One of Ireland’s greatest success stories and a major driver of the national economy, over 90 biopharmaceutical and pharmaceutical and chemical companies make up the Irish BioPharmaChem industry, including eight of the world’s top 10 Biopharma companies.
With activities centred around manufacturing and services, the sector employs over 80,000 people directly and indirectly, has an export value of over €116 billion annually, and makes up some 20% of the Irish GDP.
Ireland’s biopharmaceutical industry is a global hub of innovation and manufacturing excellence that has evolved into a cohesive research and innovation ecosystem involving close collaboration between researchers in higher education institutions, private enterprise, and Government.
Important opportunities for the sector here include a move up the value chain towards drug discovery and development, including digital therapeutics and leveraging Ireland’s significant research capabilities in biotechnologies, microbiome science, advanced materials, drug delivery, data analytics and modelling.
Biopharma manufacturing can be divided into Small Molecule (synthetics) and Biologics (large molecule). Whilst traditional Small Molecule manufacturing has continued to grow significantly in recent years and there has been a rapid increase in the growth of biologic therapies, with employment in this subsector having increased by 98% in the last 10 years.
Furthermore, Advanced Therapeutic Medicinal Products (ATMPs) or Cell and Gene Therapies (CGTs) are emerging as an important area of future growth.
Ireland is increasingly becoming an important global hub in the provision of services in Biopharma, with employment growth in services subsectors growing more rapidly in recent years. Services subsectors include Global Business Services, Biopharma Services and Specialty Pharma Services.
