West celebrates start of manufacturing facility build in Ireland's Waterford

Packaging components and drug delivery systems manufacturer West Pharmaceutical Services hosted a ceremony in Waterford, Ireland, marking the start of construction of its new pharmaceutical component manufacturing facility.

Attended by Cllr James Tobin, Mayor of Waterford City and County; Cllr Lola O'Sullivan, Mayor of Waterford Metropolitan District; and other local officials, the event celebrated West’s continued investment in Ireland and commitment to the local Waterford community.

The Waterford facility will manufacture packaging components for insulin injector cartridges and other high-value packaging components for injectable drugs to meet increasing customer demand. The company intends to employ approximately 150 people in engineering, production and other positions by the commencement of operations in late 2018.

“West’s presence in Ireland is of great importance to us for meeting customer demand for high-quality packaging components,” said Eric Green, CEO at West. “Packaging systems play an important role in ensuring the purity, long-term stability and efficacy of injectable drug products. The advanced components that will be produced at our state-of-the-art Waterford plant will help our pharmaceutical and biotechnology customers deliver their products to patients.”

Green continued: “We are very fortunate to have found an ideal location in Waterford, Ireland, with a highly skilled life sciences workforce and local government officials and agencies who are true partners, working together with our team to help us fulfill our vision to create a healthier world. We’d like to thank Mayor Tobin, Waterford City & County Council and IDA Ireland for their continued support.”

The approximately 8,800m² facility will be situated at a 44-acre site at Knockhouse on Old Kilmeaden Road in Waterford. The site has been cleared for construction and activity will commence with civil work in mid-July.

The new facility will function as a centre of excellence for West’s proprietary elastomeric sheeting, which is used to package insulin for use in pen injectors. Additionally, the facility will include manufacturing capacity for additional proprietary injectable component product lines, which are integral to the packaging of many injectable medicines. Two key product lines include Westar RU components, which are delivered sterile and ready-to-use to customers for their aseptic filling operations, as well as NovaPure® components, West’s highest quality packaging component line.  

“Today is an exciting day for Waterford and the local life sciences community,” said Cllr. James Tobin, Mayor of Waterford City and County. “We are very pleased to have one of the world’s top manufacturers of pharmaceutical packaging and delivery systems establish roots in our city and provide new opportunities to our talented local workforce. We look forward to working closely with the West team for many years to come.”

West has had a presence in Ireland since 2005. Its Mulhuddart, Dublin, manufacturing and development centre, where the company recently completed a multi-million Euro expansion, is home to Tech Group Europe Limited, West’s global contract manufacturing solutions provider that specialises in providing device design, development and manufacturing services for pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical device manufacturers.