WuXi Vaccines, a subsidiary WuXi Biologics focused on contract development and manufacturing services for vaccines, is investing $240 million to build a new vaccine-manufacturing facility in Ireland. This investment follows a 20-year manufacturing Letter of Intent (LOI) signed by WuXi Vaccines with an undisclosed pharmaceutical company earlier this year (2019). WuXi Vaccines is a joint venture of WuXi Biologics and Hile Bio-technology, a Shanghai-based animal-vaccine producer.

Under the LOI, the new vaccine-manufacturing facility, including drug-substance manufacturing, drug-product manufacturing, as well as quality control labs, will supply a vaccine product for a large global pharma for the global market. The new vaccine-manufacturing facility, subject to planning approval, will be located within the WuXi Biologics Campus adjacent to its biologics drug-substance manufacturing facility which is scheduled for commercial manufacturing in 2021.

The project will create 200 highly-skilled jobs in WuXi Vaccines, in addition to the 400 jobs that were announced last year (2018) by WuXi Biologics for Ireland. In 2018, the company announced plans to invest EUR 325 million ($392 million) in a new biologics drug-substance manufacturing facility in Mullagharlin, Dundalk, County Louth, Ireland.

Source: WuXi Biologics