The Business & Finance FDI of the Month for May 2021 is Pfizer. It was one of the first pharmaceutical companies to locate in Ireland (1969), and has a ‘rich heritage of innovation and expansion.’
The Business & Finance FDI of the Month for May 2021 is Pfizer. It was one of the first pharmaceutical companies to locate in Ireland (1969), and has a ‘rich heritage of innovation and expansion.’ Pfizer has over approximately 4,000 workers across 5 locations based in Cork, Dublin, and Kildare. Total capital investment by the company in Ireland exceeds $8 billion. Pfizer’s business interests in Ireland are diverse which include manufacturing, shared services, R&D, treasury and commercial operations.
Ireland is a leading manufacturing base for Pfizer, exporting to markets globally. There is a manufacturing presence in Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients, Solid Dose Pharmaceuticals, Sterile Injectables, Vaccines and Biopharmaceuticals. Part of Pfizer’s Worldwide Research & Development (WR&D) is based in Ireland – the Global Biotherapeutics Technology group at Grange Castle was established in 2006 and is part of a world-leading protein drug discovery unit within Pfizer Worldwide R&D.
The European Medicines Agency recently approved the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19, the first COVID vaccine available for adolescents (12-to-15-year olds). The vaccine has been approved in the EU in people aged 16 and over, but the regulator announced that its Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use had started evaluating its effectiveness in younger people. The EMA examined the trialed approximately 2,000 children from 12 to 15 years of age to come to the decision.
“The CHMP concluded that the benefits of Comirnaty in this age group outweigh the risks,” the EMA said.
Pfizer Inc. also announced a new agreement with the European Commission (EC) to supply 900 million doses of Cominarty, the companies’ COVID-19 vaccine, to the European Union (EU), with an option for the EC to request up to an additional 900 million doses.
This new agreement is in addition to the 600 million doses that have already been committed to the EU through 2021. The additional 900 million agreed doses are expected to be delivered on a monthly schedule beginning December 2021 and continuing into 2023. As part of the agreement, the EC also has an option to increase the number of doses delivered by up to an additional 900 million, bringing the total number of potential doses delivered to the EC, inclusive of all agreements, to up to 2.4 billion. All doses for the EC are planned to be manufactured in the European Union.