The Pharmaceutical Sector is divided into four subsections:
The Primary Manufacturing Companies
These companies are involved in chemical manufacturing producing active pharmaceutical ingredients supplying the secondary manufacturing sector. This sector in Ireland consist of many of the top global players including companies such as Merck Sharp and Dohme in Clonmel, Schering Plough in Wicklow, Yamanouchi in West Dublin, SmithKline Beecham in Cork, Roche in the Mid West, Bristol Meyers Squibb in North Dublin, and Pharmacia Upjohn in Cork. The sector has its greatest concentration in the Cork area where over the past 30 years there has been a steady stream of international companies either starting up new manufacturing subsidiaries or expanding existing ones.
What are the career opportunities like in this sector of pharma?
These companies also use third party contractors extensively. Companies such as Jacobs Engineering and Project Management offer excellent opportunities to Engineers and Scientific Graduates of all disciplines. Currently like all companies in the Pharmaceutical sector there is a constant demand for candidates in the 3-10 year experience bracket with expertise in areas such as Validation, Equipment /Process Engineering, Quality Assurance / Regulatory Affairs, Process Development and Technical Production Management.
What are salaries like in the Primary area?
This sector does not engage in early stage R&D and is also not responsible for the Sales & Marketing activities. Chemistry and Chemical Engineering graduates are most likely to find opportunities in this sector. Employment levels are not significant compared to other sectors due to the highly automated and capital intensive nature of these factories however those lucky enough to break into these companies will tend to have excellent career prospects and matching top hat remuneration packages.
Typically these companies work hard to create an organization structure that enables people to move between different functional areas within the site and in some instances encouraging staff to work in other overseas locations. Most Scientific graduates joining these companies will commence their career within the Quality Control or Process Support functions and depending on their desired career path will move into Production Management, Quality or Technical/ Process Development. These companies have in the main been successful in retaining a high proportion of the graduates they hire and therefore many of their promotional opportunities are filled internally.
The low level of staff turnover can be frustrating for very ambitious individuals, particularly those seeking a more management orientated career. For those who enjoy the challenges of working in an Industrial career within Engineering or Development/Process Chemistry then these organizations offer very challenging opportunities.
The Secondary Pharmaceutical Sector
Secondary Pharmaceutical sector is engaged in formulating, production and packaging a final product (ie Tablet, Parenterals, Cream etc.). The manufacturing technologies utilized in this area broadly involve a wide range of automated equipment involved in discrete activities such as blending & mixing, forming and filling, and high speed packing and distribution.
This sector offers a wide range of career prospects to trade, technician and graduate level individuals. Not as capital intensive as primary producers the production technologies in this sector are more labour intensive. Career opportunities include roles in Validation, Packaging, Quality Engineering/Assurance, Analytical Chemistry, Logistics, Regulatory Affairs, Production Supervision, Formulation Scientist, and Equipment Engineering etc. Typically the minimum requirement to gain employment at operative level is a Leaving Certificate with good grades in English, Maths and preferably a science subject. However many of these companies will normally attempt to have a minimum entry-level requirement for applicants to hold a certificate in Science or Engineering. Similar to the Primary Sector the Secondary manufacturing area has seen steady growth over the last 30 years with an ever-increasing number of companies investing in new facilities in Ireland.
Career opportunities and salaries like in Secondary Sector?
Because of the higher levels of staffing in this area candidates tend to have better opportunity to progress to supervisory and managerial roles. Typically on joining these organizations individuals with scientific qualifications will commence their careers in the Quality Control Laboratories (Stability, Analytical Development, Microbiology) and progress from there into other departments such as Validation, Production, Documentation/QA, and Technical Support to Manufacturing, Formulation and Development. Individuals with a trade or Engineering background will typically start in a Maintenance or Equipment engineering roles and then will progress into one of the following areas: Project Engineering, Automation & Manufacturing, Validation, Production or Maintenance Management.
Salaries in the secondary area whilst very competitive are not always as high as the Primary Chemical sector. Typical entry level is €18,000 € 24,000 with salaries rising into the €30-40,000 bracket after 3-5 years experience. Typical salaries in middle management roles are €50 €60,000 rising to €70-90,000 when reaching head of function.
In the Quality Function candidates wanting to reach Senior Management level would need to be in a position to hold Qualified Person Status (Irish Medicine Board approved person entitled to release product from the factory). This status is achieved by taking a Post Graduate course, currently in Trinity College, or already holding a Degree in Pharmacy.
There are currently plenty of openings for graduates and experienced people in this sector in all functional areas. The ever-increasing focus from the regulators such as the Irish Medicines Board (IMB) or Federal Drugs Authority (FDA) is resulting in companies having to invest heavily in training and increasing staffing levels in their Quality and Validation Departments. Thus for people holding Qualified Person Status (QP) and /or with good hands on expertise in dealing with these regulators there are plenty of opportunities and good salaries to be had.
As a consequence of a combination of Governments Worldwide trying to reduce their healthcare costs and patents running out on many of the Branded Wonder Drugs, the fortunes of the Generic Manufacturers have improved dramatically in recent years. Companies such as Clonmel Healthcare, Gerard Laboratories and CrossVet Pharmaceuticals are gaining ground on their branded counterparts. This development is a threat to many of these large blue chip Pharmaceutical Companies with subsidiaries in Ireland. The Generic companies tend not to have the high R&D costs associated with the Branded companies and have traditionally operated much leaner and meaner operations having to survive on lower margins. In the future the IDA may find it more difficult to attract Generic Pharmaceutical companies to a high cost location like Ireland and some investment will inevitably end up in the lower cost Eastern Europe locations.
Diagnostic Sector
The Diagnostic manufacturing area in Ireland, although small in comparison to the Pharmaceutical sectors does have a number of successful indigenous companies such as Trinity Biotech plc and Biotrin. Trinity Biotech develops, manufactures and markets diagnostic products for the point-of-care, and clinical laboratory segments of the diagnostic market whilst Biotrin specialises in providing a range of novel and proprietary tests for the Clinician and Research Scientist. Both these companies offer good career prospects particularly to graduates in Biochemistry and Microbiology in R&D, Technical Production, Quality Control/Assurance, Regulatory Affairs, and Business Development. The salaries in this sector are not as attractive as those paid in the Pharmaceutical area and a life science degree holder should normally expect to start on €16, €18,000 bracket. However indigenous Irish companies salaries are often supplemented by bonus and share option schemes. There are also a good number of multinational subsidiaries in this sector including Abbott Diagnostics in Sligo and Olympus Diagnostics in Clare who have very sizable operations here in Ireland.
Biopharmaceutical (Biologics)
