UK Pharmaceutical Industry Outlook – 2015

In this article we aim to present a quick and easy to digest run-down of the main trends and developments in a highlighted sector of the process manufacturing industries in one of our covered regions. For more information on the areas we cover, click here.

UK Pharmaceutical Industry Outlook – 2015

Pharmaceutical investment activity in the UK has been consistently increasing over the last 2 years. The volume of FEED work being undertaken has increased greatly and the volume of new projects is now much more consistent than even a few years ago. Tendering is very buoyant due to the number of potential project opportunities that exist, although these opportunities are becoming increasingly competitive and tend to result in tighter margins.

The major players are all extremely busy, with PM Group, Jacobs and Bouygues UK undergoing significant design and implementation activity in the pharmaceutical industry. Medium to smaller organisations are also doing well, with the likes of Boulting, Scitech, WH Partnership, Merit Merrell and TSL Projects all busy.

Mergers and acquisition activity remains very high on the agenda in the UK pharmaceutical industry and carries some uncertainty for some projects. For example, CSL acquiring Novartis’ global Influenza vaccine business has had a number of knock-on effects for certain projects that Protel are currently tracking at Speke.

Another example is Actavis who recently acquired Forest Laboratories and Allergen Pharmaceuticals. This acquisition has impacted some of our project coverage as the Speke site is expected to become a dedicated R&D facility.

CooperVision is considering significant production integration work after acquiring Sauflon. Consort Medical (Bespak) acquired Aesica which may result in a next phase of a £20m tableting expansion. Large scale investment is also expected after GSK acquired the remaining Novartis vaccine business (excluding influenza).

Despite tumultuous mergers and acquisition activity, UK domestic pharmaceutical manufacturing and R&D is still very strong.

Major areas of investment include cell therapy manufacturing centres for later stage clinical studies, GSK trying to establish along this line and others such as the Cell Therapy Catapult, Manchester Science Park and ReNeuron in Wales.

Due to the high amount of merging there are a number of engineering frameworks and engineering agreements at multiple sites both UK and global being reviewed.

An emerging trend remains E-cigarette production. Updated legislation due to manufacturing safety concerns means production must now take place in a cleanroom environment. Major players emerging include Totally Wicked in Manchester, Nerudia in Liverpool and Bespak.

Pharmaceutical Sector Project Bulletin Coverage – UK

At Protel, we are currently tracking 235 active pharmaceutical projects with a combined potential investment value of just over £4.5bn in the UK.

Major pharmaceutical & biotech investor profiles below (full details on all projects are available to subscribers on our MyProtel project search engine):

AstraZeneca
• A new facility in Cambridge currently progressing in the design phase, estimated value of £500m
• Phased linked interim developments within Cambridgeshire to support the above
• New sterile packaging plant planned at Macclesfield

Manchester Science Park
• Acquired AstraZeneca Alderley Park site. Continued development as a dedicated biohub facility
• New cell therapy facility
• Bioscience incubator project £107m over next 10 years investment

GlaxoSmithKline
• Various biotech investment schemes at Ulveston totalling approximately £400m
• Proposed investment at Ware exceeding £100m to 2017, additional £100m investment in R&D split between Ware and Stevenage
• Investment in respiratory device production at Ware
• £100m investment proposed for Worthing in sterile production

Public Health England
• £40m investment at Porton Down planned over next 2 years in vaccine production

FujiFilm Biotechnology
• Numerous studies underway at Billingham for mammalian cell culture, fermentation and investigating the potential of creating a biotech science park

Reckitt Benckiser
• £60m investment into an R&D technical centre in Hull

To gain information on specific projects or gain more insight into this sector, including all the contact details you need to start your sales process at the right time, get in touch.