GlaxoSmithKline plans to invest about $637 million in its vaccine manufacturing plant in St-Armand-Les-Eaux, France, to boost production of its adult and pediatric vaccines.
The London-based pharmaceutical company, which has dual U.S. headquarters in Research Triangle Park and Philadelphia, said the project will improve its formulation, filling, freeze-drying and packaging capacity at the plant. The project is expected to reach completion by 2011.
The new site will contribute to the production of a number of GSK vaccines, including cervical cancer vaccine Cervarix and an "improved" flu vaccine aimed at preventing seasonal flu. The company's new meningitis vaccine will also be manufactured at the site.
GSK officials said revamping the plant, which is located in northern France, is the latest investment in an expanding "global vaccines industrial network."
GSK already has increased manufacturing production in Dresden, Germany, and completed construction of a new, state-of-the-art vaccine facility in Hungary. GSK also announced in June plans to spend nearly $190 million over the next four years to develop a plant in Singapore specializing in pediatric vaccines.
In North America, the company has purchased a manufacturing site in Marietta, Pa., for cell-culture-based flu vaccines. The company has also acquired Seattle-based Corixa Corp., a developer of products that stimulate immunity, and ID Biomedical, which will improve GSK's flu vaccine manufacturing capacity.
GSK (NYSE: GSK) has more than 5,600 Triangle employees.