Wyeth puts the emphasis on biotech with new Irish plant
Wyeth has formally opened its Grange Castle biotech production facility in South County Dublin, Ireland, which will house more than 1,000 employees, making it the country's largest pharmaceutical employer.
Wyeth has formally opened its Grange Castle biotech production facility in South County Dublin, Ireland, which will house more than 1,000 employees, making it the country's largest pharmaceutical employer.
At a size of 1.2m ft2, the company is also the possessor of one of the largest integrated biotech manufacturing facilities in the world.
It invested nearly US$2bn in the Grange Castle facility, where development work began in October 2002. It will comprise three separate facilities: a drug development unit; a drug substance site; and a drug product facility, all of which will go into production on a phased basis over the next four years.
Among the biotech products that will be produced at Grange Castle is Enbrel, for which Wyeth owns the rights outside the US. It is approved in many world markets and suitable for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis, juvenile rheumatoid arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis, psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis. Prevenar is also scheduled to be produced at Grange Castle, as is the Company's newly FDA approved intravenous antibiotic Tygacil (tygacycline IV), used for the treatment of serious skin and intra-abdominal hospital acquired infections.
Wyeth operates on the basis of 'combining biotech culture with the resources and global reach of a large pharmaceutical company'. Biotech drugs are a rapidly growing segment of its business.
Speaking before a crowd of more than 1,200 people that included numerous representatives of the Irish government and other dignitaries, Bernard Poussot, Wyeth's president, said that the company 'expects that the facility will expand worldwide access to our key biotech products'.
'The work performed in this facility will lead the way to better and more innovative healthcare through the application of biotechnology developed right here, in Ireland. We expect to continue to invest in the facility and to make Grange Castle one of our key biotech development, production and distribution efforts in the coming years, complementing our US presence in Andover, Massachusetts.'