Ireland punches well above its weight as a leader in life sciences

The life sciences sector was a vital part of the Covid-19 response but how has this impacted on other research and development, and is the sector getting back to “normal” in that regard? Where does Ireland rank internationally in terms of the buoyancy of its life science sector?

The pandemic has put the life sciences sector at centre stage, says Sinead Keogh, director of Ibec’s medtech and engineering sectors. “From personal protective equipment, ventilators, diagnostic tests, other critical medical supplies and of course vaccines, life sciences came to the fore during the pandemic.”

For example, a significant acceleration of the adoption of digital health and remote technologies took place – one area where this had a significant impact was that of clinical trials, Keogh says. “Technology and scalability for clinical trials is an important part of the R&D pathway and means that thousands of patients can be monitored 24/7 remotely following a new medical procedure or intervention. Remote technologies have also supported the monitoring of patients in their homes, with virtual GP consultations becoming incredibly important during Covid-19,” she adds.

The life sciences sector in Ireland has played a huge part in the fight against Covid-19 and advancing Ireland's reputation not only as a global leader in manufacturing but also in research and development, says Tom Clarke, senior director of West Pharma and chair of the Irish Medtech Association.

Many Irish companies played crucial roles in both the national and international response to the novel coronavirus. Keogh namechecks Aerogen, which was recently recognised as the winner of the Covid-19 Response Recognition Award. “A world leader in acute care aerosol drug delivery, Aerogen has been at the forefront of medical response to the pandemic with its products used for drug treatments on over three million hospitalised and critically ill patients throughout the Covid-19 pandemic,” she explains.

“As much of the world’s industry and services were shutting down, Aerogen was rapidly increasing staff numbers and moving to 24/7 manufacturing, effectively doubling its product output capability since the start of the pandemic. Ensuring first and foremost that ‘no patient should go without’, Aerogen has continued uninterrupted to ship its products to over 80 countries around the world, providing aerosol drug delivery expertise, product and support for numerous clinical trials.”

Irish position

Ireland’s position as a leader in life sciences was cemented long before we heard of a new virus emerging in China. The last 15 years has seen a huge push to make Ireland a “knowledge economy”, and Keogh says our reputation in Europe is solid, despite pandemic-induced disruption to “normal” R&D lifecycles.

“The annual European Innovation Scoreboard shows that, amid increased innovation performance across the EU, Ireland remains a strong innovator and, in 10th place, remains one of the top 10 most innovative member states, performing above the EU average.”

Ireland punches well above its weight in life sciences, and this has not been hampered by the enforced shutdown at the beginning of the pandemic, says Conor O'Sullivan, head of life sciences in KPMG Ireland. "This success is reflected in some indigenous companies becoming leading players internationally as evidenced in the major transactions that occurred in 2021 in the pharma services sector," he says.

Post-pandemic, Ireland remains an attractive base for life science companies, adds O’Sullivan. “The resilience of the sector’s performance through Covid has no doubt helped emphasise what Ireland offers – talent, ability to handle complexity and reliability. Companies that invested have had a good experience and continued to invest further,” he says. “This is largely due to the available talent and the clustering effect in the sector – particularly in high-end manufacturing where there is increasing recognition of the need for expertise and ability to handle complexity.”

This is echoed by Clarke. "Ireland has evolved into a global hub for biopharmaceutical manufacture and in 2019 was ranked the fifth largest exporter of pharmaceuticals globally with exports of €80 billion." Significant investments in Ireland continue to be made by the biggest global biopharmaceutical companies, he adds. "In November 2020 Pfizer announced a €300 million investment programme in the continuing development of the manufacturing sites in Grange Castle, Newbridge and Ringaskiddy and in May 2021 a further investment of €33 million to support the production of the mRNA drug substance for the Covid-19 vaccine at the Grand Castle facility," he notes.

Talent

O’Sullivan, however, warns of the need to continue to invest in the necessary talent that gives us our reputational advantage. “A key issue is the continued funding of institutions to grow and develop the talent pool – for example, NIBRT, through collaboration with third-level institutions, has developed successful training programmes in biotech.”

Keogh says Ireland must embrace a new approach to unlocking competitive advantage. “With tax and regulation advantages under pressure, and increased competition for the required talent, new differentiators must be exploited. We must unlock a new formula for advantage, built upon collaboration, innovation and capability,” she says.

“We are calling on the Government to scale public investment for research and innovation by 60 per cent to reach €1.25 billion per annum, to address higher education institution’s core funding, agency specific programmes, infrastructure, and industry-led innovation,” she explains, adding that Ibec is also calling on the government to develop a national industrial high-tech strategy.

“As the Irish sector looks ahead, a global outlook is needed to understand the future ecosystem in which it will play a key role.”