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Swine flu vaccine produced in North East

A County Durham pharmaceutical factory has become the first in the country to start producing the swine flu vaccine.

GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), in Barnard Castle, will manufacture 130 million doses of the H1N1 vaccine, Pandemrix, with 60 million of those being made for use within the UK.

Production started last month and the project should be finished by February.

The Government has also ordered a second vaccine, produced by Baxter International, of Illinois, in the US.

While the site at Barnard Castle is not a designated vaccine manufacturing site, it was chosen to help meet the demand because of its sterile liquid filling capabilities.

Staff have been given extra hours to help produce the Pandemrix.

Roger Connor, Barnard Castle vice-president and site director, said: “We have changed shift patterns, asked people to be flexible and many have been working long hours to make sure the vaccine is manufactured to the highest quality and delivered on time.

“I’d like to take this opportunity to thank everyone on the site, they’re a credit to GSK.”

The vials will be tested before being shipped to hospitals and pharmacies in the UK and around the world.

GSK is Teesdale’s biggest employer, with nearly 1,000 members of staff. In December last year, the company announced 200 redundancies.

Paul Stinson, communications manager for the GSK Barnard Castle plant, said: “There are members of staff who have agreed to a redundancy package but we have asked them to stay for a while longer until the campaign is over with.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .