The Life Sciences Industry in Ireland
Ireland’s phenomenal economic success over the past ten years
has seen its GDP per capita reach the fourth highest in the world.
Foreign direct investment (FDI) has contributed massively and
ranges from basic manufacture to higher value-added activities.
In particular, the life sciences industry has played a huge part in
Ireland’s transformation into a knowledge-based economy.
The life sciences industry in Ireland is significant in scale, complex
in nature, highly integrated into the local economy, and very longlived.
The sector is an important part of the Irish economy and is
dominated by foreign companies attracted by Ireland’s FDI
programme, spearheaded by IDA Ireland. Across the various sectors
that make up life sciences there are more than 150 companies
employing close to 40,000 people with annual exports nudging
€40bn and an annual capital spend of about €1bn.
The sector is characterised by large multinational companies, such as
Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson, Boston Scientific, Schering-Plough and
Abbott, and many others. R&D is carried out by half of the medical
device companies and is increasing in pharmaceuticals, where there
is significant process development (for example, Bristol-Myers
Squibb and Wyeth) and formulation development (for example,
Genzyme and IVAX). Across the various sectors, there has been a
notable trend dating from the late 1990s of bolting on extra
functions such as financial shared services (Pfizer, Baxter and
Allergan) and regulatory affairs (Merck).
Since 2002, Ireland has won many new investments across several
business functions, from the likes of Takeda, Olympus, Abbott,
Medtronic, Altana,Taro, GSK and IVAX. Prominent investments
in 2004 included Merck, Guidant, GSK, Élan, Merit Medical and
Centocor. Looking to the future, IDA sees enormous potential
from within the established base of clients.
Within the pharmaceutical industry, the dynamic is increasingly
centred on biotechnology. It is estimated that by around 2010
around 30 per cent of all new human pharmaceuticals will be
derived from biotechnology. Of particular relevance is the major
growth predicted in therapeutic proteins - it is estimated that sales
of these will reach $59bn in 2010, up from $33bn in 2003.
The pipeline of biotech drugs under development is increasing at a
time when big pharma companies are facing a slowdown of
blockbuster revenues ($82bn worth of global products will have lost
US patent protection by 2007), which has been the main engine of
growth for the pharmaceutical industry over the last ten years.
IDA has set itself an aggressive target to have eight of the top ten
biopharma companies located in Ireland by 2007.With several
major projects now landed – Schering-Plough,Wyeth, Pfizer,
Centocor (J&J), Allergan – it is approaching critical mass. The
infrastructural building blocks that have been put in place over
the last 20 years are beginning to show advantageous outcome.
Suitable sites for large-scale process industry, skills build-up by
the Institutes of Technology and the universities, the development
of university and industry research links, especially with major
funding from Science Foundation Ireland (SFI), and the long-established
success stories of life sciences companies in Ireland
– all these combine to reinforce the IDA’s selling message.
In the medical devices sector, Ireland is a significant global player
in product categories such as interventional vascular systems. It
is now clear that product development is an achievable ambition
for the sector in Ireland, particularly the success of the major
development centres in Galway run by Boston Scientific and
Medtronic. Some of the trends IDA is keen to foster include
drug/device combinations, particularly in drug delivery (for
example, drug eluting stents and pulmonary delivery) and tissue
engineering. Device manufacturing straddles many different core
technologies, from polymer technology and biocompatibility to
CNC engineering and microelectronics.
There is every reason to be optimistic about the future of medical
devices, diagnostics, pharmaceuticals and biopharmaceuticals. It is
undoubtedly a sector that will help cement Ireland’s position as a
world-class economy.
Further information
www.idaireland.com
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