As part of its long-term plans in Ireland, MSD has agreed to acquire the WuXi Vaccines manufacturing facility located in Dundalk. The acquisition signifies an investment of over €500 million, which comes on the back of the company’s recent announcement of a €1 billion investment across its sites in Carlow and Dunboyne, Co Meath, just last year.
MSD and WuXi will now begin an official handover process which aims to be completed in the first half of 2025.
MSD Ireland is looking ahead to significant growth across its network, and, including this acquisition, is planning to add approximately 1,000 jobs over coming years across its eight locations in counties Carlow, Cork, Dublin, Louth, Meath and Tipperary. 150 of those jobs have been earmarked for Dundalk.
The newly acquired Dundalk site is a 15,520-square-meter, three-story vaccine manufacturing facility featuring drug substance manufacturing, drug product manufacturing, and quality control labs for the supply of vaccine products for the global market, currently employing approximately 200 professionals on site.
This new acquisition by MSD is a testament to a successful collaboration and long-standing partnership between both companies over recent years, which saw MSD and WuXi collaborating on site in Dundalk since 2019.
Speaking about the announcement, An Taoiseach Simon Harris, TD, said: “Today’s announcement is highly welcome news and is a tremendous vote of confidence in the people of Dundalk and Co. Louth. MSD is a long-standing partner to Ireland and has shown an unwavering commitment both to the country and to its drive to innovate. The acquisition of the Dundalk facility, along with the company’s plans to add 150 additional jobs to it, as part of an overall increase of 1,000 positions across its Irish operations in the coming years will play an important role in its development and delivery of innovative products that will improve the lives of millions of people around the world.”
Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Peter Burke, TD said: “Government and the IDA have prioritised the life-sciences sector over many years and this latest development is a testament to the strength of the sector in Ireland. While the IDA’s mandate from Government is to attract and retain global blue-chip manufacturing companies to Ireland, I am acutely conscious of the potential that investments such as this by MSD in Co. Louth have to also support strong spinoff opportunities for Ireland. I look forward to working with MSD and the IDA on securing further such signal investments for Ireland.”
Michael Lohan, CEO of IDA Ireland, said: “This acquisition and accompanying 150 new roles announcement by MSD Ireland is a huge testament to Ireland’s position as a global leader in the pharmaceutical value chain, continuously attracting strategically innovative investments to our shores. Our partnership with MSD Ireland spans nearly 50 years, and it’s exciting to see the company continue to both deepen and broaden its roots all across the country, expanding to its new location in Dundalk.”
Sanat Chattopadhyay, Executive Vice President and President of MSD’s Manufacturing Division, said: “MSD’s manufacturing footprint in Ireland is unparalleled, and I am proud to oversee its continuous expansion, always looking to advance the future of health through innovation and acceleration in the service of people and patients around the world. The acquisition of this WuXi site in Dundalk will give us the opportunity to do just that: deliver for people and patients faster, looking at the health challenges of today and tomorrow.”
MSD Ireland is one of the country’s leading healthcare companies, having first established in Ireland in 1976. WuXi unveiled plans to spend €325m to build a plant at Dundalk in 2018, making it one of the largest contract manufacturing sites for single-use biologics in the world. In 2019 they announced that they would spend another $240m on a second facility at the Dundalk site with approximately 600 people employed on site.
However, last October a report in the Financial Times stated that WuXi were looking to sell some of their European production facilities. The reason given was that the company were facing restrictions in America due to the proposed Biosecure Act.
The Biosecure Act would prohibit pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies from using services or equipment from Chinese “companies of concern,” including WuXi, AppTec and WuXi Biologics, in work that is contracted or funded by the U.S. federal government.
