100 jobs for thriving biotech plant

UP to 100 new jobs are expected to be announced for Waterford today at a thriving biotechnology plant which already employs 250 people.

Tánaiste and Health Minister, Mary Harney, is expected to announce the jobs when she officially open a €125 million Biologics Fill & Finish facility for Genzyme this morning.

The company is one of the world’s leading biotechnology companies and employs 250 staff at its plant on the Cork Road. It set up in Waterford in May 2001 with the aim of recruiting up to 500 people in total.

The new & facility, which opens this morning, will manufacture a range of biological products for the global healthcare market from Genzyme’s increasingly diversified product portfolio. Genzyme has invested more than €200m to date in its Waterford operation.

Dominic Carolan, Vice President and General Manager of Genzyme Ireland said the new Biologics facility provides Genzyme with one of the world’s most modern Fill & Finish Facilities, which currently finishes products manufactured at other Genzyme sites.

“Currently, Waterford is the primary tableting site for one of the company’s most important products, Renagel, a phosphate binder for patients with chronic kidney disease who are on dialysis,” he said.

“We have also expanded the Process Research and Development facility in support of clinical trial materials manufacture for many of Genzyme’s new and upcoming trials.”

The new facility incorporates a three-storey production building, associated central utility building and warehouse. The plant is designed to be a multi-product facility capable of filling vials ranging from 5ml up to 50ml at speeds of 100-400 units per minute for worldwide markets.

Founded in Boston in 1981, Genzyme has grown from a small start-up to a diversified enterprise with annual revenues of €1.8 billion. Genzyme is a leader in the effort to develop and apply the most advanced technologies in the life sciences to address a range of unmet medical needs.

Its products and services are focused on rare inherited disorders, kidney disease, orthopaedics, transplant and immune disease, cancer, and diagnostic testing.