West Pharmaceutical Services hosted a groundbreaking ceremony in Waterford, Ireland, to mark the start of construction for the company's new pharmaceutical component manufacturing facility.
The Waterford facility will manufacture packaging components for insulin injector cartridges and other high-value packaging components for injectable drugs, to meet increasing customer demand. The company intends to employ about 150 people in engineering, production and other positions by the commencement of operations in late 2018.
The 95,000-square-foot facility will be situated at a 44-acre site at Knockhouse on Old Kilmeaden Road in Waterford. The site has been cleared for construction and activity will commence with civil work in mid-July.
The new facility will function as a center of excellence for West's proprietary elastomeric sheeting, which is used to package insulin for use in pen injectors. Additionally, the facility will include manufacturing capacity for additional proprietary injectable component product lines, which are integral to the packaging of many injectable medicines.
