IN BRIEF
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IRELAND IS WORLD’S LARGEST NET EXPORTER OF PHARMACEUTICALS
Irelandis the largestnet exporter ofpharmaceuticals intheworld,Minister forSmallBusiness JohnPerry TDtolda recent IrishPharmaceuticalHealthcareAsso- ciationseminar.Exports fromIreland’spharmaceutical sector arenowvaluedat€55bnandaccount for 50pc of total exports fromthe
country.The industry con- tributes total tax receipts of€3bnannually to the Irish economy. TheMinister said nine of the top 10 pharmaceutical and
15 of the top 25medical technology companies in theworld have significant operations here. “Ireland is alsowell recognised as a global hub for the life
sciences sector due to the presence of substantial opera- tions of leading companies includingAbbott,Amgen, Bris- tol-Myers-Squibb, Eli Lilly,GlaxoSmithKline, Johnson& Johnson, to name but a few,” he said. He also noted a thriving indigenous sector,which is
highly innovative and dynamic. “Irish companies are com- peting successfully in internationalmarkets throughout the
world.This sector has been growing at an average of 13pc a year over the past four yearswith employment growing by 7pc last year.” “Ireland has shown that it has the competence to
develop,manufacture, distribute and service patient-cen- tric solutions fromdevices to drugs, frommanaging infor- mation and controlling process quality tomanaging global supply chains.” In relation to investment in research, Perry noted a steer-
ing group has beenworking to identify priority areas for future investment thatwill have the potential to deliver sus- tainable economic return through enterprise development, employment growth, job retention and tangible improve- ments to the quality of life. Meanwhile, a number of pharma and life
sciences companies have recently announced significant expansion and investment plans in Ireland. In January,Allergan Pharmaceuticals Ire-
land revealed plans to investUS$350min its Westport operation to expand both its devel- opment andmanufacturing
capabilities.This will result in around 200 newjobs at the site over the next four years and an estimated 250 indirect jobs locally during the construction period. Itwill enable the company to expand the
manufacturing capacity for Botox and de- velop amanufacturing base for the next gen- eration of biologic products currently in the
Mylan executive chairman, Robert J Coury
Allergan pipeline. Biopharmaceuticals company Eli Lilly announced in Feb-
ruary that is investing €330min a new facility at itsKin- sale campus in Cork,whichwill see the creation of jobs for 200 highly skilled
employees.The investment expands the site's existing biopharmaceuticalmissionwith an additional world-class commercialisation andmanufacturing facility. Also in February,Abbott announced an €85minvestment
in its pharmaceuticalmanufacturing operation in Sligo, whichwill create around 175 highly skilled
jobs.The com- pany said the expansion,whichwill be completed in 2014, will provide additionalmanufacturing space to support its future pharmaceutical pipeline and provide additional ca- pacity in its global pharmaceuticalmanufacturing network. InMarch,Alkermes officially opened its newglobal cor-
porate headquarters
inDublin.The company employs more than 400 people in Ireland between this office and its manufacturing and drug development facility inAthlone,
CoWestmeath.Alkermes plcwas formed following the merger ofAlkermes, Inc and ElanDrugTechnologies (EDT) in September 2011. InApril,Amgen announced the start of aUS$200m-plus
expansion programme in Ireland that is expected to result in the creation of 100
jobs.The programme at the company’sDún Laoghaire facilitywill in- clude the construction of an 11,700 sqmetres extensionwith newproduction plant and ex- pandedwarehouse. Itwill also include the major refurbishment of the existing buildings andmajor technology process improvements. The samemonth, generics pharmaceutical
manufacturerMylan announced 500 newposi- tions at itsDublin andGalway operations as part of an annual investment of up to €76m over the next five
years.The company cur- rently employs about 700 people in Ireland. The planned expansion involvesR&Dand manufacturing capabilitieswithin the com- pany’s respiratory, injectables and oral solids franchises.
Issue 4 Spring/Summer 2012 INNOVATION IRELAND REVIEW 9
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