The manufacturing facilities were opened in Jurong, Singapore, after an investment of S$130m ($95.6m) as part of the company’s 10-year strategic investment plan in Singapore.
GSK-EDB 10-year Singapore Manufacturing Roadmap was agreed in 2012 to “ensure manufacturing remains a competitive edge for GSK and Singapore,” with the Economic Development Board (EDB) for Singapore representing the national government in discussions.
According to GSK, Singapore has been a ‘testbed’ for its advanced manufacturing technology, with the products produced at the site shipped globally.
Regis Simard, president of GSK’s pharmaceutical supply chain, said, “Innovation is at the heart of GSK, we are glad to invest in scientific and technical excellence in Singapore to develop and launch the next generation of products which meet the needs of patients, payers and consumers.”
Daprodustat is a new chemical entity (NCE) that will be produced at the additional facility and the company expects the use of continuous manufacturing to reduce the production time.
The drug is currently in Phase III clinical trials for the treatment of anaemia associated with chronic kidney disease.
One of the continuous manufacturing facilities will be used as part of an R&D Pilot Plant and will manufacture active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) for clinical trials.
An expansion of the existing production facility will be used to create APIs for dolutegravir used in Dovato (dolutegravir and lamivudine). The HIV therapy was recently approved by the US Food and Drug Administration as the first two-drug, fixed-dose, complete regimen.
In addition, the investment for the facility expansion has also enabled GSK to ‘test and develop digital technologies’ in the manufacturing process.
GSK’s interest in developing its continuous manufacturing technology and set up such a facility in Singapore in 2013.
More recently, the company has collaborated with the UK’s CPI, alongside AstraZeneca, to build a continuous wet granulation manufacturing facility for oral solid dosage drugs.
