A Hong Kong-listed biologics technology company is create 400 new jobs over five years in Dundalk, Co Louth.
WuXi Biologics is to invest €325m in a new drug substance manufacturing facility on the IDA's greenfield site in Mullagharlin.
Headquartered in Wuxi City, China the company offers multinational pharmaceutical and biotechnological companies end-to-end solutions to discover, develop and manufacture biologics from concept to commercial manufacturing.
The new facility will be designed to be able to run continuous bioprocessing, a next generation manufacturing technology.
A total of 48,000L fed-batch and 6,000L perfusion bioreactor capacity will be installed - representing the world's largest facility using single-use bioreactors.
The manufacturing project in a 26-hectare campus, the company's first site outside of China, is supported by the Irish Government through IDA Ireland.
"Great vote of confidence"
Speaking at the announcement in Dundalk, An Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said: "This is the start of something special.
"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."
Louth already hosts companies such as National Pen, PayPal, Xerox, Wasdell and Prometric.
Minister for Business Heather Humphreys welcomed the announcement, saying: "This huge €325m investment is a great vote of confidence in Ireland and reinforces our image as a global centre of excellence in Biologics.
"This investment will result in the creation of over 400 highly skilled jobs over five years as well as approximately 700 construction jobs."
Dr. Chris Chen, CEO of WuXi Biologics, 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."
