GSK Closes N.C. Facility After Routine Testing Finds Legionella Bacteria

GlaxoSmithKline temporarily closed its Zebulon, N.C., facility after routine testing found the bacterium that causes deadly Legionnaire’s disease inside two of the building’s external cooling towers.

GSK reopened the plant early Monday morning, six days after it closed.

Employees were sent home last week or told not to come to the site as a precautionary measure, GSK said. While the cooling towers are necessary to maintain temperature and humidity for proper manufacturing and work conditions, they are standalone structures and don’t come into contact with product manufactured at the facility or employees.

The Zebulon plant makes about 30 different drugs, including asthma treatments Advair and Breo Ellipta, HIV therapy Combivir and Requip for Parkinson’s disease. — Kellen Owings