Northern Ireland based pharmaceutical group Almac is to create 348 jobs in Co Armagh, as part of a £54 million investment over five years.

The jobs will be based in Craigavon, where the company is headquartered.

The investment relates to two of the group’s business units, pharma services and clinical services. The company will recruit 141 new staff in pharma services, and 181 in clinical services. A further 26 new jobs will be created within the group.

NI enterprise minister Arlene Foster said the investment will enable Almac to expand the range of services it can offer, allowing it to respond to key trends within the pharmaceutical industry.

“These 348 new jobs will generate salaries of over £9.4 million per annum when the projects are fully implemented. This is a significant cash injection for the local economy,” she added.

The development is being supoorted by grants of £5.5 million from Invest NI.

The company provides a range of integrated drug development services to the pharmaceutical and biotech industries, including drug discovery, diagnostics, manufacture of ingredients and clinical trials.

It currently employs 2,100 people in Northern Ireland, with an additional 1,380 staff located in facilities throughout the rest of the UK, US and Asia.

Almac was founded by Tyrone entrepreneur and philanthropist Allen McClay, who died in 2010.