Rare-disease drug specialist Horizon Therapeutics has opened its new global headquarters building on Stephen's Green in Dublin as it announced plans to add 100 jobs to its Irish workforce over the next 18 months.
Horizon, which operates largely in the United States, has already added around 50 jobs to its corporate headquarters team over the Covid period.
Founder and chief executive Tim Walbert said Horizon had benefited from the "rich pool" of talented employees here.
"Ireland has been a wonderful location for Horizon for nearly 10 years," he said. "Ireland is a key part of our global strategy and we will continue to invest significantly here to enhance our business and to demonstrate our support for the wider community."
Horizon's global headquarters have been in Dublin since 2014, when it acquired a company called Vidara Therapeutics in a $600 million deal that also gave the company its first rare-disease therapy. That segment is now the primary focus of the business.
The group currently employs about 200 people in Ireland. Last year, it acquired a 44,000sq ft manufacturing facility in Waterford, formerly owned by EirGen, to support the growth of its rare-disease medicines and its pipeline products.
It is the company’s first in-house manufacturing operation.
Taoiseach Micheál Martin said the company’s decision to add a manufacturing facility in Waterford last year “further underlines the leading role Ireland plays in the company’s operations”.
Horizon is one of the next generation of high-growth biotech companies, IDA Ireland chief executive Martin Shanahan said, and its investment and job creation in both its Dublin global headquarters and the former EirGen manufacturing facility in Waterford was very welcome.
