A PHARMA company is breaking ground with a new treatment for a painful illness, The Northern Echo can reveal.

GlaxoSmithKline, in Barnard Castle, County Durham, is submitting an application for regulator approval to launch a fresh remedy for Lupus.

Bosses say the therapy, the like of which has not been seen for 30 years, will provide ease from symptoms such as facial rashes, extreme tiredness and joint pain.

It can also be revealed a pioneering Barnard Castle-made gel, aimed at saving children from umbilical cord deaths in poorer countries, is now being used in Kenya.

The gel, which uses an ingredient already found in a mouthwash, is expected to be rolled out across the rest of Africa.

Officials said the Lupus treatment will be made on the firm’s existing manufacturing lines, adding plans are in place to switch it to a new aseptic facility, which could open in 2020.

That development, which remains subject to planning permission, is part of a £94m expansion announced earlier this year and will see production of injectable liquids for treatments of HIV and respiratory and auto-immune diseases.

Steve Troman, steriles and inhalations business unit director, said the changes were exciting and further proof of GlaxoSmithKline’s commitment to Barnard Castle, where it has been based since the 1940s.

He told The Northern Echo: “We’re about to launch a therapy for Lupus, which will be the first new product for it in about 30 years.

“It is an auto-immune disease, that affects young women predominantly, where the body attacks its own defences and this is one of the first new treatments in 30 years, which will be produced and supplied out of this factory.

“It will transfer across into the new facility.”

Alastair Leighton, site director, said the treatment has the potential to give patients greater freedom.

He added: “One of the symptoms of Lupus is chronic fatigue.

“So, if you can imagine be- n Still Thriving – Page 28 ing able to make this innovative medicine available to people in their own homes and they can self-administer, clearly there is a huge lifestyle advantage for them.”

Mr Troman emphasised the notion of self-sufficient healthcare, adding the firm’s workforce, which extends beyond the 1,000 mark, has a strong focus on ensuring patients around the world are cared for.

He said: “A lot of the strain on healthcare comes from having to go into hospitals for treatment, so, if we can allow people to do that at home, it reduces the strain on care providers.

“The people here really respond to and understand the impact they can have through the things they do every day.

“I think that’s where the passion comes from.

“We are making life-changing and life-saving medicines and we’ve tried a lot to bring that to life and create that link between what we are doing and the patient that really needs the medicine.”

Mr Leighton also confirmed the company’s umbilical cord therapy, which replaces traditions including smearing dung on fresh wounds, was having a positive effect.

He added: “Where it has been delivered so far it’s had a profound effect.

“Our job now is to increase access to that innovative nursing in those parts of the world that unfortunately cannot take hygiene for granted like we can to some extent.

“It is something that the teams at Barnard Castle are really proud of.”