10 November 2020

The biopharmaceutical industry has seen a huge surge in job opportunities over the last year due to the race to find a vaccine for Covid-19. The added pressure on the biopharmaceutical industry to develop a vaccine in a shorter amount of time has increased the level of work needed significantly resulting in this surge in recruitment.

A&C, a global GMP manufacturer of excipients, buffers, process solutions, and a select number of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) has been servicing this industry since 1966. They have since expanded their footprint globally, currently with offices and GMP production facilities in North America and Europe. Their Limerick facility became operational in 2018. Since then, sales have increased dramatically as well as employment levels doubling in a bid to secure the staff it needs to service its current customers as well as GMP manufacture critical raw materials essential for a potential mRNA Covid vaccine. The manufacturing of which is led by a German vaccine developer - which has now gone to phase III Human Clinical Trials. 

Irish director of A&C, Gearoid O’Rourke said: “The biopharmaceutical sector and A&C are in a very privileged position to be able to create the much-needed jobs in Ireland over the last year. It was A&C’s expertise and manpower that has afforded us the opportunity to manufacture the crucial raw materials needed for a Covid-19 vaccine and we are working tirelessly to make that happen.”

John Godfrey, Irish Director of A&C also added “The effects that Covid -19 will have on all industries including the biopharmaceutical industry will no doubt affect us in the short and the long term, but if we are able to create these much-needed jobs in Ireland, we will take that as a very positive outcome in a very turbulent year.”

A&C is continuing to grow and are currently recruiting for a number of more people to join their rapidly growing team.