Ireland Needs to Rethink Its Biopharma Strategy: From Global Manufacturer to Global Owner

Ireland's biopharma sector is a world-class success story, but what worked in the past will not lead to future success.

We've spent decades becoming the premier European hub for pharmaceutical manufacturing. Today, hundreds of multinational pharma, biotech and medtech firms operate here, exporting €100 billion in goods annually – 40% of our total exports. Tax revenue, high-value jobs and economic multipliers have made this model central to our national strategy.

But the world is changing and our strategy needs to evolve with it.

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The Problem: World-Class Manufacturing, No Ownership

We've built a global manufacturing base but not a base of global companies. Ireland must be an owner, not a renter of its most valuable industry.

Multinationals make the investments, own the IP, and reap the long-term rewards. When priorities shift, be it due to global cost pressures, M&A or geopolitical realignment, we're exposed. Tax receipts fluctuate. Factories can be downsized. The reality, unfortunately, is that strategy is decided elsewhere.

Meanwhile, the pipeline of scaled indigenous pharma and biotech companies is thin. We’re good at getting research and spinouts off the ground, thanks to our strong VC community and supportive state programs. But very few of these reach global scale … and even fewer remain independent.

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Unlocking Indigenous Scale: Learning from Global Peers

Practically all of the world's top biopharma companies have a significant base in Ireland, yet who can we point to as a (remaining) independent, homegrown, flagship biopharma firm of global scale?

Meanwhile, peer countries like Denmark and Switzerland have done just that by combining targeted policy, public-private R&D investment and long-term patient capital to build indigenous champions like Novo Nordisk, Roche and Novartis – all of whom remain rooted in a domestic ecosystem.

What these markets share isn't luck or size, it's a deliberate national strategy to scale their own. Ireland's research, infrastructure, talent pool and export engine are world-class. What's missing is a roadmap to scale indigenous companies from startup to global player.

This is where policy and strategic capital have a role to play.

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The Solution: Turning Capability into Control

This is not a binary choice. Ireland should not abandon FDI but we must rebalance our approach. Building on the existing advantages we have, here's what that looks like:

• Fund scaling, not just starting. Enterprise Ireland and ISIF have supported early-stage biotech admirably. But we need patient, sovereign-backed capital focused on scaling Irish biopharma companies into long-term global players.

• Reward strategic retention. Entrepreneurs and local investors lack strong incentives to hold, grow and ultimately IPO Irish-owned biopharma companies. The incentive to sell early remains too strong.

• Build together to scale faster. Too many scientific efforts and start-ups operate in silos making them uncoordinated and underpowered. We need to support collaborative portfolios that bring together research institutions, founders and capital around shared platforms and long-term goals.

• Invest in clinical and data infrastructure. Build a national clinical trials network and secure, interoperable health data system. This will improve patient outcomes and attract more R&D in an era of personalised medicine.

• Speed up adoption of innovation. Reform the approval processes to make us as fast as other western European countries in making new medicines available in our health services.

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A Strategic Inflection Point

FDI has served Ireland well but it cannot be our whole biopharma strategy.

If we want to secure long-term economic sovereignty in our most valuable sector, we must build companies we own, not just sites we host.

Ireland now has a generation of exceptional talent in biopharma - current leaders in the best firms in the world and ready to take on the challenge. At NíoSync we think the next step is clear: scale Irish companies to global leadership, backed by Irish policy, Irish capital and a national ambition to own, not rent, in life sciences.

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What are your thoughts on Ireland's biopharma strategy? How can we better support indigenous companies to scale globally?

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