Three international pharmaceutical organisations have announced almost 300 new jobs for Kerry, as part of the first phase of the development of a proposed Global Pharmaceutical Centre of Excellence (GPCE) in Tralee.
The GPCE is a €4.7 billion project aimed at establishing a campus of more than 50 small to medium-sized pharmaceutical interests in Tralee, mixing business and academic experiences and skills.
The promoters of the centre believe it has the potential to employ over 4,500 people in the next four years.
282 new jobs over the next 15 months have been announced today by the International Prevention Research Institute (iPRI), Global Research Services (GRS) and Optivia Biotechnology. These are mainly research and development roles.
The new jobs will initially be established by the three organisations at the Centrepoint development in Tralee, but a 32-acre site at the Kerry Technology Park has been identified for the development of the overall campus for which a planning application will be submitted in May.
The centre's promoters say funding for the initial development has already been secured; and talks are on further investment are continuing with a number of sovereign wealth funds, including a group of Middle Eastern investors.
The iPRI is an independent research organisation, which aims to work towards the improvement of health worldwide by identifying critical issues in disease determination and prevention. It is currently based in Lyon, France.
GRS is a US-based privately-owned clinical research organisation providing services to pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical device companies. US-based Optivia Biotechnology provides services and products to help companies to develop new drugs.
