Wight loss drug company Novo Nordisk will expand its facility in Athlone, chief executive Mike Doustdar says.
The launch of the Wegovy in pill form in early January has been one of the most successful pharmaceutical debuts ever, with more than 240,000 Americans taking it already, Doustdar said.
Novo is hoping the pill will form a big part of its fight to reclaim share in a weight-loss market it once dominated and make up ground lost to rival Eli Lilly, which makes the blockbuster drug Zepbound.
The Athlone investment will see the company manufacture the pill form of their weight loss drug in Ireland for markets outside the United States.
“If we were about to throw in the towel, we would not be investing in factories in Ireland,” Doustdar said.
Around two years ago, the Danish drugmaker pulled out of plans to build a factory near Dublin and it cut jobs at the Athlone site in September last year, according to media reports.
Doustdar declined to comment on the scale of the investment.
Ireland is an international hub for pharmaceutical manufacturing. Lilly produces active ingredients for its blockbuster weight-loss and diabetes drugs there.
The State’s economy is highly dependent on US investment and it has found itself at the centre of President Donald Trump’s threats to reshore profits and impose tariffs.
Novo disappointed investors by forecasting a bigger-than-expected drop in sales this year, evidence of an intensifying price war in obesity drugs. Novo makes the obesity pill for the US market in the US. – Bloomberg