New positions have been announced at Regeneron as the company’s Irish bioprocessing campus receives an additional $100m in funding.
Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, a bioprocessing company headquartered in Tarrytown, New York, has announced 300 new roles at its Limerick base of operations today (25 October).
The organisation intends to fill these roles before the end of 2018, bringing the total number of employees at the centre to 800.
Recruitment is currently underway for high-end specialist jobs in commercial manufacturing, process sciences, quality assurance/control and various support functions for scientists, chemists and technicians.
Total investment in the site has grown to $750m since Regeneron first acquired the 37,000 sq m industrial operations and product supply (IOPS) facility at Raheen Business Park in 2014.
The business park was formerly home to a Dell manufacturing centre, which closed its doors in 2009, dealing a huge blow to the local Limerick economy. Fortunately, Regeneron arrived five years later to join Limerick’s growing number of multinationals.
The Limerick site is one of the largest biologics manufacturing facilities in the world.
In addition to the production facility in Limerick, Regeneron currently employs 30 people at its Dublin office, which serves as the company’s European business administration hub.
Regeneron was founded in 1988 in New York by Leonard S Schleifer, MD, along with bioscientist George Yancopoulos. One of the company’s most notable market successes has been the drug Eylea, which is used to treat the leading cause of adult blindness, age-related macular degeneration.
Regeneron was named one of the top 10 smartest companies by MIT Technology Review in June 2017.
Speaking of the investment, Martin Shanahan, CEO of IDA Ireland, said: “An additional $100m investment and 300 jobs commitment by Regeneron is a huge boost for the mid-west region.
“The Irish Government is committed to continuing to invest in our education, research and broader ecosystem to ensure that Ireland remains the competitive location of choice for new biotech manufacturing operations.
“Combined with the regulatory and licensing regime applying to pharma in Ireland, Ireland is a hot-spot location for biologics investment and career opportunity in biologics.”
Dan Van Plew, senior vice-president and general manager of IOPS at Regeneron, said: “Gut feel is a large portion of any site selection. When we picked Limerick years ago, we simply felt good about the community, universities and people.
“A few years and a lot of experience later, I can now confidently say I know Limerick is a place where you can build and thrive as a biotech.”
