US headquartered Repligen Corporation has announced it is to expand its manufacturing operations in Waterford, with plans to fit out a 33,000 square foot LEED Silver building that is expected to create 130 new jobs in the South East region of Ireland over the next two and a half years.

The facility will serve as a Centre of Excellence for single-use consumable products used in bioprocessing applications, and will complement the existing 10,500 square foot Waterford facility (formerly ARTeSYN BioSolutions, which Repligen acquired in Dec 2020) that currently employs 74 people, a figure well above initial hiring expectations set forth in 2019 (08 November 2019) as Repligen continues to experience rapid growth and increased demand for its state-of-the-art bioprocessing products.

Known for highly innovative single-use bioprocessing technologies that increase efficiencies in the process of manufacturing biological drugs, Repligen plans to invest in building out the new Waterford plant as an innovation, assembly and production centre for a diverse portfolio of "plug-and-play" consumables, for use with state-of-the-art filtration and chromatography systems. These highly differentiated technologies are utilized by Repligen's customers – primarily biopharmaceutical developers and contract development and manufacturing organizations worldwide – in the production of investigational and commercial-stage biological therapeutics and vaccines.

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Repligen's capital commitment to the Waterford expansion is supported by the Irish Government through IDA Ireland.

Completed to LEED Silver standard, IDA's Advance Building Solution (ABS) is located on a 4.2 acre site in IDA Ireland’s Business & Technology Park in Waterford. It currently includes 32,940 sq. ft. of technology and office space with expansion potential for up to 75,000 sq. ft.

Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade & Employment, stated: "This is excellent news from Repligen with the creation of 130 new jobs in Waterford. It comes on foot of a major jobs announcement by Bausch and Lomb. Waterford is on the move as a centre for jobs and investment. Ireland is globally recognised as a centre of excellence for life sciences and this significant expansion is a real vote of confidence in us and our capacity. It shows we are succeeding in attracting high-calibre companies and highly-skilled jobs to all our regions. I wish the team the very best with their expansion plans."