GSK has put the first number on its cost program, and it is in the company’s vaccines home base. The British drugmaker told unions on October 14 that up to 1,217 jobs could go in Belgium, spread across research, manufacturing support and global functions at Rixensart, the historic vaccine research site, Wavre, the vaccine division’s headquarters and main plant, and Gembloux, a storage site. Reuters reported the plan would not include factory floor workers. GSK employs more than 8,000 people in Belgium, out of 66,841 worldwide at the end of last year, and said it will remain the country’s largest biopharmaceutical employer, with Belgium still producing the majority of its vaccines.
The cuts are the opening move in the program chief executive Luke Miels set out in July: 1.9 billion pounds, about $2.5 billion, of annual cost savings targeted by 2029, to be recycled into drug development speed and late stage pipeline priorities, including the company’s mRNA flu vaccine. The stated drivers are simplifying research, manufacturing and support operations, more digital tools and automation, and matching vaccine capacity to demand for established products. Last month GSK said it would close a flu vaccine factory in Dresden, Germany, next year on falling demand for egg based flu shots, which makes the Belgian proposal part of a vaccines footprint reset rather than an isolated local decision.
The strategic backdrop is the approaching patent cliff on dolutegravir, the HIV drug at the center of GSK’s specialty business. Management’s argument to investors is that cost taken out of the base funds the pipeline that replaces that revenue. Shares rose 2.6 percent on the day, in line with the sector.
Belgian procedure now governs timing: proposals of this kind go through works council consultation before any final count is set, so 1,217 is a ceiling presented for negotiation, not a confirmed layoff total. Unions had not commented publicly in the initial reporting.