August 12, 2015
By Alex Keown, BioSpace.com Breaking News Staff
RALEIGH, N.C. --- The discovery of a deadly bacterium in on-site cooling towers has forced British drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline to temporarily shut down its Zebulon, N.C. manufacturing facility.
During what a company spokesperson called routine testing of the towers, technicians discovered the presence of the bacteria Legionella, which can cause Legionnaire’s disease, a potentially fatal form of pneumonia. The bacteria is often found in water systems. Recently an outbreak of Legionnaire’s disease in New York City claimed the lives of 12 people. The bacteria grows in warm water and can often be found in cooling towers, hot tubs, hot water tanks, plumbing systems and decorative fountains, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control said. An estimated 8,000 to 18,000 people are hospitalized with Legionnaires’ disease each year in the U.S, according to the CDC. People tend to contact the disease by breathing in water vapor that has been contaminated with the bacteria.
Although the bacteria was discovered on the site, the cooling tower is a standalone structure and medications manufactured at the facility did not come into contact with the bacteria, GSK Director of U.S. External Communications Jenni Brewer Ligday told the News & Observer of Raleigh. Staff were sent home following discovery of the bacteria and later shifts were told not to report to work Tuesday night Ligday said.
GSK said it will clean the towers and retest it for any trace of the Legionella bacteria. GSK tests the water tower at its site every three months, the Associated Press reported. It was unclear how long the process will take or how long the plant will not run its manufacturing lines. GlaxoSmithKline relies heavily on the Zebulon facility to support its pipeline, the Triangle Business Journal noted, particularly in its role as a manufacturer of Advair. The Zebulon plant currently employs 850 people and manufactures several of the company’s asthma drugs, including Advair Diskus, Ellipta, Breo and Anora. In total the site produces more than 30 GSK brands, the Triangle Business Journal said. The popular asthma drug Advair, which has dropped in sales over the past year, takes up the bulk of production. Production at the plant runs 24 hours per day, five days a week. In a shift, four workers can produce about 14,000 Advair Diskus devices, the Journal said, about 37 million devices annually.
Earlier this year, GSK, which has had a manufacturing presence in eastern North Carolina for more than 30 years, expanded the Zebulon facility by about 65,000 square feet to accommodate a new assembly line to manufacture Ellipta. The new addition is expected to be ready for use in 2017. Last week GlaxoSmithKline announced it will hire more than 100 people for the Zebulon facility as it ramps up production of its next generation asthma drug Breo Ellipta. The Zebulon site recently added a new assembly line to support the manufacture of Breo Ellipta and its other Multi-Dose Dry Powder Inhalers. Analysts have estimated that sales of Breo Ellipta could reach $750 million by 2020. The drug is a fixed-dose combination of the inhaled corticosteroid (ICS) fluticasone furoate (FF) and the long-acting beta2-agonist (LABA) vilanterol (VI).
The Zebulon site has been expected to begin manufacturing the pain-reliving drug Panadol, an acetaminophen tablet sold mostly in Europe, the Charlotte Observer reported.
