Altana to break ground on Cork facility
€70 million manufacturing facility in Cork, Ireland. The move would
appear to refute claims that the attractiveness of the region to
the drug industry is on the wane.
Last week, US drug major Schering-Plough announced plans to cut staff by 18 per cent at its plant in Brinny, Cork, blaming declining sales and market share for two of its main products for the move.
Ireland's Fine Gael opposition party promptly said the Fianna Fail/Progressive Democrat government was to blame because it had been increasing the burden of taxes and charges on companies wishing to invest in Ireland.
For years, Ireland has been offering tax incentives to companies wishing to set up manufacturing operations in the country, and has been rewarded by becoming something of a hotbed for production in the pharmaceutical industry.
Building work on the new plant will start within weeks, according to local press reports. The facility will employ 150 workers on an 11 hectare site at Carrigtwohill that will manufacture tablets for Altana's products around the world. It is the only site in Europe - outside Germany - that will make tablets for the German company, which is one of the fastest-growing in the European drug sector.
The Carrigtwohill site will initially produce tablets for Altana's roflumilast, a drug for the treatment of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and asthma, following full regulatory approval. It is due to be filed for approval in Europe next month, with a US submission due before year-end.
Pantoprazole, sold as Protium, will also be made at the site. This is Altana's top-selling drug, used in over 90 countries to treat acid-induced gastrointestinal conditions and oesophagitis.
