Pharmaceutical giant Merck, which operates as MSD outside of the U.S., is to acquire the WuXi Vaccines manufacturing plant in Dundalk as part of a €500M deal, bringing the U.S.-based company’s investment in Ireland to around €3B over the last three years.

The 167K SF Dundalk plant is a three-storey vaccine manufacturing facility, which includes quality control labs and employs about 200 people. MSD and WuXi have collaborated on a vaccine supply contract on the site since 2019, after the Chinese company invested €200M in building the plant. WuXi has separate biologics facilities at the site that will continue to operate.

MSD said the Dundalk deal further diversified the group’s network in Ireland, where each of its eight sites, including its five manufacturing facilities, operate in different segments of its business.

The company’s MSD Ireland unit opened a new site in County Meath and the expansion of a vaccine plant in County Carlow in September 2023. Those investments totalled €1B. Merck bought the site in Dunboyne, County Meath, from Takeda in August 2020.

“MSD and WuXi will now begin an official handover process which aims to be completed in the first half of 2025,” the companies said in an official statement. “MSD Ireland is looking ahead to significant growth across its network, and, including this acquisition, is planning to add approximately 1,000 jobs across its eight locations in counties Carlow, Cork, Dublin, Louth, Meath and Tipperary.”

WuXi Biologics had previously been linked with selling some of its European production facilities, and the IDA-backed company had been assessing the level of interest in those plants, including two in Germany.

“This acquisition and accompanying 150 new roles announcement by MSD Ireland is a huge testament to Ireland’s position as a global leader in the pharmaceutical value chain, continuously attracting strategically innovative investments to our shores,” IDA Ireland CEO Michael Lohan said in a statement.

“Our partnership with MSD Ireland spans nearly 50 years, and it’s exciting to see the company continue to both deepen and broaden its roots all across the country, expanding to its new location in Dundalk.”