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Edited by the Processingtalk Editorial
Team on 19 September 2005
Wyeth opens integrated biotech
production facility
Wyeth opens the world's largest integrated biotech production facility at Grange Castle: this Ireland plant is the centerpiece of the Wyeth investment in biotech processes, writes Nick Denbow
In a press release issued on 8 September 2005, Wyeth announced the formal opening of its Grange Castle biotech production facility in South County Dublin, Ireland The new 1.2 million square foot campus is one of the largest integrated biotech manufacturing facilities in the world and is expected to produce some of their most innovative products
Speaking before a crowd of more than 1,200 people that included numerous representatives of the Irish government and other dignitaries, Wyeth Pharmaceuticals President Bernard Poussot said the Company is proud of the biotech manufacturing facility it has built in Ireland and expects that it will expand access to our key biotech products, which are in high demand from patients throughout the world.
"The work performed in this facility will lead the way to better and more innovative healthcare through the application of biotechnology developed right here, in Ireland," said Mr Poussot.
"We expect to continue to invest in this new state-of-the-art facility and to make Grange Castle one of our key biotech development, production and distribution efforts in the coming years, complementing our US presence in Andover, Massachusetts" Through sustained investment over the last decade, Wyeth has become one of the largest global biotech companies in the world and the fastest growing pharmaceutical company in Europe.
The Company has emphasised a sustainable new paradigm, which combines the biotech culture with the resources and global reach of a large pharmaceutical company - a model for success in a challenging and changing industry.
Biotech drugs are a rapidly growing segment of the Wyeth business, overall worth more than $17.4 billion, and includes such innovative products as Enbrel (etanercept), ReFacto Antihemophilic Factor (Recombinant), BeneFix Coagulation Factor IX (Recombinant) and Prevenar 7-valent pneumococcal vaccine for children.
Wyeth invested nearly $2 billion in the Grange Castle facility, where site development work began in October 2002.
Construction of the campus required seven million person-hours of engineering and construction and 15,000 tons of structural steel.
The campus at Grange Castle, which employs more than 1,000 people, will comprise three separate facilities - a drug development unit, a drug substance site, and a drug product facility.
These facilities will go into production on a phased basis over the next four years.
With the addition of Grange Castle to the Wyeth existing manufacturing sites in Ireland, Wyeth has now become the country's largest pharmaceutical employer.
Among the biotech products that will be produced at Grange Castle is Enbrel, for which Wyeth owns the rights outside the US.
Enbrel is approved in many markets around the world and can be used to treat rheumatoid arthritis, juvenile rheumatoid arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis, psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis.
Prevenar is also scheduled to be produced at Grange Castle, as is the company's newly FDA approved intravenous (IV) antibiotic Tygacil (tygacycline IV), used for the treatment of serious skin and intra-abdominal hospital acquired infections.
Wyeth is one of the world's largest research-driven pharmaceutical and health care products companies.
It is a leader in the discovery, development, manufacturing, and marketing of pharmaceuticals, vaccines, biotechnology products and nonprescription medicines that improve the quality of life for people worldwide.
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