Merck to invest €200m in new vaccine plant
Wednesday November 28 2007
US pharmaceutical giant Merck is to invest €200m in Carlow to build a major vaccine production facility in the town with the creation of 170 jobs by 2011.
The news comes as welcome relief for Carlow which has experienced a swathe of job cuts from employers such as Irish Sugar, Braun and Lapple.
Announcing the investment yesterday, Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment Micheal Martin said Merck will be creating "high quality" employment opportunities, while the competition to attract the investment to Ireland had been "intense".
He added that the investment represents a "very significant consolidation" of Ireland's high-profile position as a location for substantial biotechnology investments.
Merck said that the facility will be the first stand-alone vaccine project in the country, and will include a formulation and filling operation, as well as a research team.
That team will be responsible for supporting recently-launched vaccines and new products. Construction at the 65-acre Carlow site is due to begin next year.
Merck already employs 460 people in Ireland, at plants in Tipperary and Dublin.
Last month, the company was forced to halt a global trial for a vaccine that sought to prevent the transmission of HIV. It said that studies found that the vaccine, which had been administered to 3,000 HIV-negative volunteers, had failed to prevent HIV infection or prove effective in delaying the progression of the virus to AIDS.
The Merck investment in Carlow comes on top of some major pharmaceutical commitments to the country within the past number of months.
Pfizer is currently planning to spend an additional $500m (€337m) and create hundreds of new jobs to expand a new biological facility in Cork. Last month, Wyeth announced a €24m investment that will create a number of jobs in Kildare.
Last year Merck announced an €85m investment to construct a 70,000 square-feet facility at Clonmel. The plant will manufacture a number of new drugs and should be completed by 2010.
- John Mulligan
