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GlaxoSmithKline, Britain’s biggest drugmaker, today set out plans to invest £500 million in the UK, building its first new factory in almost 40 years and creating 1000 new manufacturing jobs, after the Budget yesterday confirmed plans to cut tax on investment in research and development.
After Chancellor George Osborne confirmed a “patent box” would introduce a lower rate of corporation tax on profits generated from UK-owned intellectual property, Glaxo announced what it called “one of the largest commitments to the UK life-sciences sector in recent years”.
It’s good news for Britain’s pharmaceutical industry: last year Viagra maker Pfizer announced it would close its R&D facility in Sandwich, Kent with the loss of about 1500 jobs. But Brentford-based Glaxo’s new plant in Ulverston, Cumbria, won’t open until at least 2020.
Glaxo chief executive, Sir Andrew Witty — who has been a member of David Cameron’s business advisory group since 2010 and was knighted in the New Year’s Honours — said: “The introduction of the patent box... ensures the medicines of the future will not only be discovered, but can also continue to be made here.” The pharma giant — which has 15,000 UK employees — yesterday teamed up with Johnson & Johnson and private equity house Index Ventures to launch a $150 million (£94 million) fund to discover new drugs.
