Date: 2016-12-13
Type of information: Opening of new premises
Compound: global vaccines R&D center in Rockville
Company: GSK (UK)
Therapeutic area: Infectious diseases
Type agreement: opening of new premises
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Disease:
Details: • On December 13, 2016, GSK has opened new global vaccines R&D center in Rockville (Maryland). This new state-of-the-art facility will house 450 scientists and support staff. Up to 200 new jobs will be created at the Rockville facility, with GSK investing over $50 million in the next two years to continue to develop the site with latest state-of-the-art scientific research technology and equipment. Under the leadership of Dr Ripley Ballou, VP and Head of GSK’s global vaccines R&D center in Rockville, the facility will house a total of 12 critical vaccine development programs. This includes projects supporting its candidate shingles vaccine, which was filed for approval with the FDA in October 2016. In addition, R&D programs for respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), a major cause of respiratory infections in young children and the elderly, Group B Streptococcus (GBS), a bacterial infection affecting newborns and dengue fever will be based at the site. Rockville becomes one of three global vaccines R&D centers for GSK, complementing the company’s existing global R&D centres in Rixensart, Belgium and in Siena, Italy. Rockville is also the location of GSK’s proposed biopreparedness organisation (BPO), a dedicated, permanent organisation using a "no profit/no loss" model that will design and develop new vaccines against emerging viruses, bacteria and other pathogens that potentially pose a threat to global public health. GSK hopes the BPO will make an important contribution to improving global health preparedness. The Rockville site, which was acquired by GSK in 2012 from Human Genome Sciences, offers proximity to current research partners, including the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and PATH, as well as important public health stakeholders. Since 2015, GSK has been preparing the site, transferring key staff and projects, installing equipment and modernising the site ahead of its official opening.
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