Pfizer to invest $130m in Cork and Dublin at Ringaskiddy and Grange Castle

Pharmaceutical company Pfizer has announced two investments in Ireland totalling $130m.

The money will be used to upgrade and extend existing Pfizer manufacturing sites at Ringaskiddy in Cork and Grange Castle in Dublin.

 

$100m is being invested in the Grange Castle site in Dublin, where up to 250 construction jobs will be created. $30m is being invested in the Ringaskiddy site. 

The investments, which are supported by IDA Ireland, will enable those sites to produce new drugs that are in development at the moment.

 

Pfizer has recently seen two multi-billion dollar revenue drugs, Lipitor and Viagra, come off patent. Replacing the revenue from treatments such as those is a key issue for the drug industry and for Ireland.

 

"We are seeing the benefits of the investments we've been making in our innovative core, as evidenced by recent key launches of medicines for stroke prevention, rheumatoid arthritis and cancer, as well as significant progress within our mid-to-late stage product pipeline,'' commented Dr Paul Duffy, Vice President of Pfizer.

 

''There is opportunity for Pfizer's Irish sites to attract the development of new medicines, while also continuing to manufacture existing, important medicines. Our Irish operations are significant and we have excellent colleagues across our sites, dedicated to the highest standards of manufacturing quality and excellence,'' he added.

"Today's announcement that Pfizer is to invest $130m is confirmation that we are taking the right steps to ensure that Ireland is a key location for companies like Pfizer to expand and grow their business,'' said the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation Richard Bruton.

 

IDA Ireland's chief executive Barry O'Leary noted that since Pfizer first set up in Ireland in the 1970s, it has invested over $7 billion in developing the ''skills, scale and capability necessary to manufacture some of its leading medicines for global export from Ireland''.

 

Pfizer has an Irish workforce of about 3,200 people at six sites across the country who are involved in manufacturing, shared services, treasury and commercial operations.

In 2011, it announced a $200m investment in the Grange Castle site to develop a new facility to expand the manufacturing process for a new vaccine.

Many of Pfizer's leading medicines are manufactured for global export from Irish sites.

comments powered by Disqus