Accord Healthcare, a generic pharmaceutical company, has opened a new facility in Fawdon, Newcastle, expanding its portfolio to four sites situated within the UK.
Newcastle upon Tyne
The factory, which was previously owned by Sanofi, is expected to create up to 500 jobs in the region and was officially opened by the Labour MP for Newcastle upon Tyne North, Catherine McKinnell.
This new site in Fawdon joins the company’s existing sites in Harrow, Barnstaple, Haverhill and Didcot. It expands the company’s current capacity to produce generic medicines and will become the company’s regional centre for excellence in effervescent tablets and other types of medicine.
“Fawdon will play a vital role in strengthening our manufacturing network, supported by our parent company Intas and our other UK sites. After seeing many domestic pharmaceutical manufacturing sites close, with production redirected overseas, this opening marks a vote of confidence in the UK’s attractiveness for high tech pharmaceutical manufacturing,” explained Dr James Burt, executive vice president, Europe & MENA, Accord Healthcare. “We are committed to further strategic investment to support the site’s growth, adding value to the local economy in terms of jobs and exports, as well as furthering patient access to affordable medicines in both the UK and beyond.”
Left to right: Cllr Joyce McCarty, Dr James Burt, Keith Daniels, Lesley Lavin, Catherine McKinnell MP, Tony Cordrey and Lord Gadhia
Accord Healthcare Fawdon opening
Commenting on the Fawdon factory opening, Catherine McKinnell MP, said: “I am so pleased to see this site back in productive use, and creating good, skilled jobs in our local economy. Accord’s investment in its Fawdon plant is a real vote of confidence in Newcastle by their owners, and I am delighted that they have such big and exciting plans for the future. Our city has a proud history of innovation and I’m looking forward to supporting Accord Healthcare to play an important part in that.”