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When we meet days later on a typically grey and wet autumn day in Dublin, it’s the first subject on the agenda but not one that he frets over. The Swords site is special – MSD’s first “fully dedicated Keytruda facility” and the largest financial commitment the US group has made from a manufacturing perspective for in-house production.“It is set up to be our next-generation production facility. Why that’s so important is that it’s going to increase fourfold our ability to produce volume. Once that facility is up and fully running, we will be able to service 500,000 patients a year from that site.
But that’s not the company’s sole focus. It is also looking at the potential in its cardiovascular pipeline with Davis noting recently that “by the 2024-28 time frame we could have as many as eight new approvals driving revenue that could be in excess of $10 billion by the mid-2030s”.MSD in common with most other big pharma companies has not joined the exodus from Russia in the wake of the invasion of Ukraine but neither is it business as usual.
Mairéad McCaul, managing director MSD Ireland Human Health; Liam Dunne, MSD Biotech Dublin site head; Taoiseach, Micheál Martin; and Robert M Davis, chief executive officer Gardasil protects from the human papilloma virus , responsible for cervical cancer, as well as most cancers of the anus, vagina and vulva and a majority of head and neck cancers.
MSD pulled the plug on its programme after disappointing early stage results, turning its focus instead to antiviral solution. Its product Lagevrio is now a core part of the group’s business and delivered sales well ahead of projections in its most recent results.“Our own belief is that mRNA is an important [vaccine] technology but it’s not the only technology and our belief is it’s going to take multiple technologies because different viruses operate differently.
MSD has also recently exercised an option for an mRNA-based cancer vaccine that would work alongside Keytruda to increase the efficacy of the blockbuster drug in patients suffering from cancer.