Pharma company GSK invests 70 million euros in RSV vaccine production

British pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) is going to invest 70 million euros in its vaccine factory in the Belgian city of Wavre. The funds will go towards the production of the antigen for vaccines against RSV, the respiratory infection that especially affects very young children and older adults.

GSK is betting on the vaccine division to grow the company. On July 18, the company's consumer division Haleon will officially split off. GSK's vaccine division will receive additional resources for research.

An additional 70 million euros will go to the vaccine against the Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) that GSK is developing and which has shown positive test results. The money comes on top of the more than 330 million euros already announced in March 2021. "We are the first to have obtained such good results," the vaccine division's top executive Emmanuel Amory said in May. "A great success thanks to the Belgian professionalism of researchers and manufacturers." The results of the study will be published this summer and applications will be submitted to the relevant authorities in the second half of 2022.

GSK's vaccine branch employs 17,000 people, 9,000 of which are employed in Belgium. Besides Wavre, GSK also has sites in the Belgian municipalities Rixensart and Gembloux.

(KOR)

Employees at the GSK vaccine factory in Wavre, Belgium © Kenzo TRIBOUILLARD / AFP