US MEDICAL device company Abiomed has confirmed it is to open a new manufacturing facility in Athlone for the production of its Impella 2.5 product for patients suffering acute heart failure.
The opening of the Abiomed plant is expected to be confirmed by Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise Mary Coughlan at an IDA Ireland-hosted event in Athlone on Tuesday.
Abiomed has signed a long-term operating lease on an Athlone facility formerly occupied by Conor Medsystems which has a total of 33,000sq ft of space, including approximately 10,000 sq ft of finished clean room space. Conor Medsystems, which was acquired by Johnson and Johnson, closed with the loss of 165 jobs in May 2007.
The Massachusetts-headquartered company will be moving portions of its manufacturing facility in Aachen, Germany, to Athlone. It said it expected the first manufacturing line in Athlone to be in production within 18 months.
Abiomed has indicated its longer-term plans will be to designate Ireland as Abiomed’s global centre of excellence for high-volume disposable product manufacturing. “We are excited to announce our capacity expansion plans to meet anticipated long-term demand for our Impella 2.5 device,” said Michael Minogue, the firm’s chairman, chief executive officer and president.
“We chose this Irish location because it simply met our primary criteria – a great building with existing clean room space, a great workforce, a strong supplier network, and the financial and cash investments are within our previously budgeted fiscal year 2009 plan.” The firm said it was receiving grants from IDA Ireland.
