WIREDGOV

Piramal becomes 150th firm to sign FM’s Business Pledge.

A new £2 million life science manufacturing suite which has created 20 new jobs in Grangemouth has been officially opened by First Minister Nicola Sturgeon.

Piramal Healthcare Limited’s new suite produces antibody drug conjugates which are involved in the treatment of various types of cancer.

The firm received a £200,000 Scottish Enterprise RSA grant towards the building of the facility, which has created 20 high value jobs.

Scotland’s Life Sciences sector currently employs around 33,000 people in total in Scotland.

Ms Sturgeon also announced Piramal has become the latest firm to sign up to the Scottish Business Pledge – the 150th company to do so.

Launched in May, the Pledge is a voluntary code for companies to commit to the best of modern business practices.

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.

“It’s also heartening to see that they share our view of inclusive growth also, and the commitment to their staff is exemplified by their commitment to the Scottish Business Pledge.”

Piramal Healthcare site lead, Mark Wright, said:

“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.”

Lena Wilson, chief executive, Scottish Enterprise, said:

“I am delighted to see Piramal expanding in Scotland creating a world-class manufacturing facility that will address global healthcare needs. This is an excellent example of an inward investor that not only chose to locate in Scotland to further its growth, but is now re-investing in its site and staff.”

Since coming to office, the First Minister’s economic strategy has placed great focus on the need for inclusive growth and innovation. Steps taken 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 establishment of the Scottish Business Pledge, which commits businesses to fair and progressive policies that boost productivity, recognise fairness and increase diversity;
• 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.”

Notes To Editors

Piramal is a major Indian Life Science company that has been growing its operations in Grangemouth since 2005. More about the company here: http://piramal.com/

More on the Programme for Government 2015-2016: https://firstminister.gov.scot/programme-for-government-2015-16/

Scottish Business Pledge: https://scottishbusinesspledge.scot/