The decision of a US advisory panel to approve a new device from Boston Scientific is "enormously positive news" for Galway, a spokesman for the company has said.
Boston Scientific, which already employs 2,600 in Galway, is continuing to hire new staff, largely to work on the production of the new device, Taxus.
The device is a tiny wire mesh that props open surgically cleared arteries and delivers medicines that keep arteries from reclogging.
An advisory panel in the US has urged the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) there to approve the device and a decision is expected in January or February of next year.
The FDA usually follows the advice of the panel. The decision of the panel is considered hugely important in the company's wait for approval for the device in the US. It is already being sold in Europe and the rest of the world, with product for these markets coming from Galway.
If approved for the US, the market will be supplied from a plant in the US as well as from Galway. The FDA consideration of the device will include an inspection of the Galway plant.
The company wants to have production capacity in both the Irish and US plants in case of unexpectedly high demand or an unforeseen event at either location.
A spokesman for the company said the company has plans to employ another 100 people in Galway and that further employment is possible depending on the success of the drug.
"This device could easily double the size of the company's turnover in two years. That would be a positive development for Galway, though how many more people will be needed to produce how much more product is not clear. But the future looks good for Galway."
Drug-coated stents are considered a breakthrough in treating clogged heart arteries because the medicines are designed to prevent the scar tissue build-up that frequently results in the need for repeat procedures to unblock arteries.
Some analysts have estimated that the size of the market for the stents could be bigger than €7 billion a year worldwide by 2010. Boston Scientific's stock price is up more than 60 per cent on the start of the year.
The stock gained 2 per cent late last week with the announcement of the panel's decision.
In data presented earlier this month to a heart conference, about 7.9 percent of patients receiving Taxus had reclogging, called restenosis, compared with 26.6 percent implanted with bare-metal stents.
