Irish pharma research company APC has announced a major expansion that will see it establish a vaccine manufacturing facility at Cherrywood in south Dublin.
The €25 million investment by the Dublin company comes as a Covid-19 vaccine it is developing with Australian group Vaxine enters phase-2 clinical trials. The company says the investment will accelerate the development and manufacture of Covid vaccines and other advanced drug therapies. It expects to create 120 jobs.
APC describes itself as a medicines accelerator – a company that helps other pharma groups fast-track drug development. It was founded in 2011 by Dr Mark Barrett and Prof Brian Glennon and later spun out of University College Dublin.
Around a third of the €25 million will be invested in expanding lab space at the company’s existing site in Cherrywood.
It is expected to be fully operational this month and will see 50 new jobs added to the 140 highly-skilled personnel on site.
Taoiseach Micheál Martin said the investment positioned Ireland as a key contributor to the research and manufacturing of Covid-19 vaccines and other critical advanced therapeutics.
Tánaiste Leo Varadkar said the announcement would put Ireland on the map as a significant producer of vaccines, including the lifesaving Covid-19 vaccine.
In addition to Covid-19 vaccine research and manufacture, APC is working on more than 20 medicines for other disease areas, including a variety of cancers, respiratory diseases, Alzheimer’s disease and HIV.
The company has worked with eight of the top 10 pharmaceutical groups worldwide and five of the top 10 biotech companies.
