Pfizer plans €175m facility
Once completed, the biologics plant will employ up to 100 people, and it will be located at the former ADM site in Ringaskiddy.
Pfizer is expected to lodge the planning application next week and the company has already begun design work on the facility.
Biologics refers to medicines made from living rather than chemical matter.
Pfizer purchased the ADM plant next to its headquarters in Ringaskiddy last year for a reported €25m.
A spokesperson from Pfizer said: “The project is currently in preliminary design phase and has not been fully approved. To meet the required project timeline the application for planning is now being submitted.
“The proposed facility would be a Phase 3 clinical trial and initial product launch facility. It would be designed for maximum flexibility, utilising disposable technology.”
Pfizer recently announced that its European workforce will be reduced by more than 20%.
This includes the loss of 65 jobs at its Ringaskiddy plant before the end of the year. It also plans to close its active ingredients plant at Loughbeg, with the loss of 300 jobs in 2008, and, by the end of 2009, it plans to close a manufacturing plant at Little Island, with a further 100 job losses.
Pfizer employs 2,300 people in Ireland, 1,600 of whom work in Cork.
