The Tanaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Leo Varadkar yesterday convened a meeting with a number of IDA Ireland’s bio -pharmaceutical client companies to hear about the role they are playing in the public health response to the COVID-19 pandemic both nationally and internationally. 

The meeting which was held over video conference included several of the bio pharmaceutical companies who are developing vaccines or therapeutic treatments in Ireland which are: Pfizer, Eli Lilly, Gilead, Regeneron, Sanofi and Janssen Sciences.

The FDI biopharma sector directly employs 34,000 in Ireland and is the third largest exporter of pharmaceuticals globally, accounting for exports of €80bn.

Speaking after the meeting, the Tánaiste said, "Ireland is a really attractive location for bio-pharma and other high-tech companies to invest and with all of these major global companies based here, we have a real role to play in finding treatments and a vaccine for this virus. I also took the opportunity today to thank the companies and the 34,000 people they employ here, for the work they have been doing over the past few months to defeat Covid."

Source: www.businessworld.ie