(Bloomberg) --

AstraZeneca Plc will invest $360 million building a new manufacturing facility for small molecules in Dublin, in a blow to U.K. hopes that the drugmaker would develop the site in its domestic market.

The new plant will ensure that Astra’s global supply network is “fit for future growth” and will rapidly meet the needs of its new medicines pipeline, the company said in a statement on Tuesday. 

The facility will be located at the Alexion campus in College Park, Dublin, and will create 100 highly skilled jobs in the life sciences sector. Astra said the project will also provide an important boost to the local economy. The deal will “nurture the country’s life sciences sector and allow for the development of high value-added medicines,” Chief Executive Officer Pascal Soriot said.  

News of the Irish investment comes only a few days after the U.K. government said it would rely on vaccines from Pfizer Inc. and Moderna Inc. for its Covid-19 booster program, sidelining the homegrown shot from Astra. 

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