Image: © Игорь Головнёв/Stock.adobe.com
The Ringaskiddy site will retain links with Novartis, as Sterling will manufacture medicines in Ireland for the company.
Pharmaceutical multinational Novartis has agreed to sell its Ringaskiddy manufacturing facility in Co Cork to UK-headquartered manufacturing and development company Sterling Pharma Solutions. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
The transaction is expected to be formally closed later this year. Under the agreement, Sterling will acquire and operate the pharma giant’s Ringaskiddy facility, which will remain linked with Novartis.
Sterling will continue to manufacture Novartis’s immunology and oncology medicines on site and Novartis Integrated Services will also remain at the Ringaskiddy base.
Novartis’s gene therapy centre, medicines division and global service centre are all located in Dublin.
In a company statement, Novartis said the move was “a continuation of the site’s transformation journey to support a more sustainable future”.
It added that the agreement with Sterling would “secure the continued manufacturing of medicines and significant expertise in Ringaskiddy”.
Novartis employs around 1,500 people in Ireland, with approximately 400 of those based at Ringaskiddy.
Maeve Byrne, managing director said of the Cork facility, commented: “We are very proud of our colleagues who have achieved an excellent reputation for high-quality, reliable production over the last 27 years. We are pleased to have secured the continued manufacturing of Novartis medicines in Ringaskiddy by Sterling, as well as to support the sustainability of jobs with significant expertise.”
Audrey Derveloy, country president of Novartis in Ireland, thanked colleagues at Ringaskiddy for “their ongoing commitment”. She added that the company would support them “throughout the transition process”.
Head of Novartis’s global service centre in Dublin, Ciara O’Connell, recently told SiliconRepublic.com how the company is increasingly focusing on data science and digital services with help from Ireland’s tech ecosystem and talent pool.
Don’t miss out on the knowledge you need to succeed. Sign up for the Daily Brief, Silicon Republic’s digest of need-to-know sci-tech news.
