PHARMACEUTICAL multinational MSD is to make a €7 million investment in its facility in Carlow, creating 20 contract positions and broadening activities at the site, it said yesterday.
This brings the company’s total investment in Carlow to €227 million. The new contract jobs will be in engineering, automation and project management.
New technological capabilities will allow for the manufacture of its latest pipeline of vaccine and biological products used in the treatment of rheumatology, oncology and pneumonia among other areas. New frozen storage facilities will also be added.
Work on the extension to the Carlow facility has begun, and is due for completion in July 2013.
The company, which is known as Merck in the US and Canada, employs 146 people in Carlow, with a further 60 roles to be filled this year in production, quality, IT and technical operations.
MSD is one of Ireland’s biggest exporters and employs 2,300 people in Ireland across eight businesses in Cork, Dublin, Wicklow and Tipperary as well as Carlow. It has invested €2.2 billion in Ireland over the past five decades.
Bryan Meehan, general manager of MSD’s plant in Carlow, said the investment strengthened Carlow’s position in the company’s global network.
“We have made rapid progress over the past 24 months as we move to full production, and ultimately this additional €7 million investment will allow us to do more.”
