Jobs boost for Cork pharmaceutical sector

A reported 150 jobs are to be created in the pharmaceutical sector in Cork over the next year with the construction of a €70m facility.

Altana Pharma Limited will be setting up at the IDA Industrial Estate in Carrigtwohill with construction beginning the end of this month.

The German-based company will initially produce a drug used in the treatment of asthma at the Cork plant.

The news comes as 170 workers at the Schering Plough pharmaceutical plant in Inishannon in the county prepare to be laid off at the end of this month due to a downturn in the market.