Vaccines for the World from Gödöllő

GSK (formerly GlaxoSmithKline) Plc. is a British multinational biopharma company, one of the top pharma firms in the world. Its plant in Gödöllő, just east of Budapest, has been developed into a strategic actor in GSK’s global vaccine production.

The histories of the founders of GSK date back well over a century (in fact, Glaxo's predecessors were set up in UK, New Zealand and the U.S. over 150 years ago). As the Managing Director of GSK in Hungary, Martino Grazzi tells Diplomacy&Trade, the multicultural environment has always been – and still is – a characteristic of the company. “GSK has a footprint worldwide, an impact on global health. We are producing medicines and vaccines basically for all countries in every corner of the world, for everyone: regardless of people’s age, gender, ethnicity or need. There are some studies calculating that every single minute, four children out of ten in the world receive a Glaxo vaccine. Just like in the 18th century, when the company’s predecessors laid the groundwork for our future, the commitment to improve humankind's health and impact people’s lives – not only with profitable products – and really get ahead of any kind of disease are still in the spirit of the company.”

Treating billions
GSK vaccines and other products may help billions worldwide with these people many times not even being aware what company to thank their health for. GSK has been, and still is, a pioneer conducting the research of vaccines and medicines. One of the best known of which are probably the polio vaccines. “Nowadays, it is a disease that is not in the spotlight anymore, except for few wild strains, thanks to a collective effort to eradicate it, but this was pretty vivid until the beginning of the 20th century, and we were producing these vaccines since the early 1960s. Another example is penicillin, well known and recognized as a game changer in the history of the humankind worldwide. Glaxo was one of the first to put penicillin into antibiotics. I cannot even calculate the number of individuals who have been touched by the results of our research activity. More recently, innovations by GSK are helping to tackle diseases like HIV, or even more recently, are improving asthma and oncology treatment, for example. The results of GSK research in many cases do not only help treating diseases but also prevent them,” the Managing Director points out.

GSK in Hungary
GSK has a dual “soul” in this country. It has been present in product distribution, but, as Martino Grazzi highlights, its presence as a manufacturer is equally relevant nowadays. It was in 1954 that the 'Humán' Vaccine Production and Research Institute was founded in Budapest, the first such establishment in Hungary, with its production facility set up in Gödöllő in 1966. In the 1970s, this institute was authorized by WHO to sell for exports. “A couple of decades later, in 2001, Glaxo decided to acquire this pharma plant and establish, a year later, the first, let's say, milestone for its journey in Hungary as a manufacturer. Indeed, last year, we celebrated the 20th anniversary of this presence. Since then, huge investments have been made by the company to maintain the state-of-the-art standard and bring here the technology and the competencies required to manufacture what was in scope at that time. Nowadays, we have here around 340 talented people producing tetanus and diphtheria components for GSK vaccines, a quantity equivalent to more than 120 million doses per year, to be distributed worldwide. About 160 countries receive vaccines containing a component made here, in Gödöllő – and we are pretty proud of this!”

Science, technology, talent
GSK is a global biopharma company with the ambition and purpose to unite science, technology and talent to get ahead of disease together. The Managing Director stresses that it is more than simply an ambition, “it's basically embedded in our way of working and in the way of interacting every day. We are bringing to Hungary, which is quite a relevant market for us, innovative medicines, innovative vaccines, for example, for respiratory diseases or for meningitis. However, it is embedded in our core values to really bring innovation worldwide and go beyond, say, the perimeter of the country: values like being ambitious to our patients and being accountable to have an impact on their lives matters for us, every day. Of course, there is always the commitment to do the right thing, to choose the transparency, to choose the clarity and fairness in every relationship, in every trade or in every interaction that we are going to have. Also, when we are recruiting people, we make sure to have all the talents to contribute to our mission. This applies to our plant in Gödöllő, where we have quite a fertile area to find the right professionals, although it's really a challenging environment nowadays, thanks to the great results of the country in terms of employment,” the Managing Director notes.

Aiming for carbon neutrality
In the corporate world, it is of primary importance, especially in the pharmaceutical industry, to conduct business in a responsible and sustainable way. Martino Grazzi very much agrees with that statement and believes that this should be part of the agenda of every responsible company and every responsible industry. “GSK is particularly interested in these themes, and we want to lead the way on this. In fact, we were one of the companies signing up to the Glasgow Climate Pact (aiming to reach carbon neutrality worldwide by 2030) of the COP26 conference last year. Our CEO, Emma Walmsley subscribed to this commitment at the beginning. And those are not just nice words, they are applied daily in in our decisions – including here in Hungary. Last year, the Gödöllő site received an investment of GBP 2.3 million just to pursue this ambition. We are using this really tangible investment in education and training, and especially to renovate the technology of our site to reach the carbon neutrality target. This is actually just the first tranche of the investment and we will go for a phase two until probably and hopefully, we will be one of the first in the GSK network to achieve this ambition. I think nowadays it's a must for our people, for the local community and eventually for our future.”

Campus-like environment
It is also a principle for GSK to be an accountable and responsible actor even from a social perspective for the country and the neighborhood where it is operating, using resources in a responsible way and paying attention to the future. “Sustainability is not only about utilizing resources like water and energy carefully, it is about doing the right thing and taking active care of the environment where we are operating,” he adds.
GSK is also very keen on biodiversity. “We act in line with a global initiative to maintain – or even enhance – the biodiversity at the site of our plant in Gödöllő. Our staff and visitors alike very much appreciate that green areas with trees and bushes among the buildings make it look like a university campus rather than a manufacturing facility. The atmosphere, the appearance of this garden-like area – all this is made for thanking our guys working here, so, it's really a payback, for us, for our business and for nature,” the Managing Director concludes.