Wyeth opens new biotech facility in Ireland

The new 1.2 million square foot campus known as Grange Castle will be used to produce the company’s key biotech products and to research new drugs. Ireland has become an integral part of Wyeth’s expansion, with the current development building on existing manufacturing and research ties including a four-year contract with Dublin University which seeks to improve the efficiency of biotechnical production.

Grange Castle, which employs more than 1,000 people, will comprise three separate facilities: a drug development unit, a drug substance site, and a drug product facility. These facilities will go into production on a phased basis over the next four years. With the addition of Grange Castle to Wyeth’s three existing manufacturing sites in Ireland, Wyeth has now become the country’s largest pharmaceutical employer.

Biotech drugs are a rapidly-growing segment of Wyeth’s more than $17.4 billion business. Among the biotech products that will be produced at Grange Castle is Enbrel, for which Wyeth owns the rights outside the US. Enbrel is approved in many markets around the world and is used to treat rheumatoid arthritis, juvenile rheumatoid arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis, psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis. Prevenar is also scheduled to be produced at Grange Castle, as is the company’s newly FDA- approved intravenous (IV) antibiotic Tygacil (tygacycline IV), used for the treatment of serious skin and intra-abdominal hospital-acquired infections.