BioMarin to buy Pfizer plant in Cork

US BIOPHARMA company BioMarin will take over Pfizer’s Shanbally plant in Cork in a $50 million deal that will create up to 200 jobs over the next few years. However, the 65 staff currently at the plant will not transfer to the new owners.

A spokesman for Pfizer yesterday said the deal was expected to close around September.

BioMarin plans to occupy the Shanbally plant in a phased transition tied to results of its ongoing clinical study for a treatment for a serious disorder affecting the skeleton and heart, called Mucopolysaccharidosis IVA (MPS IVA, also known as Morquio A Syndrome).

It is anticipated that the facility will be licensed for production of the therapy by 2015.

BioMarin chief executive Jean Jacques Bienaimé said the Shanbally plant would greatly expand his company’s manufacturing capacity. “The new facility in Shanbally also diversifies our manufacturing risk and provides us with an attractive business environment,” he said.

Because of the time lag, Pfizer will now start consultations with staff at the plant, many of whom will not be able to transfer to other Pfizer operations here.

At the time Pfizer announced the closure of Shanbally and two other Irish plants in May 2010, the vice-president of Irish manufacturing Paul Duffy said it was confident of finding buyers for the plants. Since then, Amgen, the largest US biopharma business, has agreed to take over another of the mothballed plants, at Pottery Road in Dún Laoghaire.

Shanbally was a state of the art €190 million bulk biologics manufacturing facility opened by Pfizer only in 2009.

Welcoming the announcement Minister for Enterprise, Jobs and Innovation Richard Bruton said: “If we are to get out of the crisis we’re in, one crucial aspect of this will be to build on our traditional strengths as an economy. The pharmaceutical industry has developed into a particular strength of the Irish economy in recent years.”

Dr Duffy praised the work of IDA Ireland in finding a buyer for the Shanbally site, especially another new manufacturing investor.