The indigenous Life sciences sector now has revenues in excess of €1bn, exports of €780m and employs over 6,000 people. Over the last six years, employment has grown by 42% with exports growing by 63% - an impressive performance given the economic climate over the period.
The indigenous biotech sub-sector itself employs approximately 100 people with exports of €5m. While this may appear low, most of the businesses that operate in this sub-sector are technological intermediaries – high end, R&D intensive, patent-protected technology companies involved in drug discovery, drug delivery and new chemical entity developers. Employment in these companies is relatively low but the quality of jobs is typically very high calibre (Masters and Ph.D level). These businesses also have a substantial spend in the wider economy through R&D in particular.
In addition to supporting the domestic venture capital industry in Ireland, the Government through Enterprise Ireland and the National Pension Reserve Fund (NPRF – now the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund (ISIF)) established Innovation Fund Ireland (IFI). The objective of IFI is to attract international Venture Capitalists (VCs) to establish a presence in Ireland. Information on investments made separately by the NPRF/ISIF under the Innovation Fund Ireland is a matter for my colleague, Mr Michael Noonan, TD, Minister for Finance.
In March 2012, under the IFI, Enterprise Ireland committed $25m to Sofinnova Ventures, a leading US healthcare venture capital fund, alongside a commitment of $12.5m from the NPRF. In May 2014, Enterprise Ireland invested €20m with Lightstone Ventures, another leading US venture capital fund, under the IFI with a €10m investment by the NPRF. Lightstone Ventures is actively looking for investment opportunities in the Irish market across the biotech and medtech sectors.
The most recently published EI Seed and Venture Capital Report 2013 shows that under the Seed and Venture Capital Scheme 2007-2012 cumulatively to 2013, 35% of investment was in the wider Lifesciences sector. At end-2014, those funds in receipt of investment under the IFI, Seed and Venture Scheme 2007-2012 and the Development Capital Scheme were invested in companies with over 3,000 jobs.
Recently there has been an upswing in investment interest, particularly for biotechs with strong research data. Companies such as Sigmoid, Opsona, Genable, Trino, Solvotrin and Inflection BioSciences have raised tens of millions in investment (from private investors and/or Irish/international VCs). Consequently, I would expect an increase in jobs growth as these companies expand their R&D programmes.
In relation to IDA Ireland there are now over 5,000 jobs in biotech manufacturing in Ireland with an average salary of €43k (equating to over €200m in annual payroll).
There has been exceptionally strong growth in the multinational biotech industry since 2004 when there was only one operational biotech site i.e. MSD in Brinny Co. Cork, formerly Schering Plough. There is now a regional spread of nineteen multinational biotech company investments across Ireland – some are included in the list attached below.
As the multinational sector grows, job opportunities will continue to arise for the subsuppliers to the biotech sector, among both indigenous companies (PM Group, DPS, Zenith Automation, various construction firms) and multinational subsuppliers (Waters Corp - 400 employees in Wexford, PPD - 100 employees in Athlone).
Some IDA Ireland biotech companies:
- Dublin (Pfizer, Amgen, Alexion, MSD, BMS).
- Carlow (MSD), Waterford (Sanofi Genzyme).
- Cork (J&J, Lilly, MSD, Biomarin), Limerick (Regeneron, Ethicon Biosurgery).
- Galway (Mylan), Westport (Allergan), Sligo (Elanco), Athlone (Alexion, Jazz).
- IDA has also developed strategic sites ready for additional biotech investment in Dundalk and Galway.
