Global healthcare provider MSD is generating 70 jobs with the opening of two new facilities at its site in Brinny, Co Cork, representing a €28.6m investment.
Officially opened by Minister for Innovation Sean Sherlock, TD, today, the new facilities include the Brinny Bioassay Centre of Expertise and the Brinny Pneumococcal Vaccine Conjugation Facility and are supported by IDA Ireland.
MSD employs 2,300 people in Ireland through its operations in Carlow, Cork, Dublin, Tipperary and Wicklow.
“The opening of the two new facilities here at Brinny is a tangible manifestation of the site business transformation plan we announced last year,” said John Howell, general manager, MSD Brinny.
“As a site we are continually focused on our costs and our operational excellence. The locating of these two facilities at Brinny underlines the strategic importance of this site within the MSD global network.”
Biologic medicine development
MSD develops and commercialises biologic medicines that improve human health. A bioassay measures the biological effect of a test substance on a living cell and is an essential tool for research and development in biologics manufacture.
The new Brinny Bioassay Centre of Expertise will focus on bioassays for therapeutic protein products and will support other MSD sites, including Carlow. Ten highly qualified individuals will work at the centre.
The Brinny Pneumococcal Vaccine Conjugation Facility will produce vaccine for clinical trials in immunisation against pneumococcal disease for paediatric use. The facility will employ 60 people initially through construction, commissioning, qualification and clinical supply phases and 30 highly qualified technicians long term, subject to clinical trial success. The facility will have the capacity to produce 100m doses of pneumococcal conjugate vaccine a year.
MSD’s site in Brinny, Co Cork, is an active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) and sterile manufacturing centre of expertise. Established in 1980, 511 people are currently employed at the site.
Photo: Minister for Innovation Sean Sherlock, TD, who officially opened the MSD facilities
