Bristol Myers gets greenlight on $400m biologics plant expansion in Ireland

Between 2016 and 2017 Bristol Myers Squibb (BMS) invested $1 billion to construct a 30,000 square-meter facility in Cruiserath, which is located half an hour outside of Dublin and is the firm’s first biologics plant situated outside of the US.

In November 2023, a spokesperson for the firm told BioProcess Insider it had “recently issued a site notice stating our intention to apply for development of [a] biopharmaceutical development and manufacturing facility to expand our existing BMS Cruiserath site. We will provide further updates as they become available.”

Now, the company has released a statement detailing approved plans for its Cruiserath facility. The $400 million investment will be used to build a sterile drug product facility, which is currently in the design phase.

“The Cruiserath Biologics site will continue to play a crucial role in our company’s success moving forward. Coupled with the breadth of knowledge and expertise of our employees, this sterile drug product site, co-partnered alongside our biologics facility, will allow us to further enhance our operations as we strive to get more medicines to more patients faster,” said Karin Shanahan, executive vice president of global product development and supply at BMS.

“Our workforce is truly committed to discovering, developing, and delivering innovative medicines that help patients prevail over serious diseases and I’m proud to be a part of this historic day for our Irish footprint.”

With planning permission received, BMS said it will add to the existing biologic manufacturing operations for bulk drug substance and anticipates construction to begin next month with completion scheduled for 2026.

Currently, there are five buildings located at the Cruiserath site. It has a central utility building (CUB), a multi-product cell culture (MPCC) building that produces the drug substance, a global biologics laboratory (GBL) for the release testing of biologics drug product for the company’s network, a warehouse, cryogenics, and logistics (WCL) building that provides storage, raw material sampling, as well as logistical support to the MPCC manufacturing site, and laboratory and offices space.

As a result of the expansion, which will support a wide range of therapeutic areas (immunology, hematology, and oncology), around 350 jobs will be created in Ireland.

“BMS’ decision to invest $400 million at their Cruiserath campus along with 350 new jobs is most welcome news and underscores the strategic importance of Ireland in their global operations. It is proof of the company’s future commitment to Ireland and a testament to Ireland’s continued attractiveness as a location for biopharma investment,” said Michael Lohan, CEO of Industrial Development Agency (IDA).