Eli Lilly launch billion euro Limerick site

AMERICAN pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly have officially launched their Limerick site, which will see an investment of €1 billion in the facility. 

The company's new Biopharmaceutical Campus in Raheen will be their most technologically advanced manufacturing site to date.

On completion of the project, Lilly is expected to create more than 300 new highly skilled jobs for engineers, scientists, and operations technicians. This number is expected to grow as the facility progresses. 

Many other professionals with supply chain, finance and human resources expertise will also be employed at the campus.

In November, Lily announced that 500 people would be employed during the construction phase, that number has now increased to 1,200. 

The Limerick manufacturing site will be a fully integrated digital site with the latest machine automation, manufacturing execution, and data technologies designed to ensure product and data quality.

The integrated design will enable manufacturing excellence for the production and delivery of quality medicine.

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Work on the site is expected to take two and a half years with plans to start manufacturing at the site in 2025. 

Eli Lilly already has a presence in Ireland, with 10% of their 38,000 strong workforce working at their facilities in Kinsale and Little Island, Cork. 

Simon Coveney, Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment thanked David Ricks, Eli Lilly CEO for continuing to "believe in Ireland" and said it was a day of celebration for Limerick. 

"It is not every day that you announce a project for Limerick where a company is committing a billion euro to take on over 1,000 people to build one of the most advanced facilities on the planet in order to employ over 300 people."

Mr Ricks said Limerick was the "ideal location" to start their new facility which will make a number of groundbreaking medicines. 

"We will be shipping medicines that are made here to over 120 different countries. Medicines for cancer, auto-immune diseases and Alzheimer's will be the main medicines we make here. 

"If people want to invest their careers not just in making a good living, but also solving health problems then Lilly is a great place to consider working"."