Several major pharma companies have shown their long-term commitment to the UK by investing millions of pounds in new and expanded facilities.

AstraZeneca, Eli Lilly and GlaxoSmithKline have all announced multimillion-pound investments in new R&D, manufacturing and other centres in the UK at a time when many in the industry are looking primarily to the US for expansion.

AstraZeneca has opened a new £16 million R&D facility at its Macclesfield manufacturing and supply site in response to growing work involving the company investigational medical compounds, which are used in clinical development in over 50 countries.

AstraZeneca's Executive VP, Global Development, Dr Martin Nicklasson, said the facility, which will bolster work in oncology, neuroscience and cardiovascular therapy areas, will keep the company at the cutting edge of R&D.

Around 2,800 employees already work at the Macclesfield site, where new process research development facilities are also under construction.

The company has also opened a £90 million bulk manufacturing facility for Crestor at the company Avlon Works near Bristol, to produce global supplies of the cholesterol-lowering drug.

Eli Lilly, meanwhile, is to invest £220 million to expand its business operations across the country, saying the UK will be a "key contributor" to future growth.

European Headquarters and a Centre for Excellence in Neuroscience Research will be developed at Erl Wood, Surrey, at a cost of £40 million and the recruitment of at least 120 scientists, while facilities in Basingstoke will receive a £70 million upgrade by 2006.

A further £45 million will be invested at the company manufacturing facilities in Speke, Merseyside, over the next three years, including £38 million to increase capacity for the growth hormone Humatrope.

Trade & Industry Secretary Patricia Hewitt welcomed Lilly commitment, saying it reinforced the UK location as Europe finest location for pharma and biotech investment.

"The UK delivers the right business environment and skills for international science and technology businesses to thrive," she said.

GlaxoSmithKline is also developing several facilities in the UK and world-wide at a cost of over £160 million.

A new site focusing on drug discovery automation will open in Harlow later this year, while existing automation capabilities at the company Centres of Excellence for Drug Discovery (CEDDs) in Stevenage and Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, are being upgraded.

GSK has recently opened an ultra-high-throughput screening facility at its Tres Cantos research centre in Spain, the first step towards building a multinational rug discovery factory

"Automation on this vast scale frees out highly-skilled scientists from repetitive tasks," said Peter Goodfellow, Senior VP of Discovery Research. "It enables them to focus their attention on the best way to provide the GSK CEDDs with leads of greater potency, selectivity and developability."

The company has six CEDDs created following the merger of Glaxo Wellcome and SmithKline Beecham in 2001 which aim to foster a more entrepreneurial biotech-like environment to improve drug discovery.

The investment comes as new figures show that staffing levels in the UK pharma and biotech industries are booming and are seen as ecession proof

A survey of UK companies by recruitment consultants TMP/Hudson Global Resources, found that 44% of pharma, biotech and diagnostics companies have increased staff levels of the last six months and 34% have kept them the same. One-third of companies plan to increase staff numbers over the next six months and around half anticipate no change.

But the survey shows over a quarter (27%) in the industry fear that there are not enough skilled R&D professionals needed to satisfy shareholder demands for more treatments.

pharmafocus@pharmafile.co.uk