It was announced this week that Eli Lilly and Company is set to invest €35 million in delivering a new high-tech manufacturing facility at its Kinsale campus, using pioneering technology that has the potential to transform how medicines are made in the future.
The investment is supported by the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation through IDA Ireland.
The new project will apply “Continuous Manufacturing Technology” to carry out the development and commercialisation of a number of Lilly’s small molecule pipeline products that are currently undergoing late-stage clinical trials.
It is hoped a fully operational facility will be established by early 2017. This development will see the Kinsale site becoming the centre of excellence for continuous manufacturing for Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (API) for Lilly worldwide.
Lilly has been in Ireland for over 35 years and now employs around 1,000 people in three operations in Kinsale, Cork City and Dublin.
Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Richard Bruton today commented, “Winning investments from major world-leading companies like Lilly brings enormous benefits to Ireland. Not only are the direct jobs of huge importance to a town like Kinsale, but the heavy investments made by major pharma companies like this create massive knock-on impact on the local economy, in the form of extra employment in supply and service companies.”
“Pharmaceutical companies such as Lilly continue to choose Ireland for a number of reasons.”
Welcoming the announcement, CEO of IDA Ireland, Martin Shanahan added, “Pharmaceutical companies such as Lilly continue to choose Ireland for a number of reasons. One of the main reasons is the world-class pharma infrastructure and skilled workforce in Ireland. This investment demonstrates Lilly’s enduring commitment to Ireland. It also further illustrates Ireland’s position as a leading location for the development and manufacture of pharmaceutical and biopharmaceuticals medicines.”
