UP TO 100 jobs are estimated to be created by a new medical company which has announced it is to set up in the Shannon Free Zone.
Shannon Group has welcomed the announcement by MeiraGTx Holdings plc (Nasdaq: MGTX), a vertically integrated, clinical-stage gene therapy company, of their decision to locate multi-million euro facilities here.
No official announcement has been made in relation to the job numbers, but sources suggest that it will bring as many as 100 high-end jobs.
The new leading-edge facilities are currently under construction and are being developed by Shannon Group’s subsidiary company, Shannon Commercial Properties.
They will comprise 94,000 sq ft in two separate buildings designed to meet global regulatory requirements, including the cGMP, required by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
The units at Shannon Free Zone will be used for the manufacture of MeiraGTx viral vectors for gene therapies and the plasmid DNA that is one of the starting materials in viral vector production.
These facilities are part of a major development programme by Shannon Commercial Properties which by the end of 2020 will have seen them delivered almost 1 million sq ft of new or refurbished office, aviation and industrial commercial property facilities at Shannon Free Zone, since Shannon Group was formed in 2014.
Welcoming Meira to Shannon, Rose Hynes Chairman of Shannon Group, said that their decision to locate in Shannon Free Zone and the anticipated job creation validates the decision by Shannon Group to begin this development programme in the Shannon Free Zone and comes on top of significant investments by Jaguar Land Rover, Edwards Lifesciences, Engine Lease Finance and GE Sensing in commercial property solutions developed by Shannon Group in the Zone.
MeiraGTx has selected Shannon as the site of its second current good manufacturing practices, or cGMP viral vector manufacturing facility and cGMP plasmid production facility. These facilities will be designed for the manufacture of commercial-grade gene therapies in a fully integrated manner supported by MeiraGTx’s global quality assurance organisation.
MeiraGTx expects the Irish facilities to provide additional flexibility as well as further large-scale capacity for clinical and commercial supply of its gene therapy product candidates from pre-clinical stages through clinical trials and potential commercialisation.
This project is supported by the Irish Government through IDA Ireland.
The plasmid production facility is expected to be operational by year-end 2020, while the viral vector manufacturing facility is expected to be operational by year-end 2021.
