Pharma giant Shire has received formal planning permission for its new $400 million (€371 million)biologics manufacturing facility on a 120 acre site at Piercetown, Co Meath.
The Dublin-headquartered company announced plans to create 400 jobs over the next four years as part of the investment earlier this year.
The facility will use the latest bioprocessing techniques and will employ flexible production strategies to enable it to supply both clinical and commercial scale products.
Recruitment for jobs in areas such as research and development, operations, engineering and construction has already started and will extend into next year.
Expansion
Construction of the new site is expected to begin shortly with the facility expected to be operational by mid-2019.
"We are pleased to have met this important milestone as we move forward in preparation to start building our new manufacturing plant," commented Tim Kelly, senior vice president of biologics operations at Shire.
“This expansion of our manufacturing capability will help us to support even more patients with our innovative rare disease products and pipeline,” said Mr Kelly.
Shire Pharmaceuticals Ireland is involved in the research, development and marketing of prescription medicines. Its particular focus is medicines for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, human genetic therapies and gastrointestinal diseases. It currently employs more than 100 people in Dublin.
Shire chief executive Flemming Ornskov said earlier this year that the project was "fundamental" to its goal of becoming the world's leading biotechnology company focused on rare diseases and other speciality conditions.
“The expansion will enable us to meet increasing product demands, support our pipeline and, ultimately, help more patients,” Mr Ornskov said.
