New specialist high-tech capability to be developed at Ringaskiddy; production expansion at Grange Castle creating 250 construction jobs
11th July 2013 – Pfizer today announces that $130 million is being invested in two of its Irish manufacturing sites. $100 million is being invested in the Grange Castle site in Dublin and $30 million is being invested in the Ringaskiddy site in Cork.
Ringaskiddy investment:
The $30 million investment in Ringaskiddy is to develop specialist new capability to manufacture some of Pfizer’s newest medicines in cancer and other future pipeline medicines. This requires flexible development facilities capable of managing a wide range of processes and technology. The introduction of flow processing and innovative technologies requires not just an investment in new equipment but also an increase and deepening of R&D skills, particularly in the area of real-time analytical technologies, flow processing, new technology and scale-up. This investment ensures the Ringaskiddy site will be in a position to be considered for on-going development work on new products, not just for commercial launch, but also for clinical products.
Grange Castle investment:
The $100M investment in Grange Castle is to create additional manufacturing capacity by expanding the unit that produces protein drug substance using mammalian cell culture biotechnology. This unit makes drug substance for Pfizer’s biologic rheumatoid arthritis treatment and a new production line will be established that will increase capacity and thereby double productivity. This in turn will release capacity to allow new mammalian biotechnology drug substances from Pfizer’s development pipeline to be manufactured at the site. Preparation is underway to allow construction to commence with approximately 140 construction jobs over the next year with a peak of 250 jobs. The facility will be operational in 2015, when the first process validation batches will be made.
Pfizer employs approximately 3,200 people at six sites in Ireland across manufacturing, shared services, treasury and commercial operations. Pfizer has invested $7 billion in operations in Ireland since opening the first site in 1969 and in 2011 announced a $200 million investment in the Grange Castle site to develop a new suite to expand the Irish manufacturing process for an invasive pneumococcal vaccine. Many of Pfizer’s leading medicines are manufactured for global export from Irish sites.
Ken Murphy graduated from University College Cork in 1987 with an Electrical Engineering degree before moving to the US as a Network Design Engineer with BellSouth Corporation. His return to Ireland in 1989 heralded a career which concentrated on the multinational sector, and involved working with companies such as Apple Computer, Cabletron, FMC Automotive, Moog, General Semiconductor and Technicolor.
Ken is a specialist in quality management, purchasing, logistics and supply chain management. He has significant expertise and experience in managing the changing demands of the global media, electronics and automotive sectors at operational and project management levels.
Ken leads CareerWise Recruitment’s Cork operations. He has served on local and national committees of IPICS (The Supply Chain Management Institute), CIPD, the Cork Electronics Industry Association (CEIA), and has completed a three-year term as Chair of the UCC Alumni Board.
Ken has recently been elected as a Director of the Cork Chamber for a four year term to help promote business and drive policy objectives for the Cork Region
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