GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) has opened a £54-million ($69-million) active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) production building at its site in Montrose, Scotland for respiratory inhalers.

APIs for use in GSK’s Ellipta (fluticasone furoate/vilanterol) respiratory inhalers, a drug to treat chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and asthma, will be produced in the building, which is the second multi-million investment in the Montrose site over the last two years. In 2017, GSK opened a new £44 million ($56 million) manufacturing facility for producing aluminum salts used in vaccines for tetanus, pneumonia, and whooping cough.

GSK’s Montrose and Singapore sites produce APIs for all of GSK’s Ellipta respiratory inhaler portfolio, according to information from the First Minister of Scotland, Nicola Sturgeon.

“The state-of-the-art facility we are opening today represents a £54 million investment in GSK Montrose and is testament to the highly-skilled workforce at the site,” GSK CEO Emma Walmsley said in an October 22, 2018 statement. “It also highlights the important part Montrose will play in our future growth, based around our latest medicines for respiratory, HIV and vaccines.

Source: Scottish Government