Irish pharma start-up Team Horizon has announced plans for its first US expansion, with an office in Philadelphia creating 10 jobs, with 11 additional jobs to be created in its Irish operations.
Founded in 2010, Team Horizon has two offices in Ireland, with its headquarters in Westport, along with another office in Dublin, with a total Irish workforce of 55 people.
The company’s decision to expand to the American east coast comes following increasing demand for its pharma engineering solutions from North American clients in Texas, North Carolina and Canada.
The decision to create the new office in the US with the creation of 10 jobs comes following the company project-managing more than €250m in capital projects over the past four years with its aseptic fill-finish, oral dose, serialisation, and primary and secondary packaging.
The company added that anticipated growth in these areas, coupled with requests from current life science clients for additional local resources, encouraged them to add resources stateside.
25pc of engineers are women
The new business will also expand its Irish workforce by 20pc – 11 staff – by the second half of next year, with 50 of its staff currently employed as engineers or scientists with experience in the pharma industry.
The company is also marginally better than many other companies in terms of hiring women as engineers, with 25pc of its engineering workforce being made up of women.
Speaking of its decision to expand into the US, Team Horizon’s CEO Aiden Corcoran said: “To grow a sustainable business, it was decided to create a permanent presence in the US. We invested significant time in assessing the North American market and researching preferred locations to establish our office. Philadelphia is home to world-class research institutes and life-science companies, including a cluster of pharma and biopharma headquarters and plants.
“Our decision was also influenced by the support we have received from economic development agencies and the Irish-American business community in Philadelphia. The quality and commitment of our staff base in Westport, Dublin and Philadelphia, will continue to be one of our most valuable assets.”
Philadelphia skyline image via Shutterstock
Updated 12.45pm 23/11/2015: This article has been amended to show that the company’s name is Team Horizon, not Total Horizon.