Ireland is set to boost the Indian pharma growth through its Horizon 2020 project with a budget allocation of €80 billion. Horizon 2020 is the biggest EU research and innovation programme to date.

With a budget of nearly €80 billion over seven years, it is one of the biggest publicly funded R&D schemes worldwide. Its priorities are excellent science, competitive industries and better society.  Access to Horizon 2020 is open to research institutions and companies with operations in Europe. Thus, Indian companies with operations in Ireland can join consortium to work on projects addressing any of these three priorities. Enterprise Ireland, the government agency can advise companies on access to funding under Horizon 2020, Richard Bruton - Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Ireland told Pharmabiz in an email.

Ireland is home to 9 of the top 10 pharma companies. Indian pharma in Ireland are Wockhardt, Reliance Life Sciences and Sun Pharma. Dr Reddy and Lupin are also setting up manufacturing plants here.  

Indian pharma continues to expand to Europe. Ireland provides a natural base for them to build up their European and US markets given the time zone and English speaking advantage. A key attraction is Ireland’s 12.5 per cent corporation tax, enabling fund access for growth.

This is my third visit to India. The purpose of the trip is to strengthen ties between Ireland and India. We are now focusing on globalising Indian pharma and biotech companies offering them a base to grow their European business and encourage Irish companies to look at this country from a trading and investment perspective, he added.

There are several openings in Ireland in not just in pharmaceuticals but technology, medical device and financials. Companies worldwide are in a ‘war for talent’ and Ireland is no exception. Ireland is a hub for talent comprising Irish, European and non-EU including Indians. In fact 30 per cent of the work permits to allow non-EU citizens work in Ireland in 2014 were issued to Indian nationals, he said.

We hope there will be continued co-operation in the areas of R&D and joint ventures between India and the Irish pharmaceutical and medical device industries, Bruton said.

Indian pharmaceutical companies continue to expand into new markets. Ireland has a strong regulatory system to supply product, uninterrupted, into Europe and the US. Companies place various operations in Ireland depending on their needs including: manufacturing, packaging & distribution, supply chain management and shared service, among others.

Ireland’s strength in the pharmaceuticals both from an industry and research perspective is in process design and implementation for manufacture rather than drug discovery. We have 83 plants, 33 of which are FDA approved and have an excellent regulatory record. There are a  number of research centres including: National Institute for Bioprocessing Research and Training and Synthesis and Solid State Pharmaceutical Centre. As the ‘Make In India’ campaign becomes a reality, there several areas for India pharma and biotech to co-operate and learn from each other, Bruton further said.