Leading CDMO Companies in Ireland: Your Complete Guide to Contract Manufacturing in 2026

Hovione is an independent CDMO and a leading provider of pharmaceutical spray drying - a technology critical for inhalable therapies and oral drugs with low bioavailability. Founded in Lisbon in 1959, Hovione has manufacturing sites in Portugal, Ireland, the US and Macau. Its Cork facility is the former Pfizer site at Loughbeg, Ringaskiddy, which made intermediates for the Lipitor API and was acquired by Hovione in 2009.

The site specializes in integrated API synthesis, particle design, and pharmaceutical formulation development and manufacturing. The facility runs 24 hours a day, seven days a week, with quality control laboratories providing continuous analytical support. In recent years Hovione has made multi-million-euro investments to nearly double its spray drying capacity in Cork. The site expanded its Process R&D group in 2024 and plans a highly potent small-scale equipment facility for clinical and registration campaigns.

Its spray drying equipment includes a Niro PSD5, one of the largest commercial pharmaceutical spray dryers, and a PSD4 train, used for amorphous solid dispersions and inhalation powders.

Thermo Fisher Scientific's Cork site - operating under the Patheon CDMO brand - is one of Ireland's largest and most technically sophisticated API contract development and manufacturing facilities. The site was acquired from GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) in 2019 for approximately €90 million, and by 2023 the site had increased its clinical manufacturing capacity fivefold and gained more than 20 pharma and biotech customers.

The Currabinny site employed about 500 people in 2023: roughly 400 who transferred from GSK and about 100 hired since. Thermo Fisher's separate PPD laboratory in Athlone employs about 400. The plant has operated since the mid-1970s, first as Penn Chemicals, then as SmithKline Beecham and GSK.

The site specializes in complex small molecule APIs, with a particular focus on treatments for childhood cancer, Parkinson's disease, and depression - compounds requiring exacting chemistry control and multi-step synthetic routes. Thermo Fisher Cork supports customers from early-phase process development through commercial API supply, while the Athlone laboratory provides GMP analytical testing.

EirGen Pharma was founded in Waterford in 2005 and has been part of US-listed OPKO Health since 2015. It develops and manufactures high-potency oral solid dose (OSD) medicines, specializing in oncology treatments, rare diseases, and cytotoxic applications for both human and veterinary use.

EirGen's Waterford campus spans 40,000 square feet of dedicated GMP manufacturing space. A 3,500 m² high-containment manufacturing facility received HPRA GMP approval in March 2026. It is designed to accommodate accelerated technology transfers and the next generation of high-potency cancer therapies.

EirGen states current capacity of 520 million dosage units a year, serving more than 120 pharmaceutical partners across 60 countries. By 2027, the expanded Waterford site will deliver up to 1 billion dosage units per year - a near-doubling of output driven by global demand for their specialized oncology manufacturing expertise. The portfolio spans softgel capsules, film-coated tablets, and powder or liquid-filled hard-shell capsules, all manufactured under stringent high-potency containment protocols.

The Aenova Group's Killorglin facility - operated as Temmler Ireland Ltd. - has almost 50 years of pharmaceutical manufacturing experience in County Kerry and employs about 70 people. Aenova is a leading pan-European CDMO and has designated Killorglin as its Competence Center for spray drying and modified release pellets - two of the most technically demanding areas in oral drug formulation.

In July 2025, Aenova opened a new laboratory- and pilot-scale spray drying platform at Killorglin, supplied by Büchi and GEA, to produce amorphous solid dispersions (ASD) for oral medicines with challenging bioavailability profiles and inhalation powders. This investment addresses one of the most critical needs in modern drug development - Aenova estimates that about 80% of preclinical drug candidates face bioavailability limits from poor solubility and permeability, which ASD technology can help overcome.

The Killorglin facility handles APIs up to OEB 4 potency class and supports organic solvents. Its modified release pellet line encompasses granulation, modified-release coating, encapsulation, and extraction, with capabilities spanning from small development batches to full commercial-scale production.

HiTech Health holds a unique place in Ireland's life science ecosystem: it was the first Irish company to secure a manufacturing licence to produce cell and gene therapies (ATMPs - Advanced Therapy Medicinal Products) on behalf of client biotech and biopharma companies. Founded in 2013, HiTech Health is an end-to-end ATMP CDMO operating from a purpose-built GMP facility in Galway, certified by Ireland's Health Products Regulatory Authority (HPRA) and compliant with all European GMP standards.

The Galway facility was specifically designed to advance the development, manufacturing, and testing of sterile cell and gene therapy formulations and other advanced therapies. HiTech provides the full ATMP service spectrum: drug substance manufacturing (API), drug product formulation (FDF), research and development, and clinical trial materials production. The facility also provides batch importation and formal QP release for the EU and UK markets.

A key differentiator is HiTech Health's specialist logistics capability for time- and temperature-sensitive therapies - a critical competency in advanced therapeutics where cold chain integrity is directly tied to product efficacy and patient safety. Its regulatory team supports sponsors working with the HPRA, EMA and FDA.

PCI Pharma Services is a leading global CDMO providing integrated drug development, manufacturing, and packaging services for pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies. PCI's Irish operations are anchored at CityNorth Business Campus in Stamullen, County Meath - a strategically located site with excellent connectivity to Dublin Airport and the M1 motorway.

PCI's existing 45,000 sq ft Meath facility is being joined by a major new development: the company has signed a 25-year lease and is constructing a purpose-built 82,000 sq ft pharmaceutical packaging facility at the same campus. The new building is for commercial packaging of oral solid dose and sterile injectable products. In 2024 PCI also acquired the former Wasdell plant in Dundalk (90,000 sq ft) for drug-device assembly and packaging.

The new facility is targeting LEED Gold certification, an A3 Building Energy Rating, and rainwater harvesting.

Almac Group is one of the most comprehensive and vertically integrated CDMOs operating on the island of Ireland, with its global headquarters at Craigavon, Northern Ireland. As a fully independent, privately owned company, Almac has invested consistently across the full drug development lifecycle - from drug discovery and pre-clinical development through clinical trial supply, API manufacturing, and full commercial production.

In March 2025, Almac opened a £65 million, 100,000 sq ft commercial manufacturing facility at Craigavon for oral dose products, including potent and highly potent drugs. A separate 32,000 sq ft facility, completed in early 2024, adds commercial manufacturing and packaging capacity for sachet products.

Peptide API manufacturing is a growth area for Almac, as demand for peptide drugs has risen across the industry. A 28,000 sq ft GMP peptide facility completed in early 2024 more than doubled Almac Sciences' peptide API capacity. The facility handles synthesis, purification, and isolation for clinical development and commercial campaigns.

Q1 Scientific, owned by the CDMO Cambrex since 2022, is a cGMP stability-storage provider founded in Waterford in 2013. It does not manufacture drugs. The Waterford facility has grown into a critical node in the European pharmaceutical stability testing network, providing environmentally controlled GMP stability storage services to pharmaceutical, medical device, and life science clients across the EU and globally.

The facility offers the complete range of ICH climatic zone conditions - from Zone I (Northern European temperate) through Zone IV (hot and very humid, required for tropical market registrations) - alongside custom temperature and humidity programs for non-standard stability protocols. The site houses more than 90 walk-in stability storage chambers, reach-in stability units, and ultra-low temperature freezers down to -80°C for biologic drug substances and ATMP materials.

The site was 20,000 sq ft at acquisition, and Cambrex announced a further 10,000 sq ft extension in 2022. Q1 Scientific's team also provides stability program design consulting, full sample management, and regulatory-grade reporting to support IND, NDA, MAA, and other global regulatory submissions.