US pharmaceutical company BioMarin is to buy Pfizer’s manufacturing facility in Shanbally, Co Cork and create up to 100 high quality jobs over the next five years.
The California-based firm, which makes drug treatments for serious and rare diseases, paid about $48.5m for the 133,000sq-ft bulk biologics manufacturing facility.
Currently, the company has a number of possible new products in late stage development.
Following the announcement by BioMarin, Jobs Minister Richard Bruton TD said: “The pharmaceutical industry has developed into a particular strength of the Irish economy in recent years: most of the world’s leading companies in the field have a presence here and we have developed an industry which plays a global role out of all proportion to the size of our economy.”
The acquisition of the Shanbally plant will greatly expand the company’s manufacturing capacity and accommodate a growing portfolio, said BioMarin’s chief executive Jean Jacques Bienaimé.
About 65 Pfizer employees will have to leave the plant before the acquisition is completed in September. The pharma giant is looking to have them deployed to other areas of the business. In the intervening months Pfizer will be working with recruiting companies in an on-site ‘Careers Matching Programme’ to support the transition from Pfizer for those for which no alternative opportunities within the network are available.
Article courtesy of Businessandleadership.com
