The laboratory which is in Harlow, Essex will be operated by both scientists and leading experts from Kings College London. It will test 6, 250 samples throughout the duration of the Olympic and Paralympic Games, which is many more than have been tested in previous Games.
The new drug testing laboratory will employ over 1,000 staff to work within the anti-doping process, as well as 150 scientists who will carry out the testing. The team will be lead by Professor David Cowan from the Drug Control Centre at King’s College London. The laboratory will be in operation 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
Sir Andrew Witty, CEO of GlaxoSmithKline, said: ‘As a science-based organisation, GSK is well placed to help deliver the scale and cutting edge technology required to run an operation like the anti-doping facility for London 2012.
‘We have worked with King’s to put systems in place to enable this laboratory to test more samples than any previous Games and at the same time developing a blueprint for doping operations at future Games.’
As reported by the BBC, the award, named The Queen Elizabeth Prize of Engineering, will be awarded every two years for outstanding advances in engineering. The prestigious award will be launched later today at London’s Science Museum.
The award, which will be awarded to teams of up to three people, and will be awarded by the Royal Academy of Engineering and overseen by Lord John Browne, former CEO of BP. The award will also be funded by companies such as BAE Systems, Shell and GlaxoSmithKline, Speaking of the award, Browne stated,
“Engineering underpins every aspect of our lives. As the bridge between scientific discovery and commercial application, engineering feeds and clothes us and enables us to work, travel and communicate.
“But too often the engineers behind the most brilliant innovations remain hidden. The Queen Elizabeth Prize aims to change that.”
It is hoped that the award will help boost the profile of engineering and help encourage more young people to consider it as a career path.
As reported in This is Money.co.uk, the pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) is planning on building it’s first new UK factory in 30 years. This will create 1,000 jobs.
As Andrew Witty, CEO of GSK explains, the plan comes are a result of tax breaks on innovation introduced by Chancellor George Osbourne, ‘Because of changes in the UK tax regime, it will be our intention to bring more activity to Britain and take advantage of the situation here and increase our contribution to Britain. If it [corporation tax] is going to come down over the next few years, it will attract us to pay more tax here.’
The global pharma are considering Cumbria, County Durham and two locations in Scotland for their new factory. A decision is expected to be made in May.
At least three private equity firms are planning a bid for GSK non-prescription drugs, reports Reuters.
The products being bid for include over the counter painkillers and vitamin supplements. These sales are the product of GSK’s reduction of non-core products announced in February, representing 10% of the consumer healthcare business. Bids for the products are expected on 8th August, but will be negotiable. CEO Andrew Witty expects the deals to close in the fourth quarter of 2011 before adding that GSK will be looking for the best deal for shareholders to benefit.
Rival companies are unlikely to bid for all the products GSK is looking to offload, worth a maximum of around £2 billion. However because the products will not be sold as a single body, analysts believe that GSK will not be able to make that amount. The lack of coherence in the products on sale, other than, as one analyst says “stuff that GSK doesn’t want,” also means it will be difficult to sell the portfolio for such an amount in one go.
The investment is expected to create up to 1,000 jobs in one of four UK plants, with Montrose thought to be the front runner due to the recent movement of biomanufacturing of several products from India to the Montrose plant. The Montrose factory also manufactures the products needed to make products that GSK inherited following its acquisition of Steifel in 2009.
Andrew Witty, GSK chief executive, praised the 280 staff at the Montrose factory for turning around what was an ailing site, up for sale at the turn of the Millennium, into a “globally competitive” production plant.
There is some speculation that the global pharmaceutical company, GlaxoSmithKline, are planning to open their first new UK factory in 30 years, potentially creating 1,000 new pharmaceutical jobs.
Andrew Witty, chief executive of GSK is said to have not ruled out Montrose as a possible location for the new factory. The Montrose site current has 230 permanent and 50 part-time staff on it’s payroll.
Speaking of the Montrose site, Witty stated, “It is extraordinary to think that a few years ago the Montrose plant was close to shutting.
But the workforce applied great brain power to cost and process efficiently and now we are bringing work back from India – and Montrose is where it is going.
This is a workforce that has outmanoeuvred the threat of closure.”
Other sites shortlisted as possible locations for the new biopharmaceutical site include Barnard Castle, County Durham, Irvine and Ulverston.
As reported by The Telegraph, The global pharmaceutical company, GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), is to pay up to £27,000 university tuition fees for 50 to 100 of their graduate trainees. They are the first company to announce help recruits in this way.
The company’s chief executive, Andrew Witty announced the news on Sky News. He stated that the scheme was not restricted to scientists, chemists and pharmacists, but will also be available to lawyers, economists and all of the other top class graduates that could help the pharmaceutical company. He said, “The biggest reason we are doing this is that we want to get the absolute best possible graduates we can to work for GSK,” he told the programme. This is a great way for us to try and ensure we get that next brilliant scientist.”
As of next year, university tuition fees will triple for undergraduates so this is great news for budding scientists who are interested in working in the Pharmaceutical industry.
It is hoped that the announcement of GSK’s scheme will will encourage other companies to follow suit and help their recruits with crippling tuition fees. Thus ensuring that potential top talent will continue with their education.
GSK’s programme will costs them around £3 million per year and trainees will be required to stay with the company for several years until the fees have be repaid.
The Pharmaceutical Industry based in the South East of the UK is mainly dominated by global pharmaceutical companies such as Pfizer, GSK, Sanofi-Aventis and Novartis.
Approximately, 50 per cent of the countries medical devices companies are based in the South East of England and employ approximately 32,500 people, largely in small and medium-sized firms.
The South East is also a hub for the Life Sciences industry and employs 50,000 people.
As reported by The Recruiter, the global pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline will be recruiting British university students to work on the discovery of the drugs of the future.
The pharma company plans to launch a medicinal chemistry module using students in their third year of their Master of Science study at the University of Nottingham. The project will run over two terms with 12 students and will focus on research, synthesis and testing of PI 3 kinase inhibitors, which are currently under investigation by a number of drug companies. GSK will be researching their potential in the treatment of asthma.
The move comes as large pharmaceutical companies take steps to strengthen partnerships with academia in a bid to boost innovation in research whilst reducing costs.
The scheme will be a great opportunity for students to make a name for themselves as inventors of patents, with the possibility of receiving royalties if their work was translated into a successful drug.
Head of Chemistry at GSK, Dave Allen stated. “This is not a way of saving money, but we are not a charity and we get something back. Our people will mentor, and get a sense of innovation from students.”
CK Science is delighted to announce that the winner of our Temp Workers World Cup Sweepstake is Kate Lowe. Kate is currently temping at GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) and was delighted to win her £25.00 worth of Amazon vouchers from the CK Science team. Upon receiving her prize, Kate stated:
“All you footy fans out there will be horrified to learn that I don’t follow football at all, so was not really interested in the outcome of the World Cup….but being a woman, £25 to go shopping with is fab! I have added a few of my own pounds to the Amazon voucher and bought a ladybird house, ladybird larvae and some food for them, in the hope that they will munch their way through all greenfly so I can be a bit more environmentally friendly and stop using pesticides in my garden.”
Kate Lowe - CK Science Temp Workers World Cup Sweepstake Winner
As a temporary worker at CK Science, Kate also kindly gave a glowing report of her experience of working with CK Science. Kate said,
“Last September I was made redundant and sent my CV out to several scientific agencies, looking for immediate work. All rang me up within a day or two of receiving my CV. All of them promised quick results, but CK was the only agency to actually get me an interview….within four days of them receiving my CV I had not only been interviewed, but had a start date for my contract at GSK. I have been here nine months and just had my contract renewed for another six. I find CK to be proactive, friendly and helpful and they deal with any queries that I have promptly.”
Rhiannon Myers, one of our temporary workers at Merck was selected The Netherlands in the sweepstake, and thus won the second prize of £10.00 of Amazon vouchers. Well done Rhiannon, we hope you have fun spending!
As reported by London 2012, the pharmaceutical giant, GlaxoSmithKline have unveiled their Anti Doping Laboratory for the London 2012 Olympic Games.
![iStock_000004996564Medium[1]](http://ckscience.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/iStock_000004996564Medium1-150x150.jpg "iStock_000004996564Medium[1]")
