Pfizer will build a plant in Ringaskiddy, Cork to support its clinical trials as part of a €300 ($355) million investment in Ireland.

The US drug giant announced it would expand capacity in Ireland this week, explaining the investment included the initial stage of a project to construct the clinical trial supply facility at its existing Ringaskiddy site.

A spokesman told us “This type of activity is highly specialized manufacturing working with our global research and development group. The initial scoping stage of the project is now underway and we expect confirmation of additional stages during next year.”

Image: iStock/Zerbor

At present the Ringaskiddy facility makes and exports bulk pharmaceutical and products. It was set up in 1969 to produce food chemicals, including citric acid and gluconate products.

Manufacturing expansion

Pfizer will also expand capacity at its biotechnology focused facility in Grange Castle in Dublin and its solid dose plant in Newbridge, Kildare.

The firm said it will add manufacturing and lab capacity, adding it would introduce new technologies to ensure it “is ready to support the next wave of medical innovations.”

The expansion project is expected to create 300 jobs over the next two to three years.

The sites earmarked for expansion make drugs for therapeutic areas like arthritis, inflammation, cancer, hemophilia, pain and stroke in addition to vaccines and anti-infective medicines.

COVID connection

The Grange Castle facility is involved in testing batches of BNT162b2 – the SARS-CoV-2 vaccine Pfizer is developing with BioNTech – that is being produced at a facility in Belgium.

The spokesman told us “Our Grange Castle site is playing a support role in quality testing the vaccine in collaboration with our site in Purrs, Belgium. These announcements do not relate to our investigational COVID-19 vaccine.”

He added that, “Currently the vaccine candidate, if approved will be manufacturing at sites in the US and also at PUURS in Belgium. The Grange Castle site in Ireland is supporting our Belgian site and will undertake quality testing of the vaccine.  As we observe how the epidemiology of the disease evolves, and assuming we evolve from a pandemic to seasonal supply chain, we will consider different scenarios.”