A HUNDRED new jobs will be created thanks to a firm's 40,000 sq ft expansion in Swindon.

Pharmaceutical development company Catalent held a ground-breaking ceremony at the site of the new £27 million building at Blagrove.

The firm's general manager Peter Allen said: “The medicines that we make here in Swindon help patients all around the world and are commonplace in many people's lives as a convenient way to take tablets.

“We are very proud of the scientific team that we have here that has developed revolutionary technology which will allow us to expand and grow, and widen the number of potential life-changing conditions we can treat.”

The Catalent site is home to the company’s technology, which allows for the manufacture of tablets that dissolve instantly in the mouth without water.

The investment will see the site almost double its manufacturing capacity for tablets as it introduces its new technology, which increases the dose incorporated within a tablet.

As well as the tablet development and manufacturing operation, the site undertakes a number of other activities, including pharmaceutical testing for many UK and international pharmaceutical companies.

The US firm’s existing facility employs 650 people and manufactures 1.2 billion individual doses of medicines for patients and consumers of over-the-counter medicines around the world each year.