Novartis selects campus for centre

Global pharmaceutical giant Novartis has selected Dublin’s Elm Park Business Campus, near St Vincent’s Hospital, as the home for its new regional business services centre.

The company — which ranks as the second largest pharmaceutical firm in the world — initially announced its selection of Dublin, after an extensive study of European options, as the location of the centre in April.

Since then, the operation — which will cover services such as digital marketing, training and medical writing — has been housed, on an interim basis, within Novartis’s Beech Hill office, in nearby Clonskeagh.

The re-housing of the services unit will bring to four the number of sites Novartis has in operation across Dublin and Cork.

Novartis has not disclosed an investment spend for the new site — which is still in the early planning stages — but has said it should be increasing job numbers, via the expansion.

A spokesperson for the firm said, yesterday, that the company is “on track” to hire around 100 people by the end of this year.

The company added that it is excited about the new facility and is pleased to continue to invest in Ireland, “through the creation of high quality jobs”.

IDA Ireland has welcomed the updated news from Novartis; the agency’s chief, Barry O’Leary, hailing the firm as “a key strategic IDA client”.

Nine of the top 10 global pharmaceutical companies are operating in Ireland.