The pharma giant is hiring project managers, engineers, quality control personnel and facility management.
GE Healthcare has unveiled a new manufacturing line at its Carrigtwohill, Co Cork facility, which will create 140 jobs.
The new €30.5m production line at the company’s Carrigtwohill facility will make injectable diagnostic imaging agents, which are used in X-ray and CT procedures around the world.
The pharma giant is currently hiring project managers, operatives, engineers, quality control personnel and facility management for the Cork site.
GE Healthcare said the new jobs are part of a commitment to address the increased demand for these iodinated contrast media products, which are used to enhance medical imaging procedures.
“We expect global demand for iodinated contrast media to double over the next 10 years due to the growth of CT imaging procedures,” said GE Healthcare pharmaceutical diagnostics president and CEO Kevin O’Neill.
“As an industry leader, we understand our responsibility to help meet this growing demand from customers and patients and this new production line is part of our wider commitment to produce 30m more patient doses of contrast media annually by 2025.”
The manufacturing line was officially opened today (14 October) by Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform Michael McGrath, TD.
McGrath said GE Healthcare has “consistently invested” in manufacturing in Cork, combining state-of-the-art technology, global best pharma practices and a “highly qualified workforce”.
“Today’s opening represents yet another vote of confidence in Cork as a location for pharmaceutical manufacturing,” McGrath said.
The company’s pharmaceutical diagnostics business develops and manufactures imaging agents used to support more than 100m procedures globally per year. The new manufacturing line is expected to boost production capacity at the Cork facility by more than 50pc by 2025.
GE Healthcare’s Carrigtwohill facility opened in 1993 and currently employs 765 people. The company announced a $40m investment into the site in 2015, to add 140 jobs and double its production capacity.
The latest facility expansion was delivered over a 24-month period, with design and project management led by BioPharma Engineering, while construction works were completed by MMD Construction.
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