Northern drug firm Almac to set up HQ in US

Armagh-based drug and diagnostics specialist Almac is investing more than €70 million in a new North American headquarters in Pennsylvania in the US.

The company said yesterday that it is planning to spend $100 million (€71 million) on a new facility in Lower Salford Township in Pennsylvania in a move that will create 262 new jobs.

According to the group's president of clinical services, Robert Dunlop, Pennsylvania's state government is backing the project with a contribution of about $9 million.

This will include a $4.5 million grant, which will be paid over 10 years, a $2 million loan from the state's industrial development authority, and a range of other payments related to training and infrastructure development.

Almac worked with local and state industrial development officials to raise the money from the Pennsylvania government.

Speaking at the announcement in Pennsylvania, Mr Dunlop said that Almac will use its own resources to fund the remaining $91 million it is planning to spend.

"The balance will come from the cash flow from our existing North American operations and some prudent bank debt," he explained.

Almac provides research, development, clinical trials and drug manufacturing services to the pharmaceutical industry.

The company is involved in developing treatments for serious illnesses such as cancer and heart disease.

Businessman Sir Allen McClay founded the company in 2001 when he bought out the Craigavon, Co Armagh-based services division of Galen, the pharmaceutical group he founded in 1968 and floated on New York's Nasdaq market in 1997. Almac's headquarters are in Craigavon. It has $750 million in sales and provides services to more than 600 businesses around the world. It employs 2,000 people in the US and Europe.

The company will consolidate its clinical services and clinical technology divisions into one campus in Lower Salford. These are currently based in Audubon in Montgomery County and Yardley in Bucks County.

The operation will retain its existing 495 jobs and add a further 262 posts. "Our business has grown outside our current facilities," Mr Dunlop said yesterday.

Sir Allen, who chairs Almac, pointed out yesterday that the group is a global operation with headquarters in Co Armagh.

"Our presence here today demonstrates that the economic relationship between our two countries is no longer a one-way street," he said.

"Our positive experience to date in Pennsylvania, and especially the availability of a skilled and committed workforce, was a major factor in this decision, as was the support we have received from the governor and state authorities," he added.

Pennsylvania governor Edward Rendell said Almac's decision to locate its North American headquarters in the state confirmed its status as a global leader in biosciences. "We have some of the most dynamic companies and talented researchers working in Pennsylvania," he said.

The governor added that the "aggressive" incentives package provided to the company would help ensure its future expansion.