Cork pharmaceutical company to create up to 100 jobs over three years

A Cork-based pharmaceutical company has announced the expansion of the site and the creation of up to 100 jobs over a three-year period.

The expansion of Hovione in Loughbeg, which was recently announced by Chief Executive Officer Guy Villax and Chief Operating Officer Jean-Luc Herbeaux, is part of a global expansion strategy representing an investment of €148 million in increasing its capacity at its sites in Ireland, the USA and Portugal.

General Manager at Hovione in Cork, Dr Paul Downing, said: “Hovione in Cork is one of the strategic growth engines of the company. With its unique location in a pharmaceutical hub, our Loughbeg site plays a significant and strategic role within the global network. Hovione in Cork has expanded rapidly over the past number of years.

Since it was established in 2009, it has more than quadrupled in terms of team members.

"We currently employ over 200 team members and this latest expansion and growth announcement will lead to a further 100 jobs.”

Senior Human Resources Director, Mary Hennessy said: “Hovione was established more than 60 years ago in Portugal with a goal to strive for excellence, rigor, innovation and quality. For over a decade, we have ensured that the Cork site has these values at the forefront of everything we do.

“As our growth is organic, it allows us to stay true to our culture and values. We are delighted to be expanding our operations here and are now looking for skilled personnel to join our agile, dynamic and passionate team.” Hovione is an international company with sites in Cork, Portugal, China and the US dedicated to helping pharmaceutical customers bring new and off-patent drugs to market.

The Cork site facilitates the production of highly Potent Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (HPAPI) and supports the onboarding of Drug Substance Manufacturing projects of all sizes.

The expansion will fuel plans to create an ecosystem, where large customer projects can connect to the existing infrastructure and equipment and the site will also receive a new commercial size spray dryer, in line with demand for particle engineering services.