R&D jobs boost for Kerry as over 280 posts to be created

MORE THAN 280 jobs were announced by three international companies in Tralee, Co Kerry, yesterday as part of an initiative to locate test centres in biomedicine, drug testing and pharmaceutical research in a new campus.

The planned jobs are in research and development (RD) and are to come on stream over the next 15 months. They will be based temporarily in an existing building in the town and recruitment will begin in May.

Over the next four years up to 50 small-to-medium-sized businesses will form part of the €4.7 billion Global Pharmaceutical Centre of Excellence ( GPCE) project, employing up to 4,500, presentations at the Shannon Development Headquarters in Tralee and the county council chambers heard.

The 282 jobs will be created by the International Prevention Research Institute, Global Research Services (GRS) and Optivia Biotechnology.

Prof Peter Boyle, head of the institute, a non-profit organisation advising several governments on public health, said the initiative by the GPCE was necessary for the development of medicine.

“This could be a very important centre for the whole of Europe in five years,” Prof Boyle said.

Dr Peter Milner of Optivia Biotechnology, based in Silicon Valley in the US, said he envisaged 500 studies with an investment of $5 million (€3.6 million) in the first year alone. His company’s focus is in pre-clinical trials.

Optivia would need up to 30,000sq ft of laboratory space.

The new jobs will initially be at the Centrepoint building in Tralee. But a planning application is to be submitted in May for a 32-acre site alongside the Institute of Technology Tralee, according to Rory Doyle, chief executive of the proposed centre, and a senior executive with Pharmadel, the Cork-based generic drug firm.

The plans for a four-storey building with floor space of 27½ acres overlooking Tralee Bay at the Kerry Technology Park were unveiled. It will comprise laboratories and an auditorium larger than that of the new convention centre in Dublin, architects said.

Significant State investment is required to ensure the project proceeds, its promoters said. Former minister for finance Alan Dukes, a board member of GPCE, said yesterday was the first “concrete manifestation” of the project, which was receiving great help from the IDA and Shannon Development.