Novo Nordisk, the Danish manufacturer of obesity drugs Ozempic and Wegovy, is planning to build a giant factory in Co Dublin in a bid to keep up with soaring demand.
The pharmaceutical giant has applied to build a campus covering 147,192 square meters in Clondalkin, which would create up to 1,100 jobs, according to reporting by the Sunday Times which cites detailed documents submitted with the planning application.
The runaway success of Ozempic and Wegovy has turned 100-year old Novo Nordisk into Europe’s most valuable listed company, with a market capitalization bigger than Denmark’s domestic economy. The demand has also tested the company’s manufacturing capacity, and it has struggled to keep up.
The company bought a drug manufacturing plant in Athlone as it looks to expand production to meet worldwide demand, it was anounced in December.
The Danish group paid €85 million to acquire the former Elan Drug Technologies plant from Irish-headquartered pharma group Alkermes in a deal that is expected to close in the middle of next year.
The Clondalkin investment will likely exceed €2 billion, based on similar-sized developments by the company, the report said. It will take between 18 and 24 months to complete and should be fully operational by 2026.
If approved, the Dublin development will include three filling and packaging manufacturing facilities, a warehouse building, two assembly and packaging facilities, an administration building and a laboratory. - Bloomberg.
