The Japanese pharma firm announced today it is investing €40m ($43m) and creating 40 new jobs at the site in Grange Castle, Dublin in order to support global supply of its cancer drug Ninlaro.
The proteasome inhibitor works by blocking enzymes from multiple myeloma cells, hindering their ability to grow and survive, and was approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in November 2015 for patients with multiple myeloma who have received at least one prior therapy.
Paul Keogh, Plant Director at Takeda Ireland Grange Castle said the site has “been entrusted with the responsibility to produce and deliver this very important treatment for cancer patients worldwide.
“We have a great team here in Ireland and are committed to continuing to put patients first through the timely manufacture and supply of high quality products from our site.”
The new facility will be a standalone high containment production facility dedicated to manufacturing the product.
The site, located about 10km west of the Irish capital, was established in 2002 as Takeda’s worldwide centre for Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient (API) manufacturing, with commercial production for the firm’s diabetes drug Actos (pioglitazone) commencing in 2007.
It is one of two Takeda sites in Ireland, the other a manufacturing and packaging site located in Bray just south of Dublin.
The news was welcomed by Ireland’s development agency (IDA) who described the investment as “a great win and vote of confidence” in the country.
The news is the second facility investment announced by Takeda in the past few days. The firm said it began construction of a Dengue fever virus vaccine plant in Singen, Germany last week at a cost of $100m.