Firstminister.gov.scot
facebook
instagram
flickr
YouTube
twitter
  • Home
  • News
  • Join In
  • People
  • About

Home » News » Boosting the economy » First Minister opens £2 million life sciences facility

First Minister opens £2 million life sciences facility

17 November 2015

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon returned to Piramal Healthcare Limited in Grangemouth to open the firm’s new £2 million life science manufacturing suite.

She first visited the site in 2012 and went back to see the progress on site and check out the new facility.

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon checks out the progress at Piramal

The manufacturing suite, which has created 20 high value jobs, produces antibody drug conjugates which are involved in the treatment of various types of cancer.

Please accept statistics cookies to watch this video.

It’s another example of the good work going on in Scotland’s Life Sciences sector, which currently employs around 33,000 people in total in Scotland.

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon at Piramal

The First Minister said:

“Piramal is the type of the company we are looking to lead Scotland’s economic growth. They are manufacturing innovative products for international use, and are investing in their workforce and infrastructure – a perfect example of our economic strategy in action.

“Piramal is a great example of an innovative company that is benefitting from the focus Scotland places on the life sciences sector. We have a thriving research and innovation led Life Sciences sector and Piramal is seeing the benefit of that as they manufacture products that are involved in the treatment of various types of cancer.”

Piramal has been growing its operations in Grangemouth over the last 10 years and site head, Dr Mark Wright, says they are looking to expand further:

“Piramal Healthcare UK Ltd has been growing its operations in Grangemouth since 2005 and currently employs around 140 people in predominantly highly skilled positions. We aim to scale up this facility in the next 5 years to maintain its position as a global leader in the production of Antibody Drug Conjugates.”

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon meets Piramal staff

Piramal also became the 150th firm to commit to the Scottish Business Pledge, a voluntary code for companies to commit to the best of modern business practices. The First Minister launched the Pledge in May – click to read more.

The Scottish Business Pledge is one of the steps the First Minister has taken in her economic approach which places focus on the need for inclusive growth and innovation. Others include:

  • a new Economic Strategy, which focuses on investing in our people and infrastructure; fostering a culture of innovation; promoting inclusive growth and internationalisation;
  • the creation of a £78 million fund to help innovative companies develop new products;
  • launching the voluntary 50:50 by 2020 scheme to encourage gender balance in the boardrooms of public, private and Third Sector organisations over the next five years;
  • establishing the Fair Work Convention to develop, promote and sustain a fair employment framework for Scotland by March 2016.

The First Minister added:

“I am passionate about making Scotland a fairer country and we have taken great strides in making that happen.

“At heart of our economic strategy is ensuring that we tackle inequality for the benefit of all of Scotland because a fairer society is a more productive and prosperous society.

“Our strategy focuses on investment, innovation and internationalisation, and these pillars will lead us to inclusive growth.

“In the past year we have taken steps to ensure economic growth is inclusive and fairly distributed. But our work does not stop here –we will press on with our vision of a fairer Scotland.

“We will continue to put the people of Scotland – all of Scotland – first and we will never shirk from that.”

Rotating Tweets Shortcode

Twitter

The Scottish Government has lodged a Legislative Consent Memorandum (LCM) with the Scottish Parliament, recommending that consent cannot be given to the UK Government’s “inadequate and damaging” Brexit deal with the EU. More information: gov.scot/news/brexit-de… pic.twitter.com/aF6hfFmDqX

First Minister @NicolaSturgeon has addressed the Zero Carbon Forum and committed to working with our European partners to fight climate change. We are delighted that Mayor @AnneHidalgo signed the Edinburgh Declaration on biodiversity this week, on behalf of the city of Paris. pic.twitter.com/V87NNkLQ2V

We have a winner! Sophie Blackett, Age 10 from Calderwood, East Kilbride has designed the First Minister's 2020 Christmas card.🎄📨 Well done Sophie and thank you to everyone who took part, we had almost 700 fantastic entries.🌟 Sophie's design along with the message inside⬇️ twitter.com/ScotGovFM/stat… pic.twitter.com/EjBNmEaPk4

“We want Scotland to be regarded internationally as a leader on human rights issues.” – First Minister Nicola Sturgeon during a message to mark #HumanRightsDay Watch the full message⬇️ pic.twitter.com/6NXzsQISfR

First Minister @NicolaSturgeon has met staff co-ordinating the Pfizer BioNTech vaccine at the Western General Hospital in Edinburgh. The hospital is one of 23 centres where priority groups will be vaccinated against coronavirus. Read more ➡️ bit.ly/36OawE6 pic.twitter.com/pH0jRSvGgD

The First Minister @NicolaSturgeon delivered a speech at the @USChamber Space Summit, and underlined that Scotland is keen to work with partners around the world on a what is a priority area for inward investment. twitter.com/USChamber/stat…

Entries can be scanned and emailed to firstminister@gov.scot with the subject heading 'Christmas Card Competition' 🖥️ Or posted to St Andrew’s House, Regent Road, Edinburgh, EH1 3DG marked 'Christmas Card Competition' ✉️ Good luck! 🤞

Then make sure they enter before midnight on Monday November 30. ⏰ Pictures should be no larger than A3 and drawn in pen/pencil/crayon/paint only. No stickers or glued on pieces please. ✏️🖍️🖌️🎨

The First Minister is looking for a picture that represents kindness to use for her Christmas card this year.🎄📨 Do you know a young person under the age of 16 who can present the perfect festive picture to wrap up 2020? 🎁🎀

The original artwork for the First Minister's 2019 Christmas card will go to auction on Friday 27 November, Lot 870: bit.ly/361HnoO twitter.com/ScotGovFM/stat…

Follow @ScotGovFM

JOIN IN

First Minister’s Postbag

Share your thoughts with the First Minister.

GET IN TOUCH

JOIN IN

Follow us online

For wider Scottish Government News please go to www.gov.scot

twitter
YouTube
flickr
instagram
facebook

Copyright Scottish Government 2021

  • About the site
  • Privacy Policy and Content Disclaimer
  • Cookies
  • Accessibility
  • Rules of engagement
The Scottish Government

Change Cookie Settings

twitterYouTubeflickrinstagramfacebook
  • Home
  • News
  • Join In
  • People
  • About