Pharma giant Shire is to build a new biologics manufacturing campus in Meath, which will create 400 full-time jobs.

The firm, which is headquartered in Dublin, said that it will invest nearly €355m in its Irish operations over the next four years.

The planned new manufacturing campus will be built on a 120-acre site at Piercetown, County Meath. Construction of the site will begin in mid-2016, with the campus expected to be operational by mid-2019.

The 400 planned jobs at Shire’s new Meath campus will consist of high-skilled positions in the areas of R&D, operations, technical staff, engineering and construction.

Flemming Ornskov, Shire’s CEO, said that the expansion will enable the firm to meet increasing product demands, support its pipeline and help more patients.

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He added: “We are delighted to be expanding our operations in Ireland, where we have strong, existing relationships. The new campus in Meath will provide necessary geographic diversification and will help us serve our growing international business.”

Shire’s senior VP of technical operations, Tim Kelly, commented: “The expansion supports our manufacturing strategy to develop and provide innovative specialty medicines for patients.

“Ireland is a strategically important location for Shire, providing both excellence in life science R&D and manufacturing. We already have a strong team on the ground in Ireland and believe that it is the right location for us to build a new state-of-the-art facility, which will complement our existing manufacturing operations in the US.”