A US pharmaceutical company will create up to 250 jobs at an IDA advance factory in Cashel, Co Tipperary.
Alza Corporation will invest $50 million (€53.1 million) in the facility, which will manufacture drug delivery products developed by the company. Recruitment is to begin immediately.
Announcing the jobs yesterday, local TD and Minister of State Mr Noel Davern said it was a "major breakthrough" for the economic development of the area. The failure of areas other than Clonmel to capitalise on the economic boom was a major issue in last year's by-election in Tipperary South. Cashel and Tipperary were particularly cited as towns in need of industrial investment.
IDA Ireland, which had been negotiating with Alza for the past year, said the development would lead to the creation of 100 jobs initially. Mr Davern, however, told journalists that the figure could rise to 250 within three years.
Alza, founded in California in 1968, has evolved from being a research company licensing out its proprietary products to large pharmaceutical companies, to developing and making its own products. The company's technologies include oral delivery systems, transdermal systems and human implant systems, all of which control the dosage, timing and release of medication in a range of human medicines. The systems are reputed to have less adverse side effects than other forms of drug delivery such as tablets and injections.
Initially, the Cashel plant will manufacture transdermal products but the company expects to broaden the range in the future.
It will locate in a 20,000 sq ft building at Cashel Business Park and plans to extend the building to 40,000 sq ft to service the growth in markets for its products outside the US.
Mr Davern said the plant would bring a range of high-quality engineering and production jobs to Cashel. "It is just what the town needs at this time."
The construction of the advance factory was recommended by the task force established by the Tanaiste, Ms Harney, following the closure of the Seagate factory in Clonmel in 1997. Mr Davern said the next priority was to provide an advance factory in Tipperary town, as also recommended by the task force.
