Allergan Plans $70-Million-Plus Mfg Investment in Ireland

Allergan, which is headquartered in Dublin, Ireland and operates four facilities in Ireland, has announced a EUR 65-million ($73-million) capital investment program for 2019 to facilitate the continued expansion of the company’s laboratories and manufacturing campuses at Westport in County Mayo and Clonshaugh in north Dublin.

The investment creates 63 new jobs at the Westport facility, which brings the company’s total employment in Ireland to more than 2,000. One in 10 employees in Allergan’s global workforce is based in Ireland, according to information from IDA Ireland, a business-development agency. Allergan operates four facilities in Ireland—two manufacturing operations, one at Clonshaugh, Dublin and one in Westport, County Mayo—as well as an international supply-chain office in Earlsfort Terrace, Dublin and a facility in Galway, which it acquired from its 2017 acquisition of Zeltiq, a provider of proprietary controlled-cooling technology for non-invasive fat reduction. The Westport and Clonshaugh facilities develop and manufacture a range of branded medicines primarily for the export market.

Allergan’s Westport campus is the company’s largest in its global network. Encompassing a pharmaceuticals facility, two biologics plants, and an ocular implant facility, it is responsible for the global supply of Allergan’s Botox and manufactures a range of eye-care products.

The investment in Westport focuses on four key areas; two new manufacturing suites in its biologics facility to provide the capability to introduce new product formats for one of Allergan’s flagship products and the launch of a new product currently in development, as well as the completion of a new microbiology and cell-based laboratory. The completion of the new biologics facility, which represents a total investment of more than EUR 140 million ($156 million), is in the final stages of qualification and regulatory approval before commencing commercial production.

At its ocular implant facility in Westport, Allergan is introducing automated manufacturing processes using robotics. The company is also upgrading its existing manufacturing capabilities and capacity for the introduction of new eye-care products due to launch in the coming years.

Investment at the Clonshaugh facility in Dublin, which encompasses two manufacturing facilities and the head office, will focus on expanding specialized manufacturing capability for new product development and the launch of new solid dose products currently in development. This facility plays a role in the delivery of Allergan’s global “Open Science” strategy by providing small-scale pilot and manufacturing capability for Allergan’s oral solid-dosage product pipeline. It currently manufacturers products for the treatment of conditions that include depression, irritable bowel syndrome, Alzheimer’s disease and hypertension.

Source: IDA Ireland

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