Merck Buys WuXi's Irish Vaccines Plant

Written by Martin Lynch, European News Editor for Industrial Info (Galway, Ireland)--MSD Ireland (Dublin, Ireland), part of Merck & Co. (NYSE:MRK) (Rathway, New Jersey), is spending 500 million euro (US$521 million) to acquire WuXi Biologics' (Jiansu, China) Dundalk vaccines manufacturing site as part of an ongoing expansion of its Irish operations.

WuXi's facility at the Dundalk Science and Technology Park in County Louth, is a 15,520-square-meter, three-story vaccine manufacturing facility featuring drug substance manufacturing, drug product manufacturing, and quality control labs for the supply of vaccine products for the global market. It employs approximately 200 professionals on site, who will move to MSD as part of the handover in the coming months. WuXi will continue to operate its biologics plant at the same site that employs up to 600 people. Last month, Industrial Info reported that WuXi had received the green light for a US$30 million expansion project to construct a new effluent balancing and resource recovery plant (EBRRP) on a 19-acre site adjacent to existing operations. For additional information, see December 9, 2024, article - Green Light for WuXi Irish Pharma Plant. WuXi's vaccine plant has been working exclusively with MSD since inception in 2019 as part of a 20-year vaccine supply deal.

MSD Ireland is looking at significant growth across its Irish operations and, including this acquisition, is planning to add approximately 1,000 jobs over coming years across its eight locations in counties Carlow, Cork, Dublin, Louth, Meath and Tipperary. Executive Vice President and President of MSD's Manufacturing Division Sanat Chattopadhyay said: "MSD's manufacturing footprint in Ireland is unparalleled, and I am proud to oversee its continuous expansion, always looking to advance the future of health through innovation and acceleration in the service of people and patients around the world. The acquisition of this WuXi Vaccines site in Dundalk will give us the opportunity to do just that."

The deal was welcomed by Ireland's Taoiseach Simon Harris: "Today's announcement is highly welcome news and is a tremendous vote of confidence in the people of Dundalk and Co. Louth. MSD is a long-standing partner to Ireland and has shown an unwavering commitment both to the country and to its drive to innovate. The acquisition of the Dundalk facility, along with the company's plans to add 150 additional jobs to it, as part of an overall increase of 1,000 positions across its Irish operations in the coming years will play an important role in its development and delivery of innovative products that will improve the lives of millions of people around the world."

Over the past year, MSD has invested roughly 1 billion euro (US$1.04 billion) in its Irish operations and expanded its workforce by 670 people, bringing its headcount to more than 3,000. The latest projects included the completion of the MSD Dunboyne plant in County Meath, which is the company's first biologics drug substance single-use commercialisation facility, focusing on commercializing key medicines. There was also a major expansion of the company's MSD Carlow site in County Carlow, which was established in 2008 and was MSD's first vaccines operation outside of the United States. The new facility will focus on the production of next generation oncology biologics.

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