Biopharmaceutical investment to create 200 jobs

AROUND 200 jobs are to be created in a planned €400 million investment in a new biopharmaceutical plant in Co Cork.

Eli Lilly has announced that it is to construct the plant adjacent to its existing factory at Dunderrow near Kinsale, where it currently employs 400 people.

The new plant will produce medicines to treat cancer, diabetes and Alzheimer’s disease. The proposed 200 jobs will be created over a five-year period.

The company’s Dunderrow-based general manager, Maria Crowe said that after 25 years of successful manufacturing in Kinsale, the announcement represented a significant diversification of the site into a new technology platform. She said the planned investment will allow the site to develop and manufacture a new generation of products for the corporation and for patients around the world.

Eli Lilly presently employs 43,000 worldwide and sells to 143 countries.

“This is great news for the Kinsale plant. It underlines the confidence of the corporation in the capability and track record of our employees and will position the site very well for the future,” Ms Crowe said.

Paul Ahern, the company’s vice president in global manufacturing, said the €400 million investment was part of Eli Lilly’s planned growth strategy and proof of its confidence in the future of the biotechnology sector.

“The decision to locate this facility on our existing site at Dunderrow owes a lot to the strong performance of the site to date, the access to top quality personnel and the support of IDA Ireland,” Mr Ahern said.

Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Micheál Martin said the announcement further strengthens Ireland’s, and in particular Cork’s, position as the number one location of choice for major biopharmaceutical activity outside the US.

“It is a major achievement for IDA Ireland to have won this investment against intense global competition. This win for Ireland illustrates the fact that due to investments made by this Government in the biotechnology industry in recent years we now have the infrastructure, the people and the skills to attract this type of investment. Eli Lilly’s Irish operation is poised to become the centre of excellence in biopharmaceutical manufacturing technology which will represent an increasing percentage of Lilly’s medicines of the future,” the minister said.

Established in 1981, the plant in Kinsale manufactures active ingredients for a number of its most important pharmaceuticals, including Zyprexa, for the treatment of Schizophrenia and Evista, for the prevention of osteoporosis.