Prevenar success boosts UK manufacturing
pharmafile | July 30, 2007 | News story | Manufacturing and Production |
Wyeth has increased the capacity at its manufacturing site in Havant, Hampshire in response to growing demand for its vaccine Prevenar, which is produced at the facility.
Prevenar helps protect babies and young children from life-threatening diseases, such as pneumococcal meningitis, and other infections caused by the pneumococcus.
The new investment worth a total of £3.25 million – has seen the installation of a second packaging line for Prevenar. This will enable the Havant site to boost the number of vaccines it packages and distributes to a projected 22 million this year from just 10 million in 2005.
"This new investment is a very exciting development for our manufacturing and distribution base here at Havant and is a clear indication of the company's commitment to the site," said plant director, Dr Jim Neville. "At Havant, we have a key role within Wyeth's global operations as a highly specialised facility, managing the packaging and distribution of some of the company's most advanced medicines and vaccines."
Dr Neville added: "This type of development really puts Wyeth's Havant facility on the map of global distribution. It's very refreshing to see this kind of investment locally here in the UK, and we look forward to seeing the continued expansion of our role."
Since September last year, Prevenar has been part of the UK's routine childhood immunisation programme. The Havant facility also exports Prevenar to European, Latin American, and Asia Pacific markets, for immunisation programmes in countries such as France, Germany, Spain, Holland and Australia. The Havant site is also responsible for packaging and distributing Meningitec, another Wyeth vaccine used in the UK routine childhood immunisation programme.
