Regeneron to create 400 jobs to support manufacturing in Ireland

Regeneron Pharmaceuticals has plans to add more than 400 new jobs to its Industrial Operations and Product Supply (IOPS) campus in Limerick, Ireland.

The jobs, which will bring total employees to more than 1,400, are intended to support the manufacturing of the company’s existing drugs.

Regeneron is working to maximise manufacturing capacity at its New York facility in the US for REGN-COV2, a two-antibody combination developed to potentially treat and prevent Covid-19.

Earlier this month, the company partnered with Roche to develop, manufacture and distribute REGN-COV2. The partners expect to boost the supply of the therapeutic by at least three-and-a-half times the existing capacity.

Speaking of the development, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals IOPS executive vice-president and general manager Dan Van Plew said: “As this pandemic hit, we needed to quickly change how we do things and where we make our products. In order to make space in our New York facilities to accommodate our Covid-19 efforts, we needed to ramp-up capacity here in Limerick.

“Despite ramping up commercial production sooner than planned, my team hasn’t missed a beat. You can only perform like this if you have good people, and Ireland has lots of good people, so we are excited to be hiring 400 more.”

The addition of these jobs is part of Regeneron’s long-term commitment to Ireland, said the company. Since 2014, the company invested more than $1bn to construct the largest bulk biologics manufacturing facility in the country.

Currently, more than 1,000 employees, 300 contingent workers and nearly 500 construction personnel are working on site.

Regeneron’s 64,000m2 IOPS facility became operational in 2015. It carries out production, packaging, labelling and supply of the company’s biopharmaceuticals for patients worldwide.

Recruitment is ongoing for commercial manufacturing, process sciences, quality assurance / control, supply chain and support functions for scientists, chemists and technicians.