A NEW charitable foundation linked to one of Northern Ireland’s top companies is set to deliver a multi-million pound boost to pioneering research and development while promoting new jobs.

Dr Allen McClay, one of the North’s wealthiest entrepreneurs, has established the McClay Foundation to spearhead research into the prevention, control and cure of disease.

Dr McClay has also taken the unprecedented step of making the new foundation a key shareholder in his multi-million pound pharmaceutical services group, based in Craigavon.

The Almac Group, which has an annual turnover in the region of £160 million (€183 million), employs 2,422 people worldwide, including 1,559 in Northern Ireland.

Dr McClay had previously been the group’s sole shareholder.

He said his decision to set up the new foundation was driven by a desire to create a vehicle which could perpetually deliver important financial support for ground-breaking research projects, and give Almac’s employees long-term security.

Dr McClay, who is estimated to have a personal fortune of more than £150 million, hopes the foundation will generate and promote new jobs for people in the North. He said he had long recognised the strengths that both industry and academia contributed to the ongoing fight against cancer and many other illnesses.

“The McClay Foundation will fund projects which harness the energies of these two sectors to advance diagnosis and treatments for the prevention, control and cure of disease.

“By funding such projects we will improve the lives of many people who today have limited access to suitable treatments. This is a new era for Northern Ireland and will ensure the region becomes internationally recognised for its excellence in medical research.”

Dr McClay received a knighthood in the UK in 2006 in recognition of his services to both business and charity.

He established Northern Ireland’s first billion-pound company, Galen Holdings, in 1968. Galen later acquired the US group Warner Chilcott, which was subsequently taken over by private equity investors.

Dr McClay stepped down from Galen Holdings in 2001 and initially invested £240 million of his own money to acquire four of Galen’s core businesses to form the foundation from which he established the Almac Group in Craigavon.