Merck's principal Irish plant at Ballydine, County Tipperary

Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment Micheál Martin TD today announced that Merck & Co Inc., the global healthcare company and seventh largest pharmaceutical company in the world, is to establish a new €200 million ($280 million) strategic vaccine facility at Carlow Town, with the support of IDA Ireland, where Merck has acquired the 65 acre IDA Business and Technology Park.

The project will support Merck’s expanding global business in human vaccines and biologics and will create 170 new high quality jobs by 2011. Martin said it will employ a highly skilled and technically sophisticated workforce across all areas of management, quality control, production, engineering, R&D and administration.

Merck is a global research-driven pharmaceutical company that discovers, develops, manufactures and markets a broad range of innovative products to improve human health. The new Carlow facility, which will be the first stand-alone human vaccine project in Ireland, will involve a formulation and sterile filling operation and an R&D team to support a number of recently launched vaccines and new products in the future. Merck also intends to seek opportunities to collaborate with Irish academic institutions in the area of biologics production.

Martin said, "This is an excellent day for Carlow and the whole South-East region as it will provide extensive high quality employment opportunities. It will also provide a significant cumulative boost for the region’s economy as, initially, it will provide several hundred jobs in the construction phase and, subsequently, through the facility’s operation, its need for numerous specialist services, purchases of support activities, and the overall ripple effect created by such a substantial investment. The global competition for this investment has been intense and the decision to locate it in Ireland follows an international site selection study by Merck."

"This investment is a further very strong commitment to Ireland by Merck which already has substantial and successful operations in Ireland. I was very pleased a year ago to announce that the company was investing in a new Formulation R&D and manufacturing facility at its manufacturing plant in South Tipperary and I'm delighted to see that construction on this project commenced last month. This latest investment represents a very significant consolidation of Ireland’s high profile position as a successful location for substantial biotechnology global investments," added Martin.

Merck has two existing operations in Ireland employing a total of 460 people - Merck, Sharp & Dohme (Ireland) Ltd, at Ballydine, Co. Tipperary, producing active pharmaceutical ingredients; and Merck, Sharp & Dohme Ireland (Human Health) Ltd, at Leopardstown, Co. Dublin, which is the corporate platform for a number of strategic activities for the company in Ireland.

Dr John T McCubbins, Vice President of Global Vaccine manufacturing for Merck & Co., Inc. said, "The site for this investment, which is a critical part of Merck’s strategy for the future, required a location where we are confident the necessary skilled people, support infrastructure and track record in implementing projects of this scale exists – that is why we chose Ireland. To-date our Irish operations have proven their ability to implement additional investments and new activities with great success and without delay. This gives us the assurance that this new facility will be constructed and up and running in Carlow in accordance with our demanding deadlines and the very high standards we require."