Most of the additional staff – new roles will be created in quality, operations, engineering, supply chain and technical support – will work in a new facility dedicated to next-generation oncology biologics and scheduled to start up in 2025. Merck & Co., which trades as MSD outside North America, said the new facility will be a first of its kind globally.

“The demand for MSD’s range of vaccine and biologics products has continued to grow since 2008, and this new facility will play a pivotal role in ensuring we can continue to sustain future supply to meet medical needs,” said Marie Martin, site lead at Carlow.

Mairead McCaul, managing director of MSD Ireland (Human Health), noted that further expansion of the company’s footprint in Ireland comes on the back of a number of significant investments it has made across the country in recent years.

MSD’s ongoing investment in Ireland is due to continued access to highly skilled employees as well as collaborative partnerships with Government and Third Level institutions, she added.

In 2017, the company announced plans to invest more than $310 million over three years to expand operations at its Brinny plant, which helps produce its blockbuster Keytruda immuno-oncology drug, along with the Carlow site. Some 330 job were to be added in the process.

Author: Dede Williams, Freelance Journalist