Biotech company Shire is to create 400 permanent jobs as it expands its global biotechnology manufacturing capacity over the next four years. The company plans to invest more than €350 million in its Meath campus to meet the rapidly growing demand for its highly innovative products and robust pipeline. “The expansion supports our manufacturing strategy to develop and provide innovative specialty medicines for patients,” said Shire’s senior vice-president of technical operations, Tim Kelly. A new, state of the art biologics manufacturing campus, will lead to the creation of the permanent jobs on a 120 acre site at Piercetown, County Meath. Employing the latest bioprocessing techniques, the facility will employ flexible production strategies enabling it to supply both clinical and commercial scale products. “Ireland is a strategically important location for Shire, providing both excellence in life science R&D and manufacturing. We already have a strong team on the ground in Ireland and believe that it is the right location for us to build a new state of the art facility which will complement our existing manufacturing operations in the US,” said Kelly. The roles at the new campus in will consist of highly skilled jobs in the areas of R&D, operations, technical staff, engineering and construction Construction of the new site will begin in mid-2016 with the site expected to be operational by mid-2019.