GSK plans $800m US manufacturing investment

GSK has made another investment in its manufacturing network, setting aside $800 million to build two plants at its Marietta site in the US.

The programme represents the largest capital spend by the UK drugmaker on production capacity to date and will double the size and capacity of GSK's existing medicines and vaccines facility in Marietta, Pennsylvania, creating around 200 new jobs.

The centrepiece of the new investment is a multi-purpose facility capable of manufacturing sterile liquid vaccines and medicines, for which GSK says there is "ever increasing demand," and a vaccine drug substances plant that will support the multiple antigen presenting system (MAPS) technology that GSK acquired as part of its $3.3 billion takeover of Affinivax in 2022.

Also planned is a new R&D pilot plant that will produce medicines for clinical trials, said GSK, adding that the programme will "establish Marietta as an innovation and manufacturing hub capable of delivering next-generation medicines and vaccines to people around the world."

The investment programme comes as GSK is enjoying strong growth for its shingles vaccine Shingrix, rolling out its new respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) vaccine Arexvy – considered the group's top growth prospect - and has new candidates for meningitis, influenza, pneumococcal disease, and shigella in clinical development.

The MAPS technology combines polysaccharide and protein antigens joined by a biotin-rhizavidin bond, which GSK says can stimulate both B-cell (antibody) and T-cell immune responses with a single shot. It is being deployed in its pneumococcal vaccines, which are in mid-stage development.

GSK said the new plants will be as green as possible – incorporating the latest technologies for solar panels, electric heat generation, and water and energy reclamation – and will also make use of "smart utility and electrical system monitoring and controls, digital twins for continuous process optimisation, robotics for material handling, and predictive maintenance and digital scheduling enabled by artificial intelligence."

Construction of the new facilities is expected to start by the end of 2024, with the drug substance plant due to be operational by the end of 2027, and the multi-purpose unit following by the end of 2028.

Earlier this year, GSK said it would invest £200 million (around $260 million) in upgrades to its manufacturing network in the UK, including a revamp of a plant in Melrose, Scotland, used to make active pharmaceutical ingredients, while last September it also unveiled plans to build a $270 million-plus vaccines facility in Belgium.