An American healthcare company has become the first tenant of the Navan Industrial Park and will create 250 jobs by the end of 1999.Vivus Ireland Limited is a subsidiary of Vivus Inc based in New Jersey and its £28 million investment in Navan will produce MUSE, a transurethral delivery system for the treatment of erectile dysfunction. It was launched in the US in January this year and had sales there totalling over £100 million in the first nine months of this year.
IDA Ireland's regional director for the North East, Mr Michael Mulally, said the 100 acres business park "is without a doubt the most important business park on the east coast of Ireland". Vivus will take up 30 acres and construction of a purpose-built 90,000 sq ft factory is expected to start in the middle of next year. It has begun to recruit a senior management team and expects to draw the rest of its labour force from an area stretching from Dublin to Dundalk and westwards to Trim.
"We have been actively looking for a site in Ireland for two years. We looked at Cork, the Midlands, the North, Dublin and then Navan. We found this to be the best site because of the labour pool around the area. It was Ireland's labour pool that drew us here in the first place. The local labour force is highly educated and well qualified whether it is university graduates, technical graduates or general operators you want," said vice-president Mr Terry Nida.
The company has been licensed by the Medicines Control Agency(MCA) in the UK which has mutual recognition within EU states. It is a lso licensed by the Food and Drug Administration in the US The announcement was made by Environment Minister Noel Dempsey, a TD for Meath. He said "it is a new investment which will create major employment in a rapidly growing population centre". He committed himself to ensuring that developments in infrastructure continue in the county.
Meath County Manager Mr Joe Horan said that the recently adopted development plan for the town includes approximately 1,000 acres zoned for housing on lands adjacent to the industrial park as well as a number of road reservations. "Work is also underway on the waste water treatment plant for Navan to ensure it has the capacity to grow... it now has the potential to expand to about 25 ,000." The current population of the town, which is just 35 minutes from Dublin is just 12,000.
