GlaxoSmithKline Selects Esco Biosafety Cabinets and Filter Housings

GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) has had a presence in Singapore since the 1970s with its investment in an antibiotics plant. Since that time the company has developed a special relationship with the country, opening a number of ventures. Singapore offers pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical companies certain advantages with lower rates of corporate tax and also an excellent educated workforce to draw personnel from.

In 2004 GSK Biologicals decided to build its new vaccine plant on an 8.8 acre site, reserved for the company in the Tuas Biomedical Park. The new plant will require an investment of around $300m; GSK's investment into Singapore is already over $1bn.

The Tuas vaccine plant, which will be GSK's first vaccine facility in Asia, will focus on the production of two bulk paediatric vaccines for preventing infectious disease such as meningitis and typhoid. Later products may be vaccines against gastroenteritis and influenza in the elderly.

GSK selected Esco to design and supply 24 custom biological safety and laminar flow cabinets for the Tuas vaccine plant. Esco was the only internationally recognized manufacturer able to respond rapidly and flexibly to GSK's requirements, which included:

• U15 ULPA filters for superior product and operator protection
• Sillicon gel filters for improved leak-tightness
• Increased downflow velocity for better product protection
• Volt-free contacts and RJ45 ethernet interfaces

Working closely with GSK's specified filter supplier, Camfil-Farr, Esco also designed and supplied 1000 custom pharmaceutical filter housings for the Tuas plant.