Investment and skills set the foundations for Irish pharma success and will keep it competitive in face of future threats

When Mary Mitchell-O’Connor, Ireland’s Minister of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, was speaking at a Dublin conference last week, she could have used countless statistics to demonstrate the strength of her country’s pharmaceutical sector.

The 10 billion-euro ($11.15 billion) investment made by the industry in Irish operations over the last decade, the 26,000 people employed directly across 80 different firms with facilities all over the country and as much as 27% of Ireland’s goods exports last year being of medical and pharmaceutical products, are three which she chose to use.

She could also have mentioned that Ireland was the seventh largest exporter globally of such products in 2014, is home to 33 US Food and Drug Administration approved pharma and biopharma plants, manufactures five of the world’s top 20 selling medicines, or the fact that nine of the globe’s 10 leading pharmaceutical companies have major facilities in the country.