BioMarin expands workforce from 100 to 140 at plant on former Pfizer site

The expansion of manufacturing operations by US biopharma company BioMarin in Cork has been hailed as an example of Ireland's adaptability by Minister for Jobs, Enteprise and Innovation , Richard Bruton.

Mr Bruton said the BioMarin plant in Ringaskiddy – where the company is increasing its workforce from 100 to 140 – was clear evidence of the ability of IDA Ireland and the Irish workforce to adapt to change. The new operation is located at a plant that was previously operated by Pfizer, which closed in 2009.

"I think it's a great story about the talent that's here in Cork, that IDA Ireland has been able to win a company of the quality of BioMarin to come and locate here is a great story about Cork but it's also a great story about adaptability and rei-inventiont that is the whole Irish story," he said.

BioMarin purchased the former Pfizer plant in Shanbally in Ringaskiddy in 2011 and announced that it planned to create some 100 jobs. Some 50 of these positions have already been filled, with recruitment continuing for the remaining 50 positions.

Today, BioMarin announced that it is to create a further 40 jobs to facilite the production of bulk pharmaceutical for its new drug Vimizin which will be used in the treatment of patients with a rare lysosomal storage disorder known as Morquio A Syndrome.

BioMarin Pharmceutical’s chief executive Jean-Jacques Bienaime said Cork represented an exciting development for the company – the first move in manufacturing outside of the US. The Ringaskiddy plant would serve as the hub for its expanding European manufacturing operations.

“Ireland is the ideal place to grow our business,” he said. “It has great infrastructure, routes to market, expansion opportunities and the availability of highly skilled personnel along with a strong scientific community and access to the National Institute of Bioprocessing Research and Training capabilities.”

BioMarine executive vice-president Robert Baffi said the former Pfizer plant had proven particularly attractive as such state of the art fully commissioned facilities were not readily available and it had been competitively priced for BioMarine to purchase.

“We are now producing bulk drugs here for Vimizi at this particular time but we are testing other products and certainly in the future, as our pipeline develops, we could be manufacturing a lot of products from here and we have the space here to double our production facility,” he said.