Horizon Therapeutics has inked a $65 million deal to purchase a drug product manufacturing facility from EirGen Pharma in Waterford, Ireland. The facility, which is located in an IDA Ireland business park, includes a filling line and lyophilizer, or freeze dryer, that can be used for both Horizon’s commercial medicines, including its rare disease biologics TEPEZZA (teprotumumab-trbw), KRYSTEXXA (pegloticase injection) and UPLIZNA (inebilizumab-cdon), and its development compounds.
 
Horizon will work with Ireland’s Health Products Regulatory Agency (HPRA) and U.S. FDA to obtain HPRA and FDA licensure for sterile fill-finish manufacturing and anticipates the first medicine approved for release in approximately two years. As part of the transaction, approximately 40 EirGen employees will transfer to Horizon following the close of the transaction. Horizon intends to recruit 50 additional staff for the site in 2021 and 2022.
 
“With the successful TEPEZZA launch, ongoing KRYSTEXXA growth and the growth of our marketed medicine portfolio and pipeline, it is the right time to add in-house manufacturing capabilities,” said Tim Walbert, chairman, president and CEO, Horizon. “Adding to our strong network of contract manufacturing organizations, this facility will also play an important role in our global expansion. We look forward to leveraging our existing technical operations expertise in Ireland, along with the expertise of the EirGen employees, to build a robust and effective manufacturing operation that will enable us to meet the unmet needs of people impacted by rare diseases around the world.”
 
In addition to the purchased facility, there is adjacent IDA land available for further manufacturing and development expansion. The transaction is expected to close in the third quarter.
 
Horizon’s global headquarters have been in Dublin, Ireland since 2014 and the company is currently fitting out a new, 62,000 square foot headquarters facility at 70 St. Stephen’s Green.