Drugs and Pharmaceuticals
...e government of Ireland has pledged over $370 million to support a range of projects to develop research and development infrastructures, provide training, and facilitate technology licensing in the biotechnology industry. Opportunities now exist for U.S. companies in the form of partnerships with 22 indigenous pure biotechnology firms. The recent groundbreaking of Wyeth’s $1 billion advanced integrated biotechnology center represents a major development for the Irish biopharmaceutical industry. When completed in 2005, the facility will be the largest biopharmaceutical campus in Europe. A strong sub-supply sector has grown up around the pharmaceutical industry to provide engineering, environmental consultancy, laboratory, health and safety, packaging and other support services. Pharmaceutical companies source 44 percent of all goods and services locally. The sub-supply sector matches the industry in terms of employment on a one-to-one ratio. Regarding the local market, Ireland has the third lowest consumption per capita of medicines in the EU. Despite heavy lobbying from existing pharmacies, the Irish pharmacy market was deregulated at the beginning of 2002, placing no limit on the number of licenses the Government can issue for pharmacies subject to proper standards being met. Self-medication remains an important part of the total Irish market for pharmaceutical products and can be divided up into the following sub-sectors: analgesics (26 percent), cough and cold treatments (25 percent), vitamins (18 percent), skin treatment (16 percent) and digestive & intestinal remedies (15 percent). The four leading therapy areas are cardiovascular system (21 percent), central nervous system (18 percent), alimentary/metabolism (18 percent), and respiratory (11 percent). Over-the-counter (OTC) medicines account for 20 percent of the total pharmaceutical market. Pharmacies account for 81 percent of the distribution network, hospitals and doctors account for 15 per...