American Home Products Expands Operations In Ireland

Madison, N.J.-based American Home Products Corp. (AHPC) will invest $685 million to expand its Wyeth Medica Ireland manufacturing operations by building a new biotechnology facility at The Grange Castle in South Dublin County, Ireland. About 1,300 new jobs will be created by 2005 at both Wyeth Medica Ireland locations, Grange Castle and Newbridge, bringing the total number of AHPC employees in Ireland to 3,000. Wyeth Medica Ireland is a manufacturing affiliate of Wyeth-Ayerst Pharmaceuticals, a division of AHPC. The expansion at Grange Castle includes the construction of a biotechnology facility, with 1 million sq ft of buildings on a 90-acre site at Grange Castle Business Park in Clondalkin, South County Dublin. "The Grange Castle expansion should make American Home Products the largest pharmaceutical employer in Ireland," says John R. Stafford, the company's CEO. Currently the Wyeth Medica Ireland plant at Newbridge manufactures 8 billion tablets/capsules each year in these main categories: women's health, mental health, consumer health, cardiovascular and gastroenterology therapies, and oncology therapy. The Grange Castle facility will expand these therapeutic areas to include new vaccines, recombinant hemophilia products, and advanced musculo-skeletal therapies.