New jobs to be created as Offaly firm plans major expansion

TULLAMORE pharmaceutical firm Zoetis submitted a planning application just before Christmas to Offaly County Council for approval of a further expansion to its new veterinary biopharma medicines facility which is currently under construction in the IDA Business and Technology Park off the Sragh road, Tullamore.

Zoetis, the largest veterinary medicines company in the world, began the construction of the new veterinary medicines production facility last March and construction activity on the site has been intensive all year. The building’s skeletal concrete frame is now fully enclosed by cladding while internal works continue, including construction, utilities commissioning, equipment installation, with some 450 people currently working onsite. Hard and soft landscaping will begin externally in the spring, while intensive Mechanical and Electrical installations will continue within the building up to mid-year, 2023.

In preparation for validation and commissioning works and scheduled to be fully operational by end 2023, Zoetis has hired an additional 86 people for its Tullamore operations this year, bringing Zoetis employment in Tullamore to 158. Recruitment will continue throughout the coming year, for the range of science, technology and production, maintenance and related skills required for the new facility before full production begins. The Tullamore facility is slated to principally produce two veterinary medicine products, Librela® and Solensia®, which are designed to help treat the pain of osteoarthritis in dogs and cats respectively.

Zoetis has a strong pipeline of biopharma molecules in development. The additional planning application to be submitted before Christmas to Offaly County Council will seek a permission to double the size of the facility currently being built. This puts the company in a position to ensure necessary manufacturing capacity is available.

According to Conor O’Dea, Site Lead of Zoetis in Tullamore, “we are planning for the future needs of the site. While the current facility is still under construction, we asked our planning team to look forward and to prepare a planning application for future expansion leveraging available space on the site, so that the site can answer the call for additional production capacity if needed in the next ten years”.