Committed to Hamilton. GlaxoSmithKline officials from Belgium attend groundbreaking

Montana and Korea have something in common, according to Patrick Florent, the Belgium-based Sr. Vice President of Global Operations for the pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline.

“These are the two places in the world where my Blackberry doesn’t work,” the jet-lagged executive said with a laugh in sunny Hamilton Wednesday. The comment came while he was holding up his tiny portable device used to check email to an equally amused gathering of GSK employees, lawmakers, and state and local officials.

Florent and John Picken, who oversees GSK’s North American manufacturing plants, were the guests of honor at a groundbreaking ceremony for the company’s now estimated $90 to $110 million investment at its plant off of Old Corvallis Road. The two men, who were about 45 minutes late because of a delayed flight, said they traveled 35 hours from the company’s offices in Rixensart, Belgium to attend.

GlaxoSmithKline, the world’s 2nd largest pharmaceutical manufacturer, has more than 100,000 employees and is headquartered in Great Britain. It purchased Corixa, including its plant in Hamilton, for about $300 million in July of last year.

by PERRY PEARSON – Ravalli Republic

Full Story: http://www.ravallirepublic.com/articles/2006/05/12/news/news01.txt