Thermo Fisher to buy a GSK plant in Ireland

Thermo Fisher Scientific has agreed to acquire GlaxoSmithKline’s site in Cork, Ireland, for approximately $100 million. The plant, which employs 400 people, produces active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) for cancer drugs, including the breast-cancer treatment Tykerb, as well as for drugs for depression, Parkinson’s, and other diseases. Thermo Fisher will continue to manufacture APIs at the site under contract for GSK. The Cork facility includes 270 m³ of reactor capacity plus pilot-scale manufacturing and infrastructure for physical characterization of APIs. Roger LaForce, a former drug services executive who now runs the consulting firm LaForce Business Solutions, estimates the plant will boost Thermo Fisher’s revenues by $90 million to $110 million annually, based on capacity, head count, and the contracts with GSK. The purchase is the latest in a string of acquisitions and investments—beginning in 2017 with the $7.2 billion buy of Patheon—that has taken Thermo Fisher into the business of making drugs and their active ingredients for pharmaceutical-industry customers.