Pharmaceutical giant Merck Sharp & Dohme (MSD) yesterday announced that it will spend €5 million over the next year establishing a new Irish-based subsidiary that will employ 120 people.
MSD Ireland (Human Health) Ltd will conduct clinical research and manage regulatory affairs for the pharmaceutical group's European business.
It will also provide the European division's marketing support and manage the sales and marketing of the group's drugs in Ireland, an activity previously carried out in the UK.
MSD Ireland (Human Health) already employs 40 people and plans to recruit a further 80 employees over the next year.
Mr Per Wold-Olsen, president of Merck's European, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) human health division and the managing director of MSD Ireland, Mr Soren Tulstrup, formally launched the venture yesterday.
Mr Tulstrup said that the group was number five in the Irish market, and predicted that the new company would grow this business. "Our new Irish subsidiary will also play a pivotal role in relation to our global clinical research, regulatory and promotional activities," he said.
Merck has had an Irish presence since 1976 and, according to Mr Tulstrup, has invested €750 million here since then. It employs 450 people at a plant in Ballydine, Co Tipperary, where it manages the active ingredients used in its treatments for osteoporosis, migraine, high cholesterol and asthma.
Globally, the company also produces drugs for the treatment of heart disease, HIV/AIDS and a number of specialised hospital products. Its EMEA division generates sales in the region of $5 billion a-year.
Merck and its investors are currently focused on its development pipeline. Late last year two products, one for the treatment of depression and the other for diabetes, which were destined for a 2005 launch, did not make it past the testing and development stage.
According to Mr Wold-Olsen, both had the potential to generate sales in excess of $1 billion a-year, making them "blockbusters" in the industry's jargon. He told The Irish Times their failure was a setback. "On the other hand, we have a rich pipeline right now in terms of vaccines," he said.
In an address to an IBEC conference on Monday, he said that the regulation and structure of the pharmaceutical market in the EU had created a situation where European patients faced delays in getting access to new drugs and treatments. "Broadly speaking it means that the European consumer is getting access to innovative medicines more than two years after the typical consumer in the US," he said.
