Pharma group Shire signs training deal for Dublin

Shire, the Ireland-domiciled pharma group that specialises in rare diseases, has signed a training deal with the National Institute of Bioprocessing Research and Training (Nibrt) in Dublin.

Shire is setting up a new biologics manufacturing plant on a 120-acre site in Dunboyne, Co Meath where it plans to employ 400 people.

The €375 million investment will create the company’s European quality control hub for its biologics portfolio.

The drug group will use UCD-based Nibrt, a collaboration between University College Dublin, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin City University and the Institute of Technology, Sligo.

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Biotech sector

Nibrt specialises in providing customised training for workers in the biotech sector in a physical environment that replicates a modern industrial bioprocessing facility.

Shire will also embed 20 staff at Nibrt for a year so that they, in turn, can help oversee start-up activities at the new Dunboyne plant.

Susan Hynes, Shire site lead for Dunboyne, said Nibrt was uniquely positioned to support Shire "and enrich our employees through customised training programmes".

The Dunboyne plant signals a major investment by the group in Ireland, where it previously employed about 100 people. It has since announced plans to add a further 150 people to its Irish workforce.

Shire chief executive Flemming Ornskov has said that the biologics manufacturing project was "fundamental" to the company's goal of becoming the world's leading biotechnology company focused on rare diseases and other speciality conditions.