GlaxoSmithKline Plans Investment in Irish Manufacturing Facility

London (Mar. 29)-GlaxoSmithKline (GSK, www.gsk.com) plans to invest EUR 250 million ($334 million) in its production site at Currabinny,  Ireland over the next five years, according to a release issued by the Irish Development Agency (IDA Ireland, Dublin, www.idaireland.com).

The investment will support production for lapatinib, the active ingredient in GSK’s “Tykerb,” a new oral treatment for advanced breast cancer. In March 2007, the US Food and Drug Administration (Rockville, MD, www.fda.gov) approved Tykerb in combination with “Xeloda” (capecitabine), an anticancer treatment from  Roche (Basel, Switzerland, www.roche.com),  for treating advanced or metastatic breast cancer.

“We are delighted to have been chosen as the production site for the Tykerb active ingredient following years of committed research and development work by GSK employees around the world,” said Finbar Whyte, site director at GSK Cork.

GSK Cork is a strategic global new product introduction site within GSK that manufactures the active ingredients of medicinal compounds. The Currabinny site was established in 1975 and employs more than 600 people. The new investment will create as many as 150 new high-level positions, according to IDA Ireland, an Irish government agency responsible for securing new investment from overseas in the manufacturing and internationally traded services sectors.