GSK ramping up drug production in Poland
at its Polish site as it prepares to more than double the number of
markets the plant will supply.
GSK's Poznan operation currently undertakes finished dosage manufacturing and packaging of a number of its mature tablet-form products for 30 global markets. By 2009 the site will be used to serve 72 markets, company spokesperson Stephen Rose told In-PharmaTechnologist.com. The jump stems from the transfer of production of a number of its drugs - particularly in the areas of HIV/AIDS and central nervous system (CNS) - from the site where they are currently manufactured in Hertfordshire, UK. The transfer process, which is already underway, can take up to two years due to the technology transfer and regulatory applications that need to occur before production in a new location can begin. The increased market coverage will happen in stages, beginning in Europe, then moving to countries in the Gulf region, followed by Australia, South Africa and Latin America. As part of the ramp up, the firm has hired 70 new staff in Poznan in the past year and plans to add a further 40. The facility already has the capacity to absorb the extra workload without any major changes and will achieve this partly through an increase in the number of manufacturing shifts and accommodating variations to the current operations. For example, the packaging done at the site will increase in complexity due to the hike in markets served - each market requires its own tailored packaging for each dose of drug - but this will be catered for by increasing the flexibility of the production runs, said Rose. Rose said that transferring production of drugs from one site to another is a common practice that GSK undertakes in order to make way for new products coming through its pipeline. "The move is also advantageous from a cost of goods point of view," he said. GSK has 10 manufacturing facilities around the world that it sends investigatory and early launch drugs to for production, according to dosage form. The Hertfordshire site is the designated tabletting facility. "It is next door to our R&D sites where we have all the technology and expertise on hand to understand and establish clinical manufacturing of a drug and the eventual ramp up for commercial production, as well as the preparation of launch documents," said Rose. "Scaling up the volume of production of a new drug and establishing a stable manufacturing process in the early stages of a drug's existence requires a higher level of expertise than manufacturing a more mature product." After roughly two years production, the drugs are then usually shipped off to one or more of 80 other manufacturing plants that GSK has around the world in order to make way for new pipeline products, and thus the cycle continues.
