Booming Irish pharmaceutical sector sets sights on China

Ireland in recent years has become a hub for the world's pharmaceutical industry. Now, looking to expand market in China, government officials and pharmaceutical firms are wooing China's counterparts for burgeoning deals and closer relations.

Ireland has become a popular location for pharmaceutical and bioprocessing plants. Ireland is now the eighth largest producer of pharmaceuticals in the world. There's nine out of the top 10 pharma companies in the world are based in Ireland and nearly 50 percent of Irish exports are in the pharma and healthcare area.

Irish officials and researchers said that with such a large market, China will play an important role in the future development of pharmaceuticals, adding that increased interaction between Ireland and China could prove to be mutually beneficial in this field.

"We have a growing relationship with China I think it's something we want to really underpin for the future. Industrial Development Agency (IDA) has had traditionally a big focus on the U.S. and Europe as sources of foreign direct investment in the pharmaceutical space," said Barry Heavey, head of life sciences of IDA, which is responsible for attracting foreign direct investment in Ireland.

"A number of companies that are here in Ireland are sourcing some of their active ingredients from China and we would see increased relationships between China and Ireland being an important part of our future," Heavey said.

"I think we are certainly spending more time in the Chinese market and interacting with our colleagues in China and trying to identify opportunities for investment from China and Ireland's reputation in the development and manufacturing of these products is really second to none," he said.

Killian O'Driscoll, director of projects of Ireland's National Institute for Bioprocessing Research & Training (NIBRT), said China is obviously a very large market who is beginning to develop a strong capacity within bio-pharma manufacturing.

"It's a very important relationship and it's developing more and more significance as each day goes by. So we liaise a lot with our Chinese partners both from a research but particularly from a training and education perspective," said O'Driscoll.

While Ireland is a relatively small country, its dedication to research and development along with its educated workforce makes it tailor fit to the production of pharmaceuticals.

"We have a very strong regulatory framework which companies really appreciate because it gives them a lot of guidance and security in terms of what they are achieving and the industry has really been able to access excellent talent here with the engineering and science graduate output from the universities. They've had, I think, a second to none track record in excellence in both development and manufacturing," Heavey said.

O'Driscoll said it's a key component to develop the industry in Ireland. "It's an industry based on science and technology so all the new products are very much based on research and development so having a strong internationally focused R&D sector is a critical component," he said.

Heavey said there's been a big focus as part of government efforts to prioritize the investment of the 8 billion euros (about 10.3 billion U.S. dollars) in research funding.

"One of the areas that's been identified as an area for focus from the stakeholder group is in research and development that supports manufacturing of therapeutics and process development," he said.

In Ireland, pharmaceutical and bioprocessing industries have been growing very strongly in the last number of years. Ireland is now the No. 1 location in Europe for life sciences foreign direct investment.

"Over 50 percent of our gross domestic product is driven by life sciences and within that we've seen a number of very strong investments from companies such as Amgen, Merck and Lilly over the last 12 to 24 months," said O'Driscoll.

Laurent Borla, general manager of Arkopharma Ireland, listed several key reasons for the French-based multinational decided to invest in Ireland.

"Ireland was chosen because it's an English speaking country, it's in the eurozone, there is a well educated workforce, the climate is quite proper to control environments, it's never too warm, never too cold so there is good savings to be made on energy costs and it's just a great place to be in. I mean, the quality of life in Ireland is quite spectacular and it's important when people work hard, after a long day," said Borla.

Dominic Carolan, managing director of Genzyme Ireland, also said reliability of supply is another area that Ireland has a good reputation on pharma sector.

"Ireland has an ability to be able to do and deliver the products that are very important for patients worldwide and also Ireland has been developing in more recent times an ability to drive productivity improvements through their facilities in Ireland, to be very cost competitive in relation to other countries who are also operating in the pharmaceutical manufacturing area," Carolan said.

The sector directly employs almost 25,000 people in Ireland alone, and Irish officials believes that with an outstanding regulatory track record, a strong transparent framework and support from the government, the pharmaceutical industry in Ireland should continue to grow for years to come.

"We have a very strong regulatory framework which companies really appreciate because it gives them a lot of guidance and security in terms of what they are achieving and the industry has really been able to access excellent talent here with the engineering and science graduate output from the universities. They've had, I think, a second to none track record in excellence in both development and manufacturing," said Heavey.