Jim Power: How Big Pharma delivered a shot in the arm for Ireland's economy   

New book traces the impact pharmaceutical manufacturing has had here

An aerial view of the Pfizer site in Ringaskiddy, Co Cork.

Big Pharma is a term used in recent decades by a wide range of people to describe the growth of a huge global industry. It has also been used as a derogatory term by conspiracy theorists who oppose vaccines, though I am sure they will not have had their minds changed by the pharmaceutical companies that have come to fight the global Covid health crisis by delivering vaccines.  

This time last year as the pandemic was steadily choking off the global economy and global society, few believed it would be possible to deliver vaccines for at least a couple of years. However, by the end of 2020 vaccines were produced that promise to get economies back on track.