Ireland’s pharma industry really got started in 1964 with some key investments in small molecule drug products (by Leo Laboratories) and drug substances (by Bristol Myers Squibb) manufacturing in Dublin. A lot has changed in the intervening decades, however. Exactly 50 years later, in 2014, BMS announced a US$900-million investment in a biologics drug substance manufacturing and process R&D facility for their immune-oncology portfolio – and I think these “bookend” investments give a good illustration of how the industry has evolved over time. The 1970s, 80s and 90s saw waves of investment in large-scale small molecule intermediate and drug substance facilities (particularly in Cork) from companies such as Pfizer, Novartis, GlaxoSmithKline, Merck Sharp & Dohme (MSD), Janssen and Lilly for blockbuster drugs such as Lipitor, Gleevec, Risperdal and Zyprexa. As time progressed, these facilities gained a strong reputation for handling complex and challenging chemistries, and were involved in both process re-engineering for existing drugs and the development and launch of pipeline products. An excellent example of this was an investment by Pfizer in the application of biocatalysis to lower the number of steps and costs associated with Lipitor production, which allowed the Irish site to retain responsibility for Lipitor manufacturing after loss of exclusivity, due to their very competitive cost of goods sold.