Top pharmaceutical chiefs call for collaborative process to ensure sustained success in Ireland

As part of Guaranteed Irish Pharmaceutical Month this year, Guaranteed Irish held a roundtable discussion on the importance of the pharmaceutical sector and how we can sustain Ireland as a leading pharmaceutical hub in the coming years. Guaranteed Irish designates October as ‘Pharmaceutical Month’. Now in its third year, the business membership organisation highlights the contribution its pharmaceutical members make to Irish jobs, local communities and the Irish economy. Members of Guaranteed Irish in the pharmaceutical sector include MSD Ireland, Uniphar, Astra Zeneca, Janssen Sciences Ireland, KCI Medical Ireland, Hidden Hearing and many more.

The roundtable discussion, attended by business leaders from the pharmaceutical industry, highlighted the solutions and actions required by the Government to successfully sustain quality pharma, healthcare and medtech jobs in a future Irish economy.

The roundtable discussion was held in the Intercontinental Hotel, Dublin and the panel of experts consisted of a number of key decision-makers in the Irish pharmaceutical sector including:

— Ger Brennan, Managing Director, MSD Ireland (Human Health) – Chair
— Paul Reid, CEO, Health Service Executive
— Oliver O’Connor, CEO, Irish Pharmaceutical Healthcare Association
— Killian O’Driscoll, Director of Projects, National Institute for Bioprocessing Researching and Training

Ireland has established itself as a global pharma and medtech hub in recent years, with two dozen of the world’s top 25 pharmaceutical companies now calling Ireland home. The pharmaceutical and medtech industry in Ireland employs over 30,000 people directly, with many more indirect jobs created as a result. According to recent data published by the CSO, Ireland is currently the second-largest exporter of medtech products in Europe with €12.6 billion generated from the export of such products. In total, Ireland is the 7th largest exporter of medicinal and pharmaceutical products in the world and the sector is worth €39 billion annually in exports, accounting for 50% of all exports.

The expert panel discussed how the pharmaceutical sector in Ireland needs a strong commitment to investment in order to guarantee that future talent can be developed and retained. There was also a strong focus on how the sector can play its role in prioritising patient access to medicines and care. The panel and attendees called on Government and all relevant stakeholder bodies to commit to a collaborative process to review the findings of the event, to ensure that the Irish pharmaceutical industry can thrive consistently in the years ahead, ensuring jobs and careers in the pharmaceutical and healthcare sectors are safeguarded and that patients are provided with high-quality care.

The four key actions that Ireland needs to focus on to ensure Ireland continues to position itself as a leading pharmaceutical and healthcare hub are as follows:

— Invest in creating the talent of the future – ensure all levels of our education system are geared towards creating the innovative minds needed to attract further STEM investment to Ireland

— Prioritise the attraction of Research and Development funding in Ireland – ensure Ireland is seen as a centre of excellence for pharmaceutical research and leads the way in this regard.

— Ensure patients in Ireland gain access to leading innovation in healthcare treatments – ensuring patients can access the medicines made here as early as possible.

— Partnering together for future growth. The sector, Government and all relevant bodies need to work together to ensure we identify key opportunities, ensure we have the structures and processes in place to maximise investment and are thinking ahead when it comes to the next wave of manufacturing and research innovation and excellence.

‘At Guaranteed Irish, we are calling on the Government to take action to ensure the pharmaceutical sector remains sustainable and we retain the jobs within it. Events, such as our pharmaceutical roundtable discussion, are vital for the pharma sector based here in Ireland as it allows us to discuss issues of urgency relevant to the current economic landscape and ‘brand Irelands’ reputation. Guaranteed Irish represents all that is good about Ireland and we need to protect those businesses who aspire to preserve that. We hope that the expertise provided by our panel helped to shed light on the concerns and challenges facing the pharmaceutical sector in Ireland today.’ Brid O’Connell, CEO, Guaranteed Irish

Guaranteed Irish is one of Ireland’s most enduring, recognisable and authentic symbols and is the national symbol for Trust. The business membership organisation has a network of 600+ members nationwide across various sectors, supporting over 71,390 jobs with an annual combined turnover of €11.2 billion to the Irish economy and €26.2bn to the global economy. The Guaranteed Irish symbol helps Irish consumers identify products and services that are a better choice for jobs and local communities in Ireland. Businesses that have been awarded the Guaranteed Irish mark have fulfilled the following criteria: jobs, provenance and community.