GSK boosts Benlysta production with $139 million investment
pharmafile | May 5, 2017 | News story | Manufacturing and Production, Medical Communications |Â Â GSKÂ
GSK has announced that it will invest $139 million into increasing production capacity at its Rockville, Maryland, site. The manufacturing plant produces its systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) drug Benlysta (belimumab), which has seen growth increase by 18% from 2015.
The sizeable investment should see the production capacity of the plant increase by close to 50%. The plant was originally acquired as part of the original deal that saw Human Genome Sciences become part of GSK in a $3.6 billion deal in 2012. Alongside the facility, GSK acquired the drug itself, Benlysta, which was responsible for $377 million in revenue for GSK in 2016.
“Benlysta is the first medicine specifically developed and approved for SLE in over 50 years. We are so pleased that on the first day of Lupus Awareness Month we are able to announce this expansion in Rockville, increasing our ability to provide this important medicine to patients,” said Sheri Mullen, Vice President, Immunology & Rare Diseases, GSK.
The investment should see the facility capable of producing Benlysta in its intravenous form, as well expanding this to be capable of producing a subcutaneous form, subject to approval by the FDA. If the latter is approved, the demand for the drug will increase further and necessitate the extra capacity that the investment will yield.
The work to the facility will not see any new jobs created at the plant but should see contractors hired in to make the changes to the facility.
Ben Hargreaves
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