GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) operates in 115 countries with over 100,000 employees in the fields of pharmaceuticals, vaccines, and consumer health. Committed to helping people to do more, feel better, and live longer, GSK's heritage goes back to the 18th century. GSK is a UK-based company that is distinguished by its strong portfolio for both conventional and innovative medicines and vaccines. The company was awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine five times for its scientific research and innovative products. GSK allocates 10 percent of its revenue for R&D every year.
GSK delivers 2.3 million doses of vaccines every day across 166 countries. The company offers protection from 22 of 30 vaccine-preventable diseases with the 41 vaccines in its portfolio, and it continues to work to provide prophylactic treatment services in important fields such as HIV, respiratory infections, and malaria with its 14 candidate vaccines that are currently in R&D. Two of five children in the world are immunized with at least one GSK vaccine. The company is committed to protecting 300 million children by 2024 from diseases such as pneumonia, rotavirus, and poliomyelitis with 850 million doses of vaccines in underdeveloped countries where access to vaccines is limited. GSK has supplied 16 billion doses of poliomyelitis vaccine to UNICEF in the last 50 years.
In Türkiye, GSK operates in seven therapeutic areas including vaccines, respiratory infections, and HIV. The company has been working to contribute to healthy lives in Türkiye for 60 years with its vision of health and well-being at every stage of life. Türkiye is very important for GSK as both an investment center and an investment base. The three regional management bases of GSK, namely Medicines, Consumer Health, and Supply Chain, are located in Istanbul; and the management of 17 countries with 8,000 employees including Russia, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia within the scope of the Developed Central Countries is conducted from Istanbul. Meanwhile, in the Supply Chain Base centered in Istanbul, demand forecasting, supply planning, and supply chain management are carried out for about one billion boxes of products.
Before the initiation of the Project for Localization of Pharmaceutical Products in 2016, GSK started the local production of its 31 products in collaboration with its two local manufacturing partners, thereby ensuring localization of an antibiotic portfolio that has the largest volume in Türkiye. Increasing the number of its local manufacturing partners from two to four with the realization of an investment of over GBP 30 million, GSK plans to increase its local manufacturing allocation in Türkiye from 46 percent to 72 percent.
GSK is pushing ahead with investments in an environment of encouraging efforts of localization in the Turkish pharmaceutical industry. The company has started a manufacturing collaboration with its local partner to transfer the manufacturing of the nebulizer technology used in respiratory treatment and of its patented product in the field of HIV to Türkiye with an investment of GBP 25 million in 2018.
GSK Türkiye established the Vaccine Clinical Research Center (AKAM) in collaboration with Hacettepe University Teknokent in 2010 with the aim of bringing the know-how and technology of GSK in the field of vaccines to Türkiye. As part of this effort, the company started to work in 2013 to establish the most comprehensive vaccine manufacturing facility in Türkiye. Today 37 percent of the vaccine clinical research of Türkiye is conducted at AKAM, and 90 percent of the manufacturing facility, which is being established in collaboration with IDOL and which will have a production capacity of 16.5 million doses, has already been completed. Once this facility goes into operation, it will be possible to domestically manufacture 12 different vaccines.
Providing contributions to the future of Türkiye not only with its healthcare solutions but also with social responsibility projects, GSK has contributed to the health literacy training of about 100,000 young people since 2013 in collaboration with Community Volunteers Foundation through the Healthy Youth Movement project.