Pharmaceutical firm BioMarin opens €38m Cork manufacturing plant

It is the company's only manufacturing site outside the US

Geraldine Cregan, executive director and quality site head, BioMarin; Conor Delaney, VP, Shanbally operations and site leader, BioMarin; Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, and Finance Minister Michael McGrath at the opening of BioMarin's new facility in Shanbally, Co Cork, on Friday. Picture: Michael O'Sullivan /OSM

Pharmaceutical firm BioMarin opened its new €38m site in Shanbally, Co Cork, the company's only manufacturing site outside the US.

The new facility, opened on Friday by Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, will manufacture, package and label BioMarin therapies for global distribution. 

The expansion allows the firm to commence end-to-end manufacturing for a number of the company’s commercial products. BioMarin has eight marketed treatments, including its first gene therapy launched last year. The expansion in Cork also gives the facility the capacity to produce additional products as the company grows its pipeline.

Headquartered in California, BioMarin’s first site in Ireland opened in 2012, with just 12 people. The firm now employs more than 500 people across the Shanbally manufacturing site and in Dublin, which serves as its headquarters for Canada and Europe. 

"Our wholly-owned, end-to-end manufacturing sites, including Shanbally, are critical to BioMarin’s global supply capabilities," said Greg Guyer, chief technical officer and executive vice-president, technical operations of BioMarin. 

"This expansion positions us as a leading manufacturing operation in Ireland and will help us maintain our industry-leading production and delivery capabilities for patients around the world."

Speaking at the official opening, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said the expansion represents a significant advancement for biopharma in Ireland. 

BioMarin operates in a unique space serving those living with rare disease and I wish the company well as they continue to invest in operations in Ireland to meet the needs of the rare disease community.”

BioMarin is investing more than €30m to expand its packaging operations at Shanbally and is recruiting for more than 40 roles across its operations at the site.

“Since first establishing in Cork just over 10 years ago, BioMarin has continued to innovate and invest in its Shanbally site, which remains the company’s only manufacturing facility outside of the US,” said Michael Lohan, CEO of IDA Ireland. 

“As a global leader in the manufacturing of treatments for rare diseases, BioMarin’s ongoing investment in Ireland is a welcome endorsement of the country’s position globally as a location of choice for biopharmaceuticals.”