Medical device group Boston Scientific has announced a further €75 million investment in its Irish business.
The company said the money would drive expansion of research and development capabilities at its Galway operation, “further strengthening its role as a global centre for cardiovascular innovation”.
The investment, supported by IDA Ireland, will involve the construction of new laboratory space to support the design, development and testing of new medical technologies in cardiovascular care.
It comes as US medtech companies come under increasing pressure from Donald Trump’s administration to focus investment on their home market. However, Galway has for many years been a centre of excellence for the group in stent technology.
READ MORE
Boston Scientific has three bases in Ireland – Galway, Clonmel and Cork – employing more than 7,000 people, 4,500 of them in Galway. The company has had a presence in Ireland since 1994 and says it manufactures more than 30 million devices here each year for patients worldwide.
The Galway business specialises in manufacturing drug-coated devices, vascular balloons and heart and oesophageal stents to treat patients with heart disease, vascular disease, oesophageal cancer and those at risk of stroke.
“The expanded capability will support priority programmes across structural heart, cardiovascular and endoscopy, as well as emerging areas such as heart failure and renal denervation technologies, underpinned by a strong regional talent base and STEM ecosystem,” the company said.
Renal denervation is a procedure to help reduce high blood pressure in certain patients.
“We are seeing strong momentum across our cardiovascular business, and this investment reflects the important role the Galway site plays in that progress,” said Lance Bates, Boston Scientific’s executive vice-president and president, for interventional cardiology and vascular therapies.
“The decision by Boston Scientific to invest again in Galway shows real confidence in the talent and infrastructure available here,” said Minister for Education and Youth, Hildegarde Naughton, a local TD, adding that the importance of R&D and innovation to Ireland’s economy could not be overstated.
She said Galway’s position as “an internationally recognised medtech hub ... is due in no small part to the presence of Boston Scientific”.
IDA Ireland global head of life sciences Rachel Shelly said the €75 million R&D-led investment “reinforces Ireland’s leadership in medical technology innovation”.
IDA Ireland has been a strong supporter of the US group’s Irish business, delivering €41.4 million in financial support to the business in several tranches over the past three years, according to figures from the European Commission’s state aid register.
Boston Scientific most recently invested €100 million expanding Galway’s manufacturing capabilities in 2022 and another €80 million in 2023 at its Clonmel plant.
Boston Scientific Limited, the group’s main operating unit in Ireland, reported revenues of $1.75 billion (€1.48 billion) and profits of $111.15 million in 2024, the most recent year for which figures are available.
The Irish holding company, Boston Scientific Group Limited, reported dramatically increased profit before tax of $10 million per day in 2024 – or $3.65 billion. That was not far off three times the $1.33 billion figure in 2023.
The group has paid dividends of almost $5 billion to its US parent over the past two years for which figures are available.
