Pfizer sells Irish manufacturing facility to BioMarin
pharmafile | June 27, 2011 | News story | Manufacturing and Production | BioMarin, Ireland, Pfizer, pharma manufacturing news
Pfizer is selling its Irish manufacturing facility in Shanbally, Cork, to US biopharmaceutical company BioMarin for $48.5 million, creating up to 100 new jobs over the next five years.
The bulk biologics manufacturing plant – which is only a couple of years old and cost an estimated $175 million to set up and validate – covers 133,000 sq.ft. and makes extensive use of modern production technologies including disposable equipment and energy-efficient infrastructure.
It can also handle fed batch or perfusion bioprocessing, which gives it the flexibility to be able to manufacture a wide range of biologic drugs.
In a statement, BioMarin said that buying the facility will cost “approximately one-fifth of the expected cost to construct and validate a new facility”.
The US company intends to use the Shanbally plant to make N-acetylgalactosamine 6-sulfatase (GALNS), a drug in phase III testing for mucopolysaccharidosis IVA, as well as other pipeline drugs such as PEG-PAL for phenylketonuria (in phase II), BMN 701 for Pompe disease and BMN 111 for achondroplasia (both in phase I).
BioMarin sees Shanbally coming into its own someway down the line however, as it says it has existing capacity at its current facility in Novato, California, to support “approximately $1 billion in revenue”, according to chief executive Jean-Jacques Bienaime. The Irish plant will allow it to cater for another $500 million in sales.
The Irish facility is an investment for the future, with licensing for GALNS production not expected until 2015. In the meantime, the company will have to meet maintenance expenses of around $4 million a year, but has the security of additional capacity in case anything goes wrong at its US plant.
“The new facility in Shanbally also diversifies our manufacturing risk and provides us with an attractive business environment,” said Bienaime.
The Shanbally plant is the second Irish unit sold off by Pfizer in recent months. In March the drugmaker signed a deal with Amgen to take over a biologics fill-and-finish plant in Dun Laoghaire, saving around 240 jobs.
A third Irish facility in Loughbeg – manufacturing solid dose pharmaceuticals – is still on the block.
Phil Taylor
Related Content
NICE recommends Pfizer’s new once-weekly treatment for haemophilia B on NHS
Walton Oaks, 21st May 2025 – Pfizer Ltd announced today that the National Institute for Health and Care …
Pfizer releases results for severe RSV-associated LRTD treatment study
US-based Pfizer have announced results from its substudy B of the ongoing phase 3 clinical …
New Real-World Data Published in Journal of Cardiac Failure on Effectiveness
Patients treated with tafamidis were associated with greater rates of survival compared with patients untreated …
