INDIANA-BASED medical devices company Cook Medical is to invest €25 million in a manufacturing and services facility in Limerick that will create 200 jobs over the next five years.
The investment is supported by IDA Ireland. It is understood that Cook considered locating the plant at its other sites in Copenhagen, Brisbane and the US.
Cook already employs 480 staff here, having established a base in Limerick's National Technology Park in 1996.
Accounts filed recently for Cook Ireland Ltd show that its pretax profit fell to €10.1 million in 2007 from €11.2 million a year earlier. That gave the company retained profits of just under €40 million.
Its sales rose by 20.6 per cent to €129 million last year but a sharp rise in administrative expenses dented profitability.
Cook's Limerick plants are involved in manufacturing, regulatory compliance, and research and development. They also provide a shared services function for its other operations in Europe.
The investment will establish Limerick as the sole global manufacturing site for Cook's new Zilver PTX drug-eluting stent, which is used for the treatment of blocked arteries in the leg.
About 30 million people are thought to suffer from blocked leg arteries. Cook's drug is due to be released in Europe in mid-2009.
This is a welcome employment boost for the Government at a time when jobless numbers are rising. "This is the 10th significant investment by a multinational company from the medical technologies sector in Ireland since the beginning of this year," said Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment Mary Coughlan.
Bill Doherty, vice-president of Cook's European business, said about 15 staff had already been recruited, with a similar number to be hired by the end of this year.
"We expect to recruit 20 to 30 people coming up to the third quarter of next year and after that demand will drive the timing and number of jobs created," he said.
