Waterford gets 150 jobs in €100m West Pharma investment

West Pharmaceutical Services, a $3.1 billion New York Stock Exchange listed pharmaceutical firm, has announced that it plans to invest €100 million in Waterford and create 150 permanent new jobs in the southeast.

The new facility will produce packaging components for insulin injector cartridges and other high value packaging components, to meet growing demand from its pharmaceutical and biotech customers, many of which are based in Ireland.

West's chairman and chief executive Donald Morel told The Irish Times that, by late 2018 or early 2019, he hoped to increase the number of jobs in Waterford to over 270 people. He said this would require expanding its campus which is located on a 44-acre site at Knockhouse, Old Kilmeaden Road, Waterford.

“With diabetes emerging as one of the fastest growing diseases globally, our pharmaceutical customers are expanding their production lines for injectable insulin,” Dr Morel said.

“To meet this growing demand, we are announcing an expansion today that will help us address this need and continue to serve this critical patient population,” he added.

“In the future, we intend for this site to be a centre of excellence for advanced packaging components to meet the needs of our customer base for a range of sophisticated injectable therapies.”

“Waterford, Ireland, is an ideal setting for this new plant, given its business-friendly environment and the growing health science industry in the area,” Dr Morel added.

“On behalf of West’s board of directors, I would like to thank the many representatives of Waterford city, the Irish Government and IDA Ireland for their support.”

Dr Morel also said West planned to invest further in the Tech Group, a West subsidiary in Dublin, which specialises in providing device design, development and manufacturing services for pharmaceutical and med-tech customers.

The Tech Group already employs 230 people in Mulhuddart and Mr Morel said he expected this number to increase. West bought this business in 2005.

Dr Morel has served on several Nasa scientific advisory committees and in 1989 he was selected by Nasa’s Astronaut Office to train as a mission specialist.

He has been chief executive of West since April 2002 and was also elected chairman of its board in March 2003. West had sales of $1.4 billion in 2013.

Taoiseach Enda Kenny TD said: “I am delighted with this announcement which will create 100 construction jobs during its development and an initial 150 new jobs when operational. It is a massive boost for Waterford and the entire southeast and I am happy that Government was able to assist through the work of the IDA.”

Martin Shanahan, chief executive of IDA Ireland, said: "Ireland has succeeded in attracting over 250 medical device manufacturers employing over 25,000 people in locations across the country. The IDA and its local stakeholders have fought off stiff competition to have this plant located in Ireland. This project is a vote of confidence in the people of Waterford."

Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Richard Bruton TD said: “The southeast has been a key focus of my department and agencies since shortly after I took office. We have seen many substantial jobs announcements and employment in the region has increased by well over 10,000 in the past two years. I commend the IDA for their work on this, and look forward to further announcements for the southeast in the coming months.”