Business News

AbbVie expands medical device facility in Sligo with €40m investment

By Business & Finance
29 June 2015

AbbVie, a global biopharmaceutical company, today announced it will further expand its medical device manufacturing facility in Ballytivnan, Sligo, and over the next four years, create 50 new highly-skilled jobs.

Today’s announcement marks continued manufacturing investment by AbbVie in Ireland. Including today’s announcement, AbbVie’s investment in Ballytivnan and broader manufacturing operations in the country has reached a total of more than €134m since 2013, when it launched as an independent biopharmaceutical company.

The company’s manufacturing site in Ballytivnan currently produces drug delivery devices, including a pen-style injector The site is AbbVie’s ‘centre of excellence’ for medical device manufacture, precision engineering, plastics moulding and metrology.

“For more than 40 years, our expert team in Ireland has been committed to serving patients around the world,” said Joe Kumor, site director at Ballytivnan for AbbVie. ”The IDA’s support allows us to build our capabilities and help ensure that patients of AbbVie medicines continue to have access to best-in-class medical devices for their treatment.”

AbbVie also partners with the Institute of Technology, Sligo, which is establishing a new medical device-focused education programme.

“Working with AbbVie or other external partners on our curricula make them highly attractive for graduates,” said Professor Vincent Cunnane, president of the Institute of Technology, Sligo. “Together with these types of partnerships, we are also growing Sligo’s presence and reputation in the IT and medical device fields, which ultimately benefits the people of Sligo,” he said.

AbbVie employs more than 500 people at five different sites around the country, including three manufacturing plants – two in Sligo and one in Cork. Each of the sites manufactures portions of AbbVie’s top 20 products. The company’s global manufacturing network includes 13 sites across the US, Europe, Asia and Puerto Rico.