Boston Scientific, the medical device maker, is to create 935 manufacturing jobs, which will be split between its operations in Galway and Minnesota.
The company, which employs more than 3,000 in Ireland , says the jobs will be part of 1,200 new hirings associated with the introduction of Taxus, a drug-coated stent.
Drug-coated stents are expected to revolutionise the prevention of clogged arteries. The mesh devices are used to prop arteries open to improve blood flow.
Uncoated stents, however, can cause scarring, which blocks the arteries, defeating the device's purpose.
A spokesman for the company said yesterday there would be "significant hiring" in Galway, where the company already employs 2,000 people. He said the company would be talking to the IDA about expanding the Galway operation.
The news came in a mid-year update from the company, in which it blamed the introduction of Taxus for lower earnings forecasts for the rest of the year.
Investors, who initially brought the company's share price down on the news of higher costs involved with the launch, had second thoughts, with some interpreting greater spending as a vote of confidence in the stent.
For the second quarter, Boston Scientific expects earnings of 29-30 cents per share on sales of $852 million (€741 million).
Three months ago the group had predicted profits of 31 cents per share on sales of $842 million.
Third-quarter profits will come in at 24-28 cents per share, said management, compared with a Wall Street consensus of 30 cents. Fourth-quarter earnings are forecast at 28-35 cents, compared with previous estimates of 43 cents.
But investors were impressed by the company's willingness to spend money on the anticipated introduction of the new stent.
By some estimates, the new technology of coating stents with drugs to prevent scarring will cause sales of stents to more than double to $5 billion annually by 2007.
Johnson & Johnson's rival product, Cypher, was approved by the Food and Drug Administration in April and is said to be doing well.
Boston Scientific has begun selling Taxus in Japan and Europe. In Germany and France, the product got off to a slower-than-expected start due to reimbursement issues. - (Additional reporting, Financial Times Service).
