LONDON, Dec 11 (Reuters) - GlaxoSmithKline is toinvest another 200 million pounds ($330 million) on advancedmanufacturing in Britain, the company said on Wednesday,underlining the draw of a tax break designed to encourageresearch and development.
Britain's so-called "patent box" scheme, which offers areduced rate of corporation tax on income derived from patents,has been hailed by GSK, its biggest drugmaker, for transformingthe country as a place to invest.
Last year GSK announced it was building its first newfactory in Britain for 40 years as a result of the scheme. Thelatest move will help it ramp up output of new lung drug Relvar,produce the long-established antibiotic Augmentin and developinnovative technologies for medicine production.
Britain's health minister, Jeremy Hunt, welcomed the newinvestment. But not all Britain's European partners are asenthusiastic about such patent box arrangements.
In July Germany called for a ban on these schemes, sayingthey created unfair competition. Patent boxes also operate inthe Netherlands and some other European Union member states.