Ireland 'well placed' for future pharma innovation

Albert Bourla, chief executive of Pfizer, with Michael Lohan, chief executive at IDA Ireland. Picture: Maxwells

IDA Ireland chief executive Michael Lohan has said the country is “well placed” to capitalise on future innovation in the medical sciences sector despite pharmaceutical companies seeing a contraction along with declining exports.

Data published last week showed that Ireland’s economy shrank by 1.9% between July and September, largely driven by falls in sectors dominated by multinationals. The industry sector, which includes pharmaceutical companies, declined by 3.5% with exports also dropping 2.1%.

The fall in the pharmaceutical sector was as a result of a fall-off in covid-related products.

Speaking at an event where pharmaceutical giant Pfizer was given IDA’s Special Recognition Award, Mr Lohan said he did not have any concerns for future foreign direct investment heading into 2024, saying the IDA is “very active” with its client base as it sees where the opportunity for growth is.

He pointed to new opportunities in “innovative” treatments in the medical and life sciences sector.

“Ireland is very strong and well placed to capitalise on that growth potential,” he said.

Albert Bourla, chief executive of Pfizer, said the company’s focus is now turning towards cancer treatments and whether mRNA vaccines — developed to fight covid — can be utilised in this area.

“I see a clear role of our Irish manufacturing network here in this battle because here we have our largest manufacturing capacity in the world in producing biologic products,” he said.