Life Sciences

Ireland is a global centre for life sciences. Pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, medical devices and diagnostics are all areas in which significant investments in operations have been made on a country-wide basis.

Ireland is one of the top global exporters of medicinal and pharmaceutical products. All of the top ten global pharmaceutical companies, nine of the top 10 medtech companies and seven of the top ten diagnostics companies have bases in Ireland. Numbers of Irish-owned companies in the sector have also grown significantly.

Companies are attracted by Ireland’s favourable tax environment, international reputation in regulatory compliance and track record in clinical and academic research. There is a strong collaborative cluster of companies in Dublin which facilitates best practice-sharing as well as cooperation between industry and both universities and research centres.

Recent investments in Dublin have been made by international companies including Pfizer, Takeda, BMS, Alexion, Mallinckrodt and SK Biotech (source: Dublin Regional Enterprise Plan to 2020).

Other major employers in the sector include:

For more, see Enterprise Ireland’s Life Science sector profile and IDA’s bio-pharma sector profile.

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