Leading Pharmaceutical Company Committed to Canada
GlaxoSmithKline Inc. (GSK), one of the world's leading pharmaceutical companies, has a 100-year history in Canada of helping people do more, feel better and live longer. The company has an ongoing commitment to leadership in research and development (R&D), community investment and manufacturing.
The first legacy company, Allen and Hanbury's Company Limited, opened its headquarters in Toronto in 1902. Today, GSK employs over 2,000 people across the country, who work to discover, develop, manufacture and market medicines and vaccines.
GSK continues to invest heavily in Canada. Most recently, GSK has made significant investments to enhance facilities and manufacturing capacity in the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec. Since 2005, GSK has invested $250 million to upgrade vaccine manufacturing facilities in Laval and the City of Québec, Quebec. As a result the company can now produce 75 million doses of seasonal flu vaccine per year.
GSK now produces the majority of Canada's seasonal influenza vaccine, in addition to holding the Canadian government contract to supply a pandemic influenza vaccine, if required. Further, these investments now make the City of Québec facility a key global influenza vaccine manufacturing site, supporting public health strategies in Canada, the United States and worldwide.
"These Canadian investments have helped put GSK at the forefront of vaccine and medicines development and production in this country," says Paul Lucas, President and CEO of GSK Inc. "The results of investing in Canada, include securing supply of innovative products, more local jobs, and quality patient care."
The company has also been expanding capacity at its $120 million, 250,000 square foot pharmaceutical manufacturing and development facility in Mississauga, Ontario. The facility recently went through a $55 million expansion and now produces more than 25 million units annually, with more than 80 percent of products exported to more than 120 markets worldwide.
A Canadian Partner in Research and Development (R&D)
Given their commitment to Canada, it is no wonder that GSK invested more than $178 million in Canadian R&D in 2007 alone. This investment helped GSK in ranking among the top 15 contributors to R&D in Canada across all industries. As part of that research $45 million is spent on over 80 clinical trials and enrolling close to 2,000 patients. This represents approximately six percent of the company's worldwide clinical trial program, which is significant given GSK in Canada represents less than 2 percent of global sales.
GSK's Pathfinders Fund for Leaders in Canadian Health Science Research was established to help Canada become a world leader in R&D. The Fund encourages health sciences research and fosters innovation in Canadian medical schools.
Most recently, GSK used this fund, in partnership with the Canadian Institute of Health Research (CIHR), to establish Research Chairs in Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease and Immunobiology of Infectious Diseases, in Quebec and Manitoba Universities respectively. Over the past five years, GSK has endowed 20 similar positions at Canadian universities, for a total investment of nearly $22 million.
"We are extremely proud to support scientific research at Canadian universities," says Lucas. "This research is essential to the development of new and more effective therapies. Improving patient outcomes and reducing the burden of disease on society requires the collaboration of researchers, healthcare professionals, regulators and companies like GSK."
Business environment continues to evolve to support the bio-pharmaceutical sector
GSK and all levels of government continue to partner to look for new ways to strengthen Canada's competitiveness and create jobs in the innovative biopharmaceutical industry. Tax credits for Canadian R&D contributions have most definitely contributed to the success of GSK in this country.
"GSK remains committed to working with all levels of government to create an environment that will continue to define Canada's role as a global life sciences leader," says Lucas. "We continue to accomplish a great deal at our Canadian facilities, and we believe that innovation is the key to our collaborative success."
This commitment to Canada has helped GSK to attract some of Canada's best trained, resulting in highly skilled and innovative workforce. The company offers employees a motivating and meaningful work experience and this has contributed to GSK being recognized as one of The Globe and Mail's 50 Best Employers in Canada for the past eight consecutive years.
Committed to the Developing World
GSK has long been active in the struggle for improved health care in the developing world through several innovative, long-term programs, taking action in three areas: investing in R&D that targets diseases particularly affecting the developing world; preferential pricing of antiretrovirals, anti-malarials and vaccines for agencies such as the United Nations Children's Fund; and community investment activities and partnerships that foster effective healthcare. Internationally, GSK is the only pharmaceutical company conducting research and development into both the prevention and treatment of all three of the World Health Organization's (WHO) priority diseases - HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis.
GSK is also a leading contributor to Health Partners International of Canada (HPIC), a charitable organization that provides free medications, medical supplies and vaccines to the developing world and countries that are in need of medical aid. Since 1994, GSK in Canada has contributed more than $25 million in humanitarian product donations and core funding.
In 2007, 150 million albendazole tablets, a preventative drug for the disfiguring tropical disease lymphatic filariasis (or elephantiasis), were donated to help eliminate the disease. Since 1992, approximately 750 million tablets have been donated, reaching over 120 million people.
Also in 2007, GlaxoSmithKline donated more than $564 million to charitable initiatives in the global community. This equates to 2.8 percent of global pre-tax profits and places the company among the leaders in charitable giving.
This year, GSK has announced new global initiatives and an on-going commitment to help fight disease in the world's poorest countries. The company recently announced that they would be more flexible with intellectual property, cap the prices of patented medicines and reinvest at least 20 percent of profits made in the least developed countries to help build infrastructure.
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Prepared by the Invest in Canada Bureau, Spring 2009
