Irish drug firm to meet demand for vaccines

A CLARE pharmaceutical plant will take on a frontline role in meeting worldwide demand for bird flu vaccine.

Roche Ireland, which employs 265 full-time and 200 contract workers at Clarecastle is helping to produce the antiviral drug Tamiflu.

A spokesman for Roche Ireland said the company would produce 400 million dosages of Tamiflu over the next eight months to help cope with a bird flu pandemic if one happens.