GSK to cull Australian tablet packaging plant
pharmafile | May 23, 2013 | News story | Manufacturing and Production | Australia, GSK
A GlaxoSmithKline tablet packaging facility in Australia will be closed with the loss of 120 jobs, around a third of its workforce.
GSK blamed the decision on the strength of the Australian dollar and rising labour costs. The tablet packaging unit is part of GSK’s facility in Boronia, Victoria, which is the largest sterile plant in GSK’s network with the capacity to produce 1.4 billion tablets a year.
The drugmaker said in a statement that redundancies “will not come into effect immediately as the process will take some time to account for regulatory requirements of affected markets”.
Aside from its tablet packaging operations, the Boronia facility is best known for Rotacaps, a respiratory delivery device used in products such as GSK’s Ventolin (salbutamol) range of asthma drugs, and also provides blow-fill-seal services for sterile liquid medicines.
“We will support our impacted employees throughout the process”, said Troy Webb, GSK’s Boronia site director. “While this will be difficult, we must focus on our strengths”, he added. “We have a strong capability in higher technology manufacturing and will build this side of the business.”
Australian manufacturing has been struggling for several years because the dollar has been running at its highest level in decades, which has impacted the competitiveness of locally-produced goods in export markets. This week car manufacturer Ford also announced it was exiting the country with the loss of 1,200 jobs.
For GSK and other drugmakers the challenges in the Australian market have been heightened by the implementation of cost-cutting measures by the Australian government to stem escalating healthcare costs, including price cuts and patented to generic drug switching. The government is also considering reductions in pharmaceutical patent extension terms.
GSK has been criticised in the Australian press for making the decision to close the unit a little over a year after receiving a pledge from the Vitoria state government for funding to help upgrade the plant. A spokesperson for the government said that decision is now under review.
Phil Taylor
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