GlaxoSmithKline Pharmaceuticals (GSK) has planned a Rs.1000 crore investment for a large manufacturing plant on a 50 acre plot at the Vemagal industrial area, Kolar district in Karnataka. The company will commence work on this greenfield project in a couple of weeks which may provide employment to 300 personnel. This totally automated advanced production plant is one of the largest solid oral dosage facility in the GSK network and will be commissioned in 2017.

The facility which comes on the KIADB land is acquired from farmers. Now the company along with the Karnataka government made a commitment to provide employment to the farmers’ children at the production site and offer letters were distributed by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah who inaugurated the ground breaking ceremony.

The state-of-the-art facility with an annual production capacity for 8 billion tablets and one million capsules is being built on advanced global standards. It will be a zero accident, zero waste and zero defect facility, said Annaswamy Vaidheesh, vice president, South Asia and managing director, India GlaxoSmithKline Pharmaceuticals Ltd.

“We opted for Karnataka and particularly Bengaluru primarily because it was seen as the right location for several reasons. These included presence of pharmaceutical-biotech hub, availability of skilled personnel, located close to GSK southern distribution hub, moderate climate, easy availability to state-based investment incentives and access to government owned land,” he added.

As the newest manufacturing unit in the GSK supply network, it will incorporate the latest thinking in efficient and cost-effective manufacturing processes. It will include warehouse, site infrastructure employee welfare centre and utilities to support drug manufacture and packing. As such the factory aims to be recognised as a bench mark operation, noted the GSK India chief.

The facility has automated packing lines, lights out warehouse with a 8,000 pellet capacity, quality assurance labs, water effluent treatment plants all waste water fully recycled and zero to waste adherence. The facility layout and processes are optimised for flow and lean manufacturing techniques.

“This facility is designed with the future in mind with an innovative design, to support easy expansion well into the future as the need arises. We are currently only focusing on domestic markets and the GSK brands have an intrinsic strength India as it caters to treatment of infections and prevention of diseases through its vaccines. The new facility will boost the product development capacity and we are committed to increase the access to affordable medicines to improve Indian healthcare,” he said.

“Currently GSK undertakes extensive contract manufacturing at several large, medium and small units in Karnataka. We would continue to be connected with these third party manufacturers,” Vaidheesh told Pharmabiz in an interaction.

Multinational pharma companies have a major role to play in India to provide the high quality drugs to a wide spectrum of diseases. Their presence cannot be ignored in the milieu of the Indian pharma landscape, he said.

On the issue of Karnataka power crisis, he pointed that full assurance was provided by the Karnataka government to ensure quality and uninterrupted power.