Biotech firm Regeneron to expand Irish operations with creation of 300 jobs as part of $100m investment project

A leading biotechnology company is expanding its operations in Ireland with plans for an additional 300 jobs at its Limerick campus.

Regeneron Pharmaceuticals' $100m investment project, which is supported by IDA Ireland, brings the total investment at the Industrial Operations and Product Supply (IOPS) bioprocessing site to $750m.

With this latest investment, it is expected that the company's employee base in Ireland of 500 will rise to 850 by the end of 2018, far exceeding initial projections.

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar TD welcomed the additional highly skilled and diverse Regeneron jobs to Limerick.

"Regeneron’s decision to expand so significantly is testament to the talent pool and attractive business environment available to companies in Ireland," he said.

Recruitment is currently ongoing for high-end specialist positions in commercial manufacturing, process sciences, quality assurance/control/validation and various support functions at the 400,000 square foot, state-of-the-art production facility.

The construction of a number of manufacturing suites to increase drug substance production capacity will be enabled by the  $100m investment.

Tánaiste and Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation Frances Fitzgerald TD said that Regeneron, which set up in Limerick in 2014, has created a "world-class science hub to produce medicine for millions of people".

Dan Van Plew, Executive Vice President and General Manager of Industrial Operations and Product Supply (IOPS) at Regeneron the decision to locate to Limerick initially was based on "gut feel".

"A few years and a lot of experience later, I can now confidently say I know Limerick is a place where you can build and thrive as a biotech."

Regeneron also has a growing Dublin office, currently employing 30 people and serving as the company’s European Business Administration headquarters.