Tánaiste opens ALZA facility

Tánaiste Mary Harney today officially opened the new manufacturing facility of ALZA Ireland Ltd at Cashel, Co Tipperary.

The Cashel facility is ALZA Corporation’s first manufacturing facility outside of the US.

With the support of IDA Ireland, ALZA Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson, announced in 2001 that Ireland would be the location for its new commercial manufacturing facility for the production of drug delivery systems.

This initial $50m (€41.4m) investment has led to the creation of 100 jobs to-date.

Speaking at the opening the Tánaiste said that she was delighted with the progress that had been made at the facility.

She added: “This investment was hailed as a major breakthrough for the economic development of Cashel at the time of its announcement and here today is evidence of the hard work, dedication and commitment that ALZA Corporation and the local management team have undertaken since 2001 in partnership with the local authorities and the community.

"ALZA are to be congratulated on this 60,000 sq ft state-of-the-art manufacturing facility. It exemplifies a high standard environment for the type of high skill pharmaceutical manufacturing activities that we are seeking to attract.”

ALZA Corporation’s technologies include oral delivery systems, transdermal systems and human implantable systems which all control the dosage, timing and release of medication in a range of human medicines.