Dive Brief:
- West Pharmaceutical Services has completed its expansion of its contract manufacturing facility near Mulhuddart, County Dublin, adding 60,000 square feet, which could mean around a hundred new jobs over the next five years.
- The expansion is a response to increasing demand for medical devices in areas such as diabetes, and will increase capacity for molding and assembly for the production of devices including auto-injectors and continuous glucose monitoring systems.
- West, which is pulling its contract manufacturing business, The Tech Group, into the West brand, is also building a new pharmaceutical component manufacturing facility in Waterford.
Dive Insight:
West's decision to expand, and to bring its contract manufacturing division into the larger West brand, reflects the growth of importance of contract manufacturing across the pharmaceutical and biotech industry. According to VisionGain, the global contract pharma and biotech manufacturing market was worth $54.54 billion in 2013, and could reach $79.24 billion in 2019, rising by 7.5% a year. A 2016 report from IBISWorld estimated the medical device manufacturing sector as having $42 billion in revenue.
"As the healthcare market becomes increasingly complex, West is advancing our core competencies in the development, manufacturing and final packaging of complex drug delivery systems and diagnostic devices for our customers," said Karen Flynn, senior vice president and CCO of West. "We are excited about the growth and expansion we are experiencing in both our contract manufacturing business in Dublin as well as our proprietary products business in Waterford, both of which will support increasing demand from our global customer base."
After this week's news on Pfizer's pull back on Irish expansion, this announcement will be good news for the biopharma industry in Ireland.
"We are very pleased with West's commitment to furthering operations in Ireland," said Mary Mitchell O'Connor, Ireland's Minister for Jobs, Enterprise & Innovation. "With this most recent expansion in Dublin and the company's previously announced investment in Waterford, West is affirming its presence as an important employer in Ireland."