The Craigavon headquartered Almac Group plans to create 180 new jobs in England as part of a £16 million investment programme to expand its operations.
The privately held Northern Ireland group, which last week acquired Athlone based Arran Chemicals in an undisclosed multi-million deal, intends to develop its first facility in England at the 70-acre Charnwood Campus in Loughborough.
Almac, which specialises in contract pharmaceutical development and manufacturing, will take over the formulation development and analytical testing facilities at the English site, originally designed and built by another pharma company.
Graeme McBurney, managing director, Almac Pharma Services said the latest investment project will complement the services already provided by its Craigavon headquarters.
Mr McBurney said: “As we experience increased client demand for our pharmaceutical development and niche commercial manufacturing services, this latest expansion will significantly enhance Almac’s offering, increasing capacity and capability and further demonstrating our continued commitment to support our global clients in the development and manufacturing of their drug products.”
Almac has begun recommissioning the facilities in Loughborough and said it anticipates that the latest expansion will generate 180 jobs over the next five years adding to Almac’s global workforce which currently totals more than 4,000 across Europe, the United States and Asia.
