Ireland, bastion of the pharmaceutical industry in Europe

Roche, Novartis, MSD, Bayer, Abbott, Teva, Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson and a long list of pharmaceutical companies are currently making up the Irish business network.

Nowadays, Ireland can brag of being one of the most fruitful and promising countries in Europe. After the crisis that devastated the economies of practically all European countries, Ireland knew how to get over it and move forward, despite the vicissitudes, becoming the home of thousands of important international companies, which saw in this territory the opportunity to establish themselves in a strategic point in the world and the possibility of benefiting from certain tax advantages.

But, in addition to the big technology companies, which we have talked about in other occasions, one of the most important industries for the actual Irish economy is the pharmaceutical industry, which plays a key role in the country’s growth.

Why Ireland is the key global territory of the pharmaceutical sector

There are already more than 120 pharmaceutical companies that have decided to settle in Ireland. In fact, according to IDA Ireland data, 100% of the world’s leading pharmaceutical companies have relevant operations in this country and generate employment (direct and indirect) for more than 30 thousand people. This makes Ireland the eighth most important country in the world in pharmaceutical manufacturing.

Most of the pharmaceutical companies have established their facilities in Dublin and Cork, but some of them are also located in other less known cities such as Sligo, Waterford or Mayo.

With all this information, we ask ourselves the question of why is Ireland, a country of only 70 thousand sq kilometers (121 of the world by size, of a total of 258) and a population of just over 5 million people (121 of the world by volume of population, out of a total of 238), so relevant to the global pharmaceutical industry.

There are several reasons that certify Ireland is a bastion of the pharmaceutical industry in Europe. Below you can find all the details:

• Historical investment, for more than 50 years, in the development of pharmaceutical products.
• Dynamism in the growth of the manufacture of biological products.
• Export of more than 48 billion euros of biopharmaceutical products. This makes Ireland the second largest exporter of medical and pharmaceutical products in Europe, behind Germany, and the eighth in the world.
• Presence of around 90 biopharmaceutical plants located throughout the Irish territory, more than 50 of them approved by the FDA (Food and Drug Administration).
• Government commitment to invest 8 billion euros in research.
• Contribution of the pharmaceutical industry of more than 20% of GDP to the country.
• Excellence in clinical and academic research, in areas such as oncology, immunology and neuroscience.
• Fiscal flexibility, in comparison with other countries.
• Excellence and talent of professionals, both national and foreign.
• Research and collaboration in university education.
• Stable regulatory framework, according to IMB (Irish Medicines Board), FDA (Food and Drug Administration) and EMA (European Medicines Agency).

For these and many other reasons (business, strategy…), Ireland is the European center for the development and manufacture of medicines and biological products.