An Athlone based multi-national pharma company is set to benefit from a major multi-million euro investment boost.
The Alexion fill-finish facility at Monksland in Athlone is one of three locations in Europe that are to share an investment of 65 million euro.
Alexion is subsidiary of Astrazeneca and develops treatments for patients with rare diseases which may have few existing methods of treatment.
The Monksland facility will see the installation of new drug substance production equipment and warehousing facilities to support ambient and cold storage as part of the funds.
Local Senator Aisling Dolan says the announcement will boost the Athlone area and translate into construction and manufacturing jobs.
Speaking to Shannonside FM today, she says the development further solidifies Athlone and a high tech and skilled hub:
''It's a great way to have a career and to be able to work close to home. I suppose we don't think but Athlone is on the motorway there and to get to Monksland it's so handy, you know the catchment area between 15 minutes or 30 minutes of the town there, it's absolutely massive. So it's a great way for people to be able to access work, no worries about traffic. Really less of a commuting nightmare that you can see sometimes in some of our urban cities, you know, major urban city centers.''
