West Pharmaceutical Services expands contract manufacturing capabilities in Ireland

The expansion is in response to customer demand for medical device manufacturing, especially in the area of diabetes, and represents West's most recent investment in Ireland, where the Company is also building a new pharmaceutical component manufacturing facility.

West also announced that its contract manufacturing business—formerly known as The Tech Group—will now align with the West brand and do business as "West."

This transition reflects the significance of contract manufacturing in West's long-term strategy as a leader in integrated packaging and delivery for injectable medicines. The additional capacity in Dublin will make it possible to better service the Company's growing healthcare and medical device contract manufacturing business, which is focused on supplying high-quality molding and assembly solutions for the production of medical devices such as auto-injectors and continuous glucose monitoring systems.

West anticipates 100 new jobs will be added to the business over the next five years as a result of the expansion.

West senior vice president and chief commercial officer  Karen Flynn said: "As the healthcare market becomes increasingly complex, West is advancing our core competencies in the development, manufacturing and final packaging of complex drug delivery systems and diagnostic devices for our customers. 

"We are excited about the growth and expansion we are experiencing in both our contract manufacturing business in Dublin as well as our proprietary products business in Waterford, both of which will support increasing demand from our global customer base."  

Along with the expansion of its Dublin facility, West is also growing its proprietary product business in Waterford, Ireland.

The Company previously announced the construction of a centre of excellence for its proprietary elastomeric sheeting and injectable component product lines. The new plant is expected to begin full commercial operations in 2018.

Mary Mitchell O'Connor TD, Ireland's Minister for Jobs, Enterprise & Innovation, said: "We are very pleased with West's commitment to furthering operations in Ireland.

"With this most recent expansion in Dublin and the company's previously announced investment in Waterford, West is affirming its presence as an important employer in Ireland. I am delighted with this new investment, which strongly aligns with the Government's ongoing strategy to attract investment in high-quality, high-value, medical device manufacturing to Ireland. We look forward to strengthening our relationship with West."

Martin Shanahan, CEO, IDA Ireland said, "IDA's life science sector continues to grow from strength-to-strength and this investment by West is a good example of the potential for convergence across the life sciences sector. Ireland has seen hundreds of millions invested in recent years in the development and manufacturing of new injectable drugs for diabetes, cardiovascular disease, autoimmune disease and cancer. 

"The patients who will benefit from these exciting new drugs will also benefit from West's innovation in drug delivery devices. IDA welcomes this investment and looks forward to continuing to work with West and their partner biotech companies in further developing the Irish cluster."