Foster announces 348 new jobs and £54m investment by Almac Group
Enterprise, Trade and Investment Minister Arlene Foster has announced that the Almac Group is investing over £54 million and creating 348 high quality jobs over the next five years.
The Almac Group operates in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology sectors providing services including drug discovery, diagnostics, research and development, manufacture of active pharmaceutical ingredients, formulation development and clinical trials.
It employs over 2,100 staff at its headquarters in Craigavon, with an additional 1,380 staff located in facilities throughout the rest of the UK, US and Asia. The investment, supported by Invest Northern Ireland, relates to two of the Group's operating business units, Pharma Services and Clinical Services.
Announcing the investment, Arlene Foster said: "Almac is one of Northern Ireland's most successful indigenous companies and a globally respected brand. This significant investment will enable Almac to expand the range of services it can offer, allowing it to respond to key trends within the pharmaceutical industry and enhance its market-leading position."
Almac Pharma Services provides contract development and manufacturing services to the world's leading pharmaceutical and biotech companies. As well as recruiting 141 new staff over the next five years, the company will invest in new technologies and equipment to take advantage of the growing demand for outsourced development services.
Almac Clinical Services provides clinical packaging, labelling, logistics and clinical supply chain management services to the pharmaceutical industry. It is investing in cold chain storage and distribution facilities and enhanced information systems to capitalise on the demand from clients for closer partnering opportunities. The unit is creating 181 new jobs over the next five years.
The investments will also create a further 26 new jobs within the Group.
"These 348 new jobs will generate salaries of over £9.4m per annum when the projects are fully implemented. This is a significant cash injection for the local economy. The investments are also good news for our growing life sciences sector, which is gaining an international reputation for innovation and excellence," added the Minister.
Invest NI has offered Almac Group £5.5m of support towards its investment.
Alan Armstrong, Chairman and CEO of the Almac Group, said: "We are fortunate to employ an excellent highly-skilled workforce at our Craigavon headquarters which has played a major role in our global growth. It's fantastic that demand for our services has resulted in the creation of so many new jobs as we embark on further expansion over the next five years."
Notes to the editor
Invest NI has offered support of £2,537,000 towards the Group's total investment of £32,700,000 in Almac Pharma Services Limited, which is creating 141 new jobs in a five year period.
Invest NI has offered support of £3,018,000 towards the Group's total investment of £22,120,000 in Almac Clinical Services Limited, which is creating 181 new jobs in a five year period.
These investments will also create an additional 26 high value core support positions such as IT and Engineering jobs within Almac.
About Almac Group
About Almac Group
'Partnering to Advance Human Health'
The Almac Group is an established contract development and manufacturing organisation that provides an extensive range of integrated services to over 600 companies globally within the pharmaceutical and biotech sectors. The services range from R&D, biomarker discovery and development, API manufacture, formulation development, clinical trial supply, IXRS® technology (IVRS/IWRS) through to commercial-scale manufacture.
The international company is a privately owned organisation that has organically grown over 30 years and now employs in excess of 3,500 highly skilled personnel. Almac is headquartered in Craigavon, Northern Ireland with operations across the US (Pennsylvania, North Carolina and California) and in Asia (Singapore and Tokyo).
Visit www.almacgroup.com, e-mail [email protected]
For more information on Almac Group visit - www.almacgroup.com or e-mail [email protected].
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