Eisai launches new packaging facility in Hatfield

Eisai has announced the launch of a new state-of-the-art packaging facility at its EMEA Knowledge Centre in Hatfield.

The new two-storey 2,900 sq m factory expands the current site by nearly 40 percent and will lead to a ten percent increase in the location's 500-strong workforce. It will be used to handle the packaging of the investigational advanced thyroid cancer treatment lenvatinib.

This represents a foreign direct investment of more than eight million pounds into the UK, thus reinforcing Eisai's position as the country's largest Japanese pharmaceutical investor. Lenvatinib will be packaged exclusively at Hatfield and eventually exported to almost 200 countries.

Although it is yet to be approved, the therapy has been granted orphan drug designation and accepted for accelerated regulatory review in Europe.

Mr Haruo Naito, chief executive officer of Eisai, said: "The UK is an ideal location for advanced manufacturing. We are committed to the life sciences industry in this country and it will continue to play a pivotal role in our commercial growth strategy."

Lenvatinib has demonstrated significant progression-free survival benefits when compared to placebo in phase III clinical trials.