‘I travelled the world, but with a laptop instead of a rucksack’

Switzerland boasts of four seasons, some of Europe’s finest scenery and endless outdoor options, and Alan Kelly ‘feels very fortunate’ to live there

“It’s such a great place to raise a family. You can ski in winter and spring, hike in the mountains or swim in any of the stunning lakes in summer and autumn. Plus we live in the middle of Europe so you can visit Germany, Italy, France or Austria easily. The cities are fantastic here too.”

Kelly moved to Zurich with his family in 2016 to take up a global role at Takeda, a global biopharmaceutical company headquartered in Tokyo, Japan.

Originally from Ballinasloe, Galway, he studied industrial biochemistry at the University of Limerick, completing his studies in 2001.

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Like many college graduates, Kelly wanted to see the world and, in 2002, bought tickets to travel to southeast Asia, “but I was offered a job with Takeda and abandoned my travel plans. In the end, I travelled the world, but with a laptop instead of a rucksack.”

Kelly’s first role saw him sample raw materials at the company’s nascent Bray campus. “I have many fond memories of my formative years in Bray. They gave me a great grounding on aspects of pharma manufacturing that were invaluable to me as my career developed.”

In 2007, he completed a masters in industrial pharmaceutical science at Sligo IT, which he did part-time while still working at Takeda.

Vaccine facility

After moving to Switzerland, Kelly led a global programme for the company, which was founded in 1781 when its originator started selling traditional Japanese and Chinese herbal medicines. “My first role in Switzerland involved a lot of travel. After two years, I was offered a role overseeing the construction of a new vaccine manufacturing facility in Singen, Germany, which will be used to manufacture Takeda’s vaccine candidate to combat dengue fever.”

Kelly worked at the factory just as Covid-19 was spreading around the world. He says it turned out to be a “great challenge and experience” to work in the vaccines field during the pandemic.

“The pandemic turned the world of vaccine production upside down. It was not ‘business as usual’ and it was amazing to see the response to it. A paradigm shift occurred, which required a lot of collaboration and partnership across the industry.

“There was certainly a balance of keeping supply of life-saving medicines, supporting much-needed vaccine production while at the same time ensuring the safety and wellbeing of colleagues working at our manufacturing sites across the globe.”

He currently works in the area of cell therapy manufacturing, running a network around the world at Takeda sites in Madrid, Dublin, Osaka and California.

“Cell therapy is a highly innovative field of medicine. It involves taking stem cells from healthy donors, which are purified, engineered and grown to treat or prevent a disease or condition. As the products are living cells, they have a short shelf life – this requires you to rethink your supply chain,” he says.

Four corners

“A surgeon or clinical pharmacist can book a manufacturing slot for our treatment on a web-based portal, using a smartphone, tablet or computer. It’s like booking a cinema ticket on your iPhone. We then meticulously time our manufacturing in the finest detail to have the treatment ready and delivered in a matter of hours before the planned surgery.”

Kelly recently returned home for the opening of Takeda’s new cell therapy manufacturing facility at its Grange Castle plant in Dublin, the first of its kind in Ireland. “Ireland has a very strong presence in the biopharmaceutical industry. We can be very proud of the industry there as well as the talent we export. We’ve got a great work force and it’s amazing when you meet Irish colleagues across the four corners of the globe.”

Despite his senior role, Kelly still likes to split his time between the Zurich HQ and manufacturing sites. “I’m amazed at how much I learn each time I visit a site. It’s incredible how the industry is transforming with higher levels of automation and digitalisation. We’re partnering with academia to introduce machine learning/AI to improve the quality of the medicines we produce.”

On life in Switzerland, he praises the political system with the Swiss confederation made up of 26 individual cantons. “There is a great sense of society that we weren’t aware of before relocating here. The outdoors are amazing and there’s lots of investment in public spaces and the amenities are incredibly well-kept and respected, people are very proud of this. There is a real community feel, similar to Ireland, with people having strong connections to their canton of origin.”

In terms of local language skills, his “hochdeutsch” is coming along nicely, though Swiss German is still a battle. “My German is coming along. But obviously the Swiss-German dialects are a very different kettle of fish. My son plays football with our local football club, so he can get by in Swiss German. It is easier to learn a language when you are young – or a dialect in this case.

“Switzerland offers a great work/life balance with a young family. It’s half the size of Ireland, although with the mountains it feels a lot bigger. We’ve made great lifelong friends here and there are so many things to do. Nonetheless, we still miss Ireland.”

Reflecting on his 20-year career, Kelly says he enjoys the opportunities at the company for career advancement and the opportunity to work aboard and experience the different cultures.