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| Eli Hurvitz, Chairman of the Board of Teva Pharmaceutical Industries, Ltd., Israel Makov, President and CEO, Dan S. Suesskind CFO, and Shlomo Yanai, designated President and CEO, preside over the Market Open Wednesday February 21, 2007 at NASDAQ's MarketSite in New York City. |
IVAX Pharmaceuticals Ireland,
a subsidiary of the Israeli Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd,
(NASDAQ:
TEVA)
announced today that it has commenced an investment programme totalling €65
million in its facility in Waterford, Ireland, and that it is creating an
additional 165 new jobs over five years. Teva
has three pharmaceutical plants and a research and development facility on its
Waterford campus. The expansion has been grant-aided by Ireland’s inward
investment promotion agency, IDA Ireland.
The investment by the parent
company will allow its Waterford-based operation to more than double both its
inhaler and tablet manufacturing capacity and will confirm Waterford as the
primary strategic location within the Teva Group for the manufacture of products
for the relief and prevention of asthma.
The products made in
Waterford are exported world-wide and the new investment will enable the Irish
facility to continue as an important supplier of tablets and capsules for the
US market, according to Tom McCabe, General Manager of
the Waterford operation, which currently employs 650 people.
“The investment is necessary
to meet increasing demand for both solid dosage forms and respiratory products
such as ProAirTM particularly in the US,” said McCabe. “We are
expanding into a neighbouring building we purchased a number of years ago, so
the project is akin to building a new factory”
The Waterford facilities, when
expanded, will extend to almost 500,000 square feet. Teva Pharmaceutical
Industries Ltd. acquired the IVAX Waterford business as part of its acquisition
of the IVAX Corporation in January 2006.
In addition to its three
manufacturing plants, the Waterford campus also includes a research and
development facility with some 70 staff, most of whom work on the development of
respiratory products for the treatment of respiratory diseases.
The Minister for Enterprise
Trade and Employment, Micheál Martin TD, said he recognised and welcomed Teva
Pharmaceuticals commitment to its Irish subsidiary, local workforce and the
pharmaceutical sector in Ireland.
“The
decision to make this investment owes a great deal to the strong performance of
the site to date,”
said Martin. “The expertise and commitment of the
management and staff at this facility singled out IVAX as the prime location for
this investment.
The site’s research and development team, for example, was
responsible for developing new device technologies for metered dose inhalers
which have been very well received by the patients in the markets it serves.”
