Back to News >

The ‘Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Cluster Growing Its Contribution 2017 – 2023’ report, produced by North East Pharma and written by Steve Woolley and Professor Michael Whitaker, aims to highlight the economic importance of pharmaceutical manufacturing to the North East of England and to the UK as a whole. North East Pharma’s in depth conversations with the region’s manufacturers provided a rich insight into the pharmaceutical manufacturing cluster’s successes and challenges over the last five years, following on from a previous report undertaken in 2017.

The report released in March 2024 provides an update into the pharmaceutical manufacturing cluster in the North East in a post-Covid and Brexit world, with many NEPIC members taking part in interviews to add insight to the report, including Sterling Pharma Solutions, CPI, Piramal Healthcare, Accord Healthcare, Quotient Sciences, Organon, Fujifilm Diosynth Biotechnologies, GlaxoSmithKline, Pharmaron, KD Pharma and ThermoFisher.

“The North East pharmaceutical manufacturing cluster employs more than 5,600 people within the region. The cluster companies included in this report contribute at a minimum £1.52 billion to the UK’s Gross Value Added (GVA).”

Key findings in the report included significant growth in the sector over the last five years, highlighting how the sector workforce has increased by 51 per cent and pharmaceutical sector GVA for the North East is 17.9 per cent of the total manufacturing GVA for the region and 2.7 per cent of the region’s total GVA; which is a higher proportion than for any other UK region.

Other successes include collaboration, between both companies and academia, to push forward low-carbon energy and technology innovation, as well as a significant increase in companies dedicated to reducing their carbon emissions.

“The extraordinary growth of the cluster’s activities and workforce over the last five years are strong proof that these global challenges are being successfully addressed, from Alnwick in the north of the region to Teesside in the south.” – Sam Whitehouse, business board member, North East Combined Authority

Speaking on the findings from the report, NEPIC’s CEO, Joanne Fryett said:

“The report undertaken by North East Pharma is such a valuable asset in raising awareness of the importance of the North East pharmaceutical manufacturing sector to the UK. It’s brilliant to see many of our NEPIC members contributing to the report, discussing their developments over the last five years and showcasing the value they add to the regional and national economy.”

Michael Whitaker, chair at North East Pharma added:

“North East Pharma was very pleased to learn recently that according to the latest ONS figures, the pharmaceutical manufacturing sector contribution to the North East economy has doubled over the five years to 2022.  It now represents around a quarter of manufacturing added value, overtaking transport (vehicles) manufacture as the largest manufacturing contributor. Our report tells some of the company success stories that have driven this growth.”

The full report can be accessed here.