Drugmaker Glaxo shuts down plant over Legionnaires’ bacteria

The Legionella bacteria was identified at the plant’s self-standing cooling tower during the company’s routine testing at the site. The plant was temporarily closed on Tuesday.

Drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline has shut down one of its plants in North Carolina after discovering the presence of the bacteria that causes Legionnaires’ disease. It can naturally be found in warm water and breeds in cooling towers, water tanks, plumbing systems, fountains and hot tubs.

GSK said in a statement that the tower “does not come into contact with product manufactured at the facility”.

The Zebulon manufacturing plant employs over 4,400 manufacturing, research and development, and sales and marketing staff. Authorities said the situation does not warrant a public health alert as no threat has been posed to public drinking water.

Zebulon Mayor Robert S. Matheny first heard about the problem by email shortly after 2:30 p.m. Tuesday.

The company said the affected cooling towers will be cleaned and retested prior to the site resuming operation.

“But, of course, our first priority is the health and safety of our community”.

Rigorous testing is carried out every three months, but the company was seeking ‘more details on whether product has been impacted and, if they have, what is our procedure in place to handle that’. But the company told a local media outlet the shutdown does not impact the Multi-Dose Dry Powder Inhaler (MDPI) site that manufactures respiratory drugs Advair, Breo, and Ellipta.

Other drugs produced at the Zebulon plant include Malarone, a malaria drug, Requip for Parkinson’s disease, and Combivir for HIV. If the tests come back negative, GSK hopes to open the manufacturing site late Thursday.

Last week, New York City’s Department of Health ordered the inspection and cleaning of all cooling towers in the city in response to an outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease that has claimed 12 lives.