Pfizer Investing $351 Million in Irish Pharma Plants

Written by Martin Lynch, European News Editor for Industrial Info (Galway, Ireland)--Pharmaceutical heavyweight Pfizer Incorporated (NYSE:PFE) has announced that it is going to invest 300 million euro ($351 million) across three manufacturing sites in Ireland.

It plans to expand or upgrade its Grange Castle, Newbridge and Ringaskiddy manufacturing sites, and the company will add 300 jobs over the next three years which will take its Irish workforce to more than 4,000 staff. The Irish sites manufacture a wide range of medicines and vaccines in the areas of arthritis, inflammation, cancer, anti-infectives, haemophilia, pain and stroke. The new skilled jobs will encompass analysts, technicians, engineers, scientists, technologists, quality specialists, data analysts and chemists. The news comes as the company and its German partner BioNTech (NASDAQ: BNTX) carry out Phase 3 trials on its hopeful planned COVID-19 vaccine, BNT162.

The investment will be used to add additional manufacturing and laboratory capacity across all sites, with additional anticipated construction roles in Ringaskiddy, County Cork. Part of the investment includes the initial stage of a project to construct a development facility on the existing Ringaskiddy site to manufacture pharmaceutical compounds for Pfizer's clinical trials globally. This marks a shift in Pfizer's Irish operations from one of only manufacturing of already approved medicines into supporting the earlier phases of new medicine development.

Ireland's Taoiseach, Micheál Martin, welcomed the investment: "This significant jobs and investment announcement by Pfizer is a further vote of confidence in the skills and talent of Irish people and provides a very welcome boost to the economy. Pfizer's footprint in Ireland was first established in Ringaskiddy in Cork in 1969, marking the beginning of a new era of pharmaceutical investment in Ireland. Over the past five decades, there has been a huge expansion of the sector in this country, creating thousands of jobs and solidifying Ireland's reputation as a world leader in pharmaceutical innovation and manufacturing."

Dr. Paul Duffy, vice president, Pfizer Global Supply said: "Pharmaceutical manufacturing in Ireland continues to perform very well, contributing strongly to exports and economic growth and provides excellent career opportunities. Pfizer has an extensive global and U.S. footprint with operations in over 125 countries worldwide and we are very pleased with today's announcements which will strengthen our Irish operations and bring our total headcount in Ireland to 4,000. It is also particularly exciting that our Ringaskiddy site has been chosen as the location to manufacture investigational compounds for our clinical trials globally and we look forward to seeing that new facility become operational."

In March, Industrial Info reported that Pfizer had become the latest company to sign a deal with Germany's BioNTech to co-develop a potential vaccine for the coronavirus. The companies have been jointly developing BioNTech's mRNA-based vaccine candidate BNT162 to prevent COVID-19 infection. It is currently in final Phase 3 trials and last month the European Union (EU) approved a "rolling review" of the vaccine with a view to fast-tracking its rollout. For additional information, see March 24, 2020, article--Pfizer Looks to Europe For Coronavirus Vaccine and the October 19, 2020, article--Europe Fast Tracks Process for BioNTech/Pfizer COVID-19 Drug.

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