A national newspaper report has stated that MSD near Carrick on Suir is to expand with a plan to invest €140m.

This will lead to 300 building jobs over the 18 month construction period after a planning application was lodged with the Tipperary Council. It is stated in the submission that it is a single line facility.

No details yet as to how many extra jobs will result from the extra production facility. The plant could be as large as 3266 square metres and is seen as a vote of confidence in the Tipperary facility.

MSD’s Ballydine site opened in 1976 and currently employs 500 highly skilled people. The site has API and Formulation facilities for the manufacture of commercial products and the development of new products. Work relating to 20 of MSD’s pipeline products is undertaken at this state-of-the-art research and commercialisation facility which then export products to approximately 25 countries around the world for further processing.

Brian Killen, AVP Operations and Plant Manager MSD Ballydine said:

“MSD Ballydine plays a pivotal role in our company’s global network, manufacturing commercial products and developing new medicines. Work relating to many of MSD’s key pipeline medicines is undertaken at our state-of-the-art research and commercialisation facility and we export to approximately 25 countries around the world for further processing. With this in mind we are continuously focussed on the future and on how our site can be ready to support the development and launch of the next wave of important medicines. This has led to significant regular investment in the site over recent years. We are firmly focussed on saving and improving the lives of existing and future patients, with the aim that Ballydine continues to play an active and ongoing role in supporting patients around the globe.”

He added: “The additional expansion is a further endorsement of the highly-skilled team we have working here in Ballydine and the important work that they do.”

MSD Ireland is one of the country’s leading healthcare companies, having first established in Ireland over 50 years ago. MSD, known as Merck & Co. Inc., Kenilworth, NJ, USA in the US and Canada, has operations in more than 140 countries and employs over 2,700 people in Ireland across five sites in Ballydine, Co Tipperary, Brinny, Co Cork, Carlow, Meath and Dublin. MSD’s Irish sites manufacture approximately half of the company’s top twenty products, saving and enhancing lives in over 60 countries around the world.