More than 400 jobs to be created by Dundalk’s “Factory of the Future”

The move will see the creation of a further 700 construction jobs.

400 new, high-skilled jobs will be created over the next five years in Dundalk, Co. Louth after it was confirmed that a Chinese bio-manufacturing company will be investing €325 million into the creation of a new drug substances manufacturing facility in Mullagharlin. WuXi Biologics is a Shanghai-based and Hong Kong-listed biologics technology firm, which provides pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies services to develop and manufacture biologics. The facility is situated on the Industrial Development Authority's greenfield site in Mullagharlin, Dundalk and will be the company's first site outside China. Launched on Monday, 30 April in Dundalk, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said: "This is the start of something special." "We will see the Factory of the Future, right here in Dundalk. It's the first sizable Greenfield project from China in the pharma sector and I am delighted to see it located here in Dundalk. It's also the latest in a number of investments in this town which has become a hub for a range of sectors, mainly in the new knowledge based and pharmaceutical sectors." Minister for Business, Enterprise & Innovation, Heather Humphreys TD said: "This investment will result in the creation of over 400 highly skilled jobs over 5 years as well as approximately 700 construction jobs. "This development is a further example of the success of our commitment under the Regional Action Plans for Jobs to provide quality jobs in regional locations." Dr. Chris Chen, CEO of WuXi Biologics later added: "We are all excited to initiate our first global site to enable local companies and expedite biologics development in Europe. "In addition, this is the start and a critical part of our global biomanufacturing network to ensure that biologics are manufactured to the highest quality and with a robust supply chain to benefit patients worldwide. We are committed to Ireland and will work with all local partners to build this state-of-art next generation biomanufacturing facility as a showcase to the global biotech community."