Blow for Athlone as Elan"s 500-job expansion now set for Dublin site

It appears increasingly likely that a 500-job expansion of Elan"s manufacturing operation which was originally proposed for Athlone will not be situated here. During a conference call with reporters last week, the pharmaceutical company"s CEO Kelly Martin said he expected a decision to be announced before Christmas on a proposed site for the new facility. He notably didn"t contradict reporters who specifically asked him when the decision on the new Dublin site would be made known. Plans to build the facility were originally made public in 2005. At that time Mr Martin said Elan"s Athlone site was the only location being considered for the new plant, which was then estimated to cost $500m and require 55 acres of land. An Elan spokesperson asked by the Westmeath Independent about the apparent u-turn on the Athlone location of the facility would only say that if the company decides to invest in a new biological manufacturing plant it will be in Ireland. Basing the site in Dublin would be seen as a blow to the company"s status in Athlone. Although Elan"s headquarters are in Dublin, its 35-acre campus in Monksland has traditionally been its key Irish site. Local TD Mary O"Rourke stated that representations had been made to Elan from the highest levels of the government about basing the new manufacturing facility in Athlone and that she planned to again raise the matter with Tanaiste Mary Coughlan this week. She stated that she had heard nothing definite about the company"s planned location for the project but would be very disappointed if it was not based in the town. 'Elan has had great success here in the town and great luck with the employees they"ve been able to attract. I would hope that they would stick with the town which has stuck with them,' said Deputy O"Rourke. The pharmaceutical firm previously outlined its intention to sell its Elan Drug Technologies (EDT) business which is based in Athlone and is operated as an independent entity. The company said that the EDT business 'had attracted considerable interest from investors' but that the sale had been put on hold 'for the foreseeable future' because of uncertainty in the financial markets. 'Elan has decided to retain the EDT business for the foreseeable future and to put in place structures to allow EDT to develop and grow as an independent wholly owned subsidiary of Elan,' a spokesperson said when announcing the company"s third quarter results last week. Revenue from the company"s EDT business grew by 3% during the third quarter of this year. Elan"s total revenue increase of 53% during the quarter was largely due to strong sales of its multiple sclerosis drug Tysabri.