Merck & Co selects Ireland for USD 280m biologics site

US-based Merck & Co has located its site for a new vaccines and biologics facility in the Republic of Ireland with an investment EUR 200m (USD 280m).

The plant is scheduled to begin operations by 2011 and will employ 170 people across production, engineering, R&D, quality control, management and administration.

Ireland's Industrial Development Agency (IDA) said that Merck & Co's decision was a very significant consolidation of Ireland's high profile position as a successful location for substantial biotechnology global investments.

The 65-acre IDA Business and Technology Park is located in Carlow and will be Ireland's first stand-alone human vaccine project. The new facility will perform formulation and sterile filling activities, as well as conducting R&D operations to support recently launched vaccines and future projects.

According to the IDA, Merck & Co, which operates as Merck, Sharp and Dohme in the country, will also recruit local academic talent to leverage opportunities in developing biologic products.

Merck & Co, who already has two other plants in Ireland, joins Abbott which operates seven sites, Johnson & Johnson with six, Pfizer with five and Schering Plough and GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) which both have four sites.