Takeda to expand cell therapy facility in Ireland

Takeda has invested €36 million in its Grange Castle facility to support the expansion of its cell therapy manufacturing facility.

Takeda Ireland, a subsidiary of Takeda Pharmaceutical Company, said its facility, located about 10km west of Dublin, will become the first commercial-scale cell therapy production facility in Ireland, following the €36 million ($43 million) expansion.

“The expansion of the cell therapy manufacturing line in Grange Castle will help us to serve more patients worldwide,” a spokesperson for Takeda told BioProcess Insider. “In addition, the expansion will create approximately 100 new jobs over the next three years.”

Image/iStock: sansak

While Takeda has not divulged what cell therapies it plans to produce at Grange Castle, it did confirm the team will help supply cell therapy treatment options to European, Canadian and US markets.

This is the latest expansion in the cell therapy space by Takeda. Last year, it opened a manufacturing center at its R&D headquarters in Boston, Massachusetts to support its cell therapy ambitions.

“The investment to expand this state-of-the-art cell therapy production facility highlights the importance of cell therapy for Takeda. The expansion underlines Takeda’s commitment to Ireland as a key country,” the spokesperson told us.

Biopharmaceuticals in Ireland

Along with Grange Castle, Takeda has a second Irish biomanufacturing plants in Bray, County Wicklow. (A biomanufacturing plant in Dunboyne, added through its $62 billion  acquisition of Shire, was divested last year.)

Takeda is one of many biopharma manufacturers which have invested in production facilities on the Emerald Isle over the past few years.

In 2017, J&J subsidairy Janssen Science Ireland invested €300 million to construct a biomanufacturing plant at its site in Ringaskiddy, Cork. The 206,000 square-foot site opened in 2019, expanding Janssen’s Irish footprint.

In 2019, CDMO WuXi Biologics invested $240 million at a site in County Louth, Ireland to support its vaccines joint venture, WuXi Vaccines. At the time, the site in Dundalk was dubbed the biggest production site in Ireland.

Following this latest investment, tánaiste and minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Leo Varadkar, said: “The country’s highly skilled workforce is just one of the reasons why Ireland is recognised as a global hub for biopharmaceutical companies like Takeda.”