Producer
GSK
UK pharmaceutical company; sole manufacturer and formulator of AS01B adjuvant system (QS-21 + MPL in liposomes); used in Shingrix (herpes zoster vaccine, $4B+ annual revenue) and RTS,S/Mosquirix (malaria vaccine); retaining AS01E adjuvant supply even as malaria vaccine manufacturing transfers to Bharat Biotech
2
Inputs supplied
2
Goods downstream
4
Facilities
0
Stories
What they make
2 inputs GSK supplies
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Where it shows up
Goods downstream
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Where they make it
4 facilities
GSK Montrose API Manufacturing Site →
GBAngus, Scotland · Manufacturing
£110M dedicated API manufacturing facility for salbutamol (Ventolin active ingredient). Part of GSK £275M UK expansion. Primary world source for innovator-grade salbutamol API. Montrose, Angus, Scotland.
GSK Vaccines – Rixensart R&D →
BEWalloon Brabant
GSK adjuvant R&D and development campus; original site for AS01 adjuvant system development; works with Wavre on adjuvant formulation and scale-up
GSK Vaccines – Wavre Campus →
BEWalloon Brabant
GSK's main global vaccine manufacturing campus in Wavre, Belgium; produces Shingrix (herpes zoster) and other adjuvanted vaccines including AS01B formulation; one of the world's largest vaccine production facilities
GSK Ware Ellipta Inhaler Plant →
GBHertfordshire, England · Manufacturing
£56M dedicated Ellipta DPI device assembly plant producing 37 million Ellipta inhalers per year. Part of GSK major UK manufacturing investment. Ware, Hertfordshire.
What else they do
Business segments
The company's full revenue map, where this supply-chain role fits within their broader business.
Respiratory Inhalers (Ventolin, Advair, Trelegy)
35%Vaccines (Shingrix, Flu, Mosquirix)
40%Specialty Medicines (HIV, Oncology, Rare Disease)
25%
Intelligence
What's known
Sourced claims about this company's role in supply chains, chokepoints, concentration, incidents, dual-use connections.
Did you know2023
GSK holds two separate positions that connect it to the global respiratory medicine and vaccine supply chains simultaneously: (1) Ventolin (albuterol/salbutamol) pMDI — the world's most recognized asthma rescue inhaler, dispensed in over 100 million units per year; GSK manufactures the salbutamol API and the final MDI device; Ventolin is the emergency fast-relief bronchodilator that many asthma patients carry at all times; (2) Shingrix — the world's best-selling vaccine (USD 4B+ revenue), preventing shingles (herpes zoster), a painful viral condition caused by reactivation of the latent chicken pox virus in adults; Shingrix uses the AS01B adjuvant system that GSK has a 100% global monopoly on. GSK is simultaneously the critical supplier for acute respiratory emergencies (Ventolin rescue inhaler, used when asthma attacks) AND preventive immunization for viral diseases in older adults (Shingrix). GSK's AS01B adjuvant monopoly extends to RTS,S Mosquirix malaria vaccine — an adjuvant technology whose supply chain cannot be diversified away from GSK without reformulation.
GSK plc ↗Origin2023
GSK was formed in 2000 from the merger of Glaxo Wellcome and SmithKline Beecham — itself a combination of GlaxoSmithKline predecessor companies tracing to 1830s UK pharmacies. The Glaxo lineage traces to 1873 when Joseph Nathan founded a New Zealand foods company that eventually sold dried baby milk powder (Glaxo brand — from the Greek 'glax-' meaning milk) in the 1906-1920s. The Glaxo milk powder company began manufacturing vitamins (Vitamin D for infant rickets prevention) in the 1920s, which led into pharmaceutical manufacturing. A New Zealand baby milk powder company became the world's largest pharmaceutical company for much of the late 20th century. GSK spun off its consumer health division (Sensodyne, Voltaren, Advil, Theraflu) as Haleon plc in July 2022 — retaining only prescription pharmaceuticals and vaccines. The Haleon spinoff returned GSK to pharmaceutical-only focus, separating consumer health (in which GSK had lost strategic focus) from the prescription and vaccine pipeline that drives the company's R&D investment.
GSK plc ↗Substitution2023
GSK announced Phase III trials for a low-carbon version of Ventolin (salbutamol pMDI) using a next-generation propellant, while simultaneously building a dedicated £110M salbutamol API manufacturing facility at Montrose, Scotland. The reformulation of Ventolin — the world's most-dispensed rescue inhaler with decades of global regulatory approval — requires filing new NDAs/MAAs in every market, effectively re-running the original approval process for the world's most familiar asthma drug.
GSK ↗