Why this is important to Wisconsin businesses: Ireland and Wisconsin both have strong biopharma sectors, and partnerships could make both even stronger.
Ireland’s biopharmaceutical sector is thriving, and it could be a good match for Wisconsin’s strong biohealth industry.
Ireland is home to the top 10 global pharmaceutical companies and is the third-largest exporter of pharmaceuticals, according to Fáilte Ireland, the National Tourism Development Authority.
Pfizer, Novartis, and GSK are among the leading pharma companies with operations in Ireland; each has more than 1,000 employees there. There are also startups and high-growth small and midsize companies, as well as homegrown companies such as Chanelle Pharma, Ireland’s largest manufacturer of generic pharmaceuticals for human and animal health.
Overall, the sector employs 30,000 people and generates €80 billion ($93 billion USD) in annual revenue. The country has seen €10 billion ($11.6 billion USD) invested in new biopharmaceutical production facilities over the past decade and now has 90 biopharma plants, including 50 that have been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
Ireland is a “life sciences powerhouse,” according to the global public health consultant group NSF.
Cork and Dublin are the country’s largest centers of biopharma activity. But other areas are also gaining prominence. For example, in the Midwest region, Limerick is a growing hub with Regeneron’s large-scale facility and other key companies such as Johnson & Johnson. And in the North West, Sligo has gained hundreds of biopharma jobs through recent expansions by Abbvie and Phibro.
The Irish government is committed to investing in education and research so that Ireland will continue to be a competitive location for new biotechnology manufacturing plants. The National Institute for Bioprocessing Research and Training (NIBRT) was created in 2011 as a collaboration of industry, government, and academia. It operates pilot-scale biotech manufacturing, and it trains more than 3,500 people a year.
With Wisconsin’s recent designation as a national tech hub and allocation of $49 million to grow the state’s biohealth economy, collaborations with Ireland could be a natural outcome for both.
