Eli Lilly is investing $442 million in a brand-new biopharmaceutical commercialization and manufacturing facility at its Kinsale campus in Cork, Ireland, according to Richard Bruton TD, minister for jobs, enterprise and innovation.

The investment will expand the Kinsale site's existing biopharmaceutical mission with the establishment of an additional world-class commercialization and manufacturing facility.

The new facility, when fully operational, will require up to 200 highly skilled employees. In addition, 300 construction jobs will be created on the site. IDA Ireland worked closely with Eli Lilly to attract this investment to Ireland.

The planned 240,000-square-foot facility will enhance the company's ability to bring treatments for illnesses such as cancer and diabetes to patients worldwide. This is the second large investment Lilly has made at its Kinsale site in recent years. In 2006, the company announced a $400 million investment in its first biopharmaceutical manufacturing and new-product commercialization facility at its Kinsale campus, which came on-stream in 2010.

"The Action Plan for Jobs, which the government published recently, outlined a range of measures which we will take in 2012 to target the high-end manufacturing and health/life sciences sectors for further growth and also to deepen and develop the impact of multinational companies in Ireland,” said Minister Bruton.

Ed Canary, general manager of the Kinsale site, added, “This investment is an endorsement of the Lilly Kinsale site's success in developing a biopharmaceutical business in recent years and demonstrates our ability to rise to that challenge. This is in no small part due to the site's excellent performance record, the talent of the workforce, and the support from IDA Ireland.”