Novartis Ringaskiddy to be sold to UK firm Sterling

Novartis Ireland employs 1,500 people across three locations in Cork and Dublin

Companies said the agreement with Sterling will secure the continued manufacturing of medicines and significant expertise in Ringaskiddy.

Pharmaceutical manufacturer Novartis has reached an agreement with UK firm Sterling Pharma Solutions to divest its facility in Ringaskiddy in Cork.

As part of the agreement announced today, Sterling will produce medicines in Ireland for Novartis. Both companies said the agreement with Sterling will secure the continued manufacturing of medicines and significant expertise in Ringaskiddy.

Sterling said they foresee the continued provision of manufacturing, in a number of key areas, like cardiology, immunology and oncology to Novartis.

Under the terms of the agreement, Sterling will acquire the 111-acre site, which includes three active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) manufacturing buildings, as well as support and development facilities.

Novartis Ireland currently employs about 1,500 people across three locations in Cork and Dublin.

In October 2019, the company announced the consolidation of manufacturing operations at Ringaskiddy with plans to phase out 320 jobs over a three-year period. At the time, 350 people were working at the manufacturing operation with a further 180 staff based at a global service centre on the same site. That process is currently at its halfway stage. Currently, there are approximately 400 staff working in manufacturing at the Ringaskiddy site.

The site in Cork recently secured a $16m (€14.4m) investment from Novartis to manufacture a strategic raw material for a significant cardiovascular medicine. Sterling will also manufacture Novartis medicines in the areas of immunology and oncology on the site.

Maeve Byrne, Managing Director of Novartis Ringaskiddy said: “We are very proud of our colleagues, who have achieved an excellent reputation for high quality, reliable production over the last 27 years. We are pleased to have secured the continued manufacturing of Novartis medicines in Ringaskiddy by Sterling, as well as to support the sustainability of jobs with significant expertise."

Financial details of the sale, which is expected to close in the final quarter of this year have not been disclosed.

Audrey Derveloy, Country President of Novartis in Ireland said they will support staff throughout the transition process. 

Sterling’s Chief Executive Officer, Kevin Cook, said the addition of the Ringaskiddy facility to their portfolio will allow them to provide expanded capacity to their customers. 

"The site at Ringaskiddy has a number of synergies with our current global facilities enabling us to continue our growth strategy in the small molecule market, as well as extending our capabilities in several key technological areas such as peptide manufacturing and large-scale chromatography.”

The addition of the Ringaskiddy campus will see Sterling’s global workforce to more than 1,000 employees. The Novartis acquisition follows Sterling's acquisition of a site in Wisconsin in the US from Alcami in 2020 and a dedicated antibody-drug conjugate facility in Deeside in the UK last year.