The Next Station: The Two-Way Choice Between Ireland And Chinese Pharmaceutical Companies?

In October 25th, according to a public document from BioProcess International, FiercePharma announced that the drug from China will expand its business in Ireland. In April 2018, it announced that it would invest 325 million euros in the construction of a new production base in duto, Ireland, and build a vaccine factory.

This is the "hand in hand" of the two sides' "international strategy". Last year's investment was the first stop of CDMO's marine layout. "1% of Ireland's 4 million people are doing pharmaceutical research and development. The tax is relatively low. Europe is our strategic market. Europeans like to do business with local manufacturers and set up factories in Europe, hoping to continue expanding their business in Europe." Chen Zhisheng, chief executive of Yao Ming biology, explained in an interview with the twenty-first Century economic report that "Ireland will become an important strategic position for us. Our R & D base is located in China, producing in Europe and America, and closer to our target customers.

For the Irish investment and development board (IDA), the 400 jobs created by the last investment of the pharmaceutical industry are the best proof of their performance and the most intuitive benefits. They also meet the domestic demands of decentralization and balanced investment outside Europe and America, and finding and attracting more investment in Asia Pacific region is also one of the international strategic goals of their future balancing risks.

Ireland's policies, taxation, regulation, talent, industry chain, and supply chain capabilities have jointly built up a profitable business environment for biopharmaceutical development, and are increasingly actively looking for more "pharmaceutical products" in emerging markets such as Asia. But for Chinese companies, Ireland, which is far from the other side of the world, is a good choice to go to sea?

"325 million +" investment is in progress.

Not long ago, in twenty-first Century, the economic report in Ireland showed that the main body of the Ming and Ming Dynasties is being built and has a large scale. Compared with other factories in Ireland, its body size is very huge. It is more like a factory in China.

"There is nothing here at the beginning of this year. Now it has become a climate. The new plant is still in the construction stage, and is preparing to build the factory's reinforced structure and build the plant periphery. At present, our main equipment has not yet been delivered. It will be delivered between the end of this year and the beginning of next year. At present, we have about 70 people in the team. Brendan McGrath, the head and vice president of the medicine and biology of Ireland Dun Ke base, introduced to the economic report in twenty-first Century that the new plant will begin operation in 2021. It is expected to invest 54000 liters of capacity, about 12000 square meters and 2000 litres and 4000 liters of primary bioreactors.

In the specific work, Brendan introduces, "first you need to apply for an investment plan permit to the local government. It usually takes 12 weeks. Second, we need to prepare for infrastructure construction, such as water, electricity, gas and so on. If you work with IDA, you can save almost 6-12 months. " As for the role played by IDA, "IDA will do some work to help investment, for example, in the early stage, they will choose and confirm the site with us and prepare for the preliminary work. This can be seen as a competitive advantage in time. If you buy a piece of land without government related plans and permits, it may take a year to get permission. "

Brendan came from the mainland and participated in the construction of many factories. He made some practical advantages in investing and building factories in Ireland: "Ireland is the center of the pharmaceutical industry; from the time zone perspective, it is located in the middle position of America and Asia, which is very helpful for dealing with China and the United States." In addition to taxation, Ireland has the youngest and most educated workforce in Europe, with many subcontractors and construction suppliers, which is crucial for multinational companies to build a factory.

"In the past 50 years, the pharmaceutical industry has formed a very complete industrial chain in Ireland," Zhang Zhewei, director general of the Irish investment and Development Bureau, said in an interview with the twenty-first Century economic report. From the site selection, factory construction, equipment supply, talent recruitment, etc., the industrial chain is very mature and "easy to find the right person to work".

It is also an Asian enterprise. In twenty-first Century, when the economic report visited Wu Tian pharmaceutical factory in Ireland, Takeda Ireland Limited general manager Paul Keogh said, "the difficulty of building a factory in Ireland is the need to analyze specific locations to ensure that enterprises can have the best professional resources, economic environment and policies. In addition, there is a need for cooperation and communication with Japanese headquarters, and there is a need for cultural integration.

Now it seems that the pharmaceutical industry will invest more in Ireland, and then build a vaccine factory with an area of 15520 square meters next to the 26 hectares of the daddock bio pharmaceutical base.

In May 20th this year, Yao Ming biological bulletin "letter of intent on long-term vaccine production contract", said a letter of intent with a global vaccine giant. In this way, Shanghai Haili together set up the drug to build a vaccine production base and carry out vaccine CDMO and related businesses. Yao Ming did not disclose who the customer was, but "the initial contract period is expected to be twenty years and the total contract value is more than 3 billion dollars".

Ireland is also the production base of many international vaccine giants, and has strong industrial complementarity effects, such as the production of HPV tetravalent and nine valent vaccines by Mercedes. In October 29th, Mercedes announced its financial performance in the third quarter of 2019. China's market demand for vaccines was the best in the international market, with sales of US $898 million, an increase of 84% over the same period last year, mainly on the HPV vaccine and oncology drugs.

Scanning Chinese pharmaceutical companies

What kind of Chinese enterprises are suitable to invest in Ireland?

Wasdell, a drug packaging firm from the UK, is located in the next door of medicine, and has moved its factory to Ireland because of its influence on Europe. "Through the establishment of factories in Ireland, regardless of the outcome of the UK's EU withdrawal negotiations, we can continue to carry out the European Union release test on the production, packaging and distribution of pharmaceuticals, and ensure continuous supply and protection of key supply chains for customers." In an interview with the twenty-first Century economic report, Sinead Williams, head of Wasdell operations, said, "nearly 75% of the group's current turnover comes from export business, and the US customer base is still growing significantly. The investment in Ireland has enabled Wasdell to continue as a safe port for entering the European market."

A clearer answer is: international companies that need access to North America or European markets.

"I think Yao Ming is a very well planned company in terms of external expansion. Despite the fact that it is not yet an international company, we have formulated an external expansion plan and are moving towards internationalization. " Brendan believes that if Chinese enterprises want to invest in Ireland, "the first step needs to be clear about what type of factories the enterprise needs to build, and what kind of investment the enterprise should undertake. Investment in Ireland will definitely not only serve the local market, but also face the markets in Europe and North America.

For IDA, finding the right potential investors is particularly important.

Martin McAuliffe, general manager of Merck Merck Millipore LTD., mentioned investments such as medicine and biology. "This is a new story. We are all very happy. Of course, because of more job opportunities, two is Ireland has a lot of investment in North America and Europe, but there are not many investments from Asia, so we need to balance to resist risks."

The investment and Development Bureau of Ireland, Martin Shanahan, said earlier that "the investment in medicine and biology is a powerful addition to the construction of the new generation of biopharmaceutical industry cluster in Ireland. It will play a benchmark role in attracting greenbelt investment in the Asia Pacific region."

For Ireland, it is also important to constantly improve the pharmaceutical industry chain and strengthen the position of the pharmaceutical center. "Apart from creating direct and indirect employment opportunities, the base of medicine and biology has also helped Ireland consolidate its position in the pharmaceutical industry and improve the industrial chain." Zhang Zhewei believes that Yao Ming biology is the leading CDMO company in the world biotechnology field, providing a good platform for the development of the industry.

"Over the past three years, Chinese pharmaceutical companies are increasingly looking at global resources. The main investment demands are the value of enterprises and products, including R & D, manufacturing and services. Similarly, the Irish investment and development board has been following up these pharmaceutical companies for nearly three years. For example, service platform enterprises, the recent very popular innovative pharmaceutical companies, in terms of products, from small molecules to biopharmaceuticals, we are very active to contact pharmaceutical companies.

Judging from the types of pharmaceutical companies that have invested in Ireland, CDMO enterprises in addition to medicine and biology have also set up a European headquarters in Nanjing as a platform for R & D and business operation. The pharmaceutical company established its European headquarters in Ireland to manage its global drug licensing sales and services. "Ireland has a comprehensive pharmaceutical industry ecological environment, from R & D, testing, to clinical and business transformation, production, are Chinese enterprises in the European market is an ideal investment destination."