Pfizer to hire 130 in Ireland
The company is looking for process scientists, process and equipment engineers, automation engineers, operations specialists, process technicians, quality analysts and project managers for its Grange Castle facility in West Dublin.
The site is one of Pfizer’s leading biologic manufacturing sites globally, producing pneumococcal disease vaccine Prevnar and large molecule APIs for parenteral treatment of rheumatoid arthritis, psoriasis and ankylosing spondylitis. As well as commercial operations, the facility manufactures for clinical trials.
The new hires will work with Grange Castle’s technology for large-scale mammalian cell culture, protein purification, aseptic and sterile manufacturing and vaccine conjugation. The one million sq ft site invested $130m in 2013 to double its production capacity, and $200m in 2011 to build conjugation, pegylation and QC tech.
Reversing job cuts
The announcement of a total of 130 jobs across Grange Castle and the small molecule API (active pharmaceutical ingredient) sites in Little Island and Ringaskiddy, Cork are a reversal for Pfizer, which had planned to close the Little Island plant due to falling sales of Lipitor.
Similarly, the pharma giant announced a reprieve for workers at its Ringaskiddy site, which makes API for Lipitor and Viagra. The company called off around 100 out of 130 planned redundancies at Ringaskiddy following “changes in manufacturing volumes” and more competitive production methods.
Government support
Welcoming this month’s job announcements, the Irish Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation Richard Bruton said IDA Ireland (Industrial Development Agency) had been instrumental in attracting companies to invest and hire in Ireland:
“Pfizer with six sites in Ireland has been in Ireland since 1969 and has expanded with the support of my Department through IDA. I welcome Pfizer’s announcement today that it is recruiting in Dublin and Cork and I wish them every success for the future.”
A Pfizer spokesperson confirmed the company had “worked very closely with them across the board” to support recent developments.
IDA has a strategy of offering process development grants to multinationals to encourage investment in Ireland.
Commenting on the new job announcement, Pfizer VP Paul Duffy encouraged Irish students to consider STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) subjects which could lead them into pharmaceutical manufacturing.
