Jurong and Quality Road manufacturing sites respectively. Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong joined GSK CEO Sir Andrew Witty at a commemoration event held at GSK's Jurong site today, which recognised the key role the two sites have played in the evolution of GSK's extensive manufacturing organisation and the growth of Singapore's biomedical sector.
The partnership between GSK and Singapore has underpinned significant growth in GSK's business activities in Singapore. In addition to the production of active pharmaceutical ingredients (API) at Jurong and Quality Road, GSK has a number of additional operations in Singapore, including a Stiefel manufacturing facility at Gul Circle, research and development at Biopolis, a vaccines manufacturing facility at Tuas, and both regional headquarters and marketing and sales operations at Gateway.
GSK CEO, Sir Andrew Witty, commented, "GSK and Singapore have enjoyed a highly-productive partnership for more than 50 years, and with the continued support of the Economic Development Board (EDB) and our shared vision of improving the technical capabilities within the Singaporean biomedical science sector, this partnership has a very bright future. Our state-of-the-art manufacturing operations at both Jurong and Quality Road continue to produce many of our most established medicines, and looking to the future, they will also play a key role in delivering the innovative medicines in our late-stage pipeline."
EDB Chairman, Leo Yip also commented, "GSK's pioneering spirit and strong partnership with Singapore have been pivotal to the growth of the biomedical sciences sector in Singapore. Over the years, GSK has developed a deep pool of talent across different functions and pioneered new capabilities including sustainable manufacturing. Our heartiest congratulations to GSK on this significant milestone in the GSK-Singapore partnership and we look forward to building on this strong foundation. We are proud to be GSK's home in Asia."
GSK has set ambitious goals for driving sustainability in pharmaceutical manufacturing and distribution. Through a joint GSK-EDB S$50 million fund, it will enable Singapore to become a leader in sustainability research in pharmaceuticals and fine chemicals manufacturing. GSK is also investing an additional S$50 million into its "Factory of the Future" initiative, which seeks to reduce the company's carbon footprint through the use of a number of sustainable processes and green technologies.
In addition to this, GSK has recently committed to invest a further S$40-60 million in improving its antibiotic manufacturing capabilities at the Quality Road site. This enhanced process will utilise enzymatic technology to replace existing chemical processes during the production of one of its leading antibiotics, amoxicillin. This will enable GSK to maintain its high standards of product quality, but at a reduced cost and with a significantly lower environmental impact. GSK is committed to integrating environmental sustainability into its manufacturing and distribution networks in order to meet ambitious environmental targets -- the long-term goal is for GSK's entire value chain to become carbon neutral by 2050.
GSK has also developed key local talent across a number of disciplines in Singapore and the company continues its investment in both technical and business capabilities through the GSK-EDB Scholarship Programme and other local talent development initiatives.
As part of our celebration of 40 years of manufacturing in Singapore, GSK employees in Singapore raised S$120,000 to support three local charitable organisations -- the Children's Charities Association, the Singapore Cancer Society, and the Muscular Dystrophy Association of Singapore.
GlaxoSmithKline -- 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.
Notes to Editors
About GSK in Singapore
Singapore is home to GSK's Regional Headquarters (Emerging Markets & Asia Pacific), an R&D facility (Biopolis), two global API manufacturing and supply sites (Jurong & Quality Road), a Stiefel manufacturing facility, and a state-of-the-art vaccines plant (Tuas).
About Jurong and Quality Road Manufacturing Sites
The Pioneer Sector 1, Jurong plant was officially opened on 20th October 1982 by Dr Tony Tan Keng Yam, who was then Singapore's Minister for Trade and Industry. The plant was initially designed to make all five stages of Ranitidine Hydrochloride, the active compound for Zantac, a prescription medicine for the treatment of gastric ulcer. Since then, additional production capacity has been added to the site, including an R&D Pilot Plant. The site has evolved from bulk manufacture of established products in the early days to becoming a lead New Product Introductions (NPI) site within the GSK manufacturing and supply (GMS) network, focused on the development of late phase New Chemical Entities (NCEs) and delivering higher value products such as very active compounds in small batch sizes. The site currently has three production buildings making 12 Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients for a range of medicines prescribed for the treatment of respiratory, oncology, gastro-intestinal, allergy, anti-viral and neurological conditions.
The plant situated at Quality Road was built in 1972 and officially opened on 3rd May 1973 by then Finance Minister, Mr Hon Sui Sen. Built at a cost of over S$32 million, the plant sits on a five-hectare site. The site was originally built to produce a range of newly discovered semi-synthetic penicillins and had both primary and secondary production facilities to make the final dose forms. Over time, the site developed as the single source of Amoxcillin and Monosodium Ticarcillin within GSK, which are active compounds for the manufacture of Augmentin and Timentin, two of GSK's antibiotics widely prescribed for the treatment of a broad spectrum of bacterial infections.
Currently there are over 590 personnel employed across the two facilities.
Cautionary statement regarding forward-looking statements
Under the safe harbor provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, 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. Factors that may affect GSK' s operations are described under 'Risk Factors' in the 'Business Review' in the company' s Annual Report on Form 20-F for 2007.