Pharma colossus MSD has announced 330 jobs in Carlow and Cork
The New York Stock Exchange-listed company is pumping €280m into the two sites.
INTERNATIONAL PHARMACEUTICAL FIRM MSD is to create 330 new jobs in Carlow and Cork.
The jobs will be created as part of a €280 million investment over the next three years.
MSD – which trades as Merck in the US and Canada – is a pharmaceutical giant which develops a wide range of new treatments and therapies to treat diabetes, heart disease and other illnesses.
It currently employs over 1,600 people across four sites in Ireland – in Carlow, Cork, Dublin and Tipperary. Its Irish operations had a turnover of €4.7 billion in 2016.
The New York Stock Exchange-listed company said its two manufacturing sites in Cork and Carlow are important links in its global chain of plants.
It said it was making the investment as a result of increased global demands in its Ireland-manufactured medicines and vaccines.
State-of-the-art facility
The plant in Brinny, County Cork is for the development, testing and manufacturing of ‘biologics’, specialising in the fermentation, purification and sterile filling of biotech products.
More than 200 new staff will work on this site, developing medicines for lung cancer, melanoma, hepatitis C and rheumatoid arthritis.
In Carlow, 120 jobs will be created in a state-of-the-art manufacturing facility.
Jobs on offer will include technical, engineering, biochemistry, biology, quality and operations positions.
Commenting on the investment, jobs minister Mary Mitchell O’Connor said that she “warmly welcomed” the announcement.
MSD has been in Ireland for over 50 years. The company’s director of human health in Ireland, Ger Brennan, said the Irish sites are involved in the production of more than half of MSD’s 20 best-selling products, exporting to more than 60 countries. e
He said the Irish operation has spearheaded “the development of new life-changing medicines for patients, including MSD’s new treatments for cancer and hepatitis C”.
Written by Cormac Fitzgerald and posted on TheJournal.ie
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