The Monday interview with David Cadogan: Going from strength to strength

There were little research and development opportunities in the 1980s in Ireland — vastly different to the world-class operations today, according to the Wexford native who now lives in Kinsale.

“After good career guidance advice within my school, I was directed towards chemical engineering, having been good at science and maths. I’m eternally grateful to that career guidance teacher.

“I graduated in 1987, which was right in the middle of one of our previous recessions. That meant I was going to leave the country for a while so I went and did a graduate programme in the US. I went the master’s degree route because whatever about a master’s, if you came back to Ireland with a doctorate in chemical engineering, they wouldn’t have known what to do with you. That’s what led to me into manufacturing.

“It coincided extremely well with the growth of the pharmaceutical industry. At that time, I could have gone on and done development and research work but there really was no opportunity. Thankfully that is quite different at the moment. The whole area has changed completely.”

Mr Cadogan has been with Gilead for more than 10 years, which has its global distribution centre in Dublin and its main manufacturing facility in Cork.

The biopharmaceutical firm discovers, develops and commercialises medicines in areas such as HIV, Hepatitis-C and oncology.

Gilead’s Ireland operations are responsible for manufacturing, quality control, packaging, and the release and distribution of the company’s products in the EU and other international locations.

Mr Cadogan said Ireland’s position as a global industry leader was no accident, and not just the result of generous corporation tax rates — the concerted efforts by industry, business and political leaders over the past 30 years led to its evolution.

“All the people in that area have been putting in a lot of effort trying to bring in value-added activities into Ireland. What started out being both chemical active pharmaceutical ingredient manufacturing, where the powder is made, there is now biologics manufacturing, medical devices, finished goods packaging and development activity that goes with those.

“A number of those companies that came in have either built out their pipeline through adding on their value-added services — in financial services, for example. GSK would have brought in some pretty cutting-edge technology for particle sizing.

“The industry has worked with the University of Limerick to build out the pharmaceutical technology sector that is there. So there is a cluster of industry that works with the IDA and the Government to build that up.

“Underneath those white coats, people in the pharmaceutical industry are wearing the green jersey to try and build up capabilities in the country,” he said.

The workforce and emerging talent in Ireland are vital, according to Mr Cadogan. “Tax breaks are advantageous in Ireland but you cannot deliver without the workforce here, which is very knowledgeable, with a good stream of graduates, and a record of being able to deliver with a can-do attitude. That really resonates across the industry.”

Carrigtwohill is one of Gilead’s flagship locations, he said.

“We are the only site within the network that manufactures drug product, which is basically tablets, and we then package those tablets for the EMEA region.

“What we needed to do here was demonstrate that we can deliver on quality, customer service and getting the product to the patient. We had to differentiate ourselves and add value. We wanted to go from just another contract manufacturer to the main site for launch of the most important products in the company, and we managed to achieve that within five years of Gilead taking over the site here.”

There is plenty of room for Carrigtwohill to become even more important to the firm in a global context, according to Mr Cadogan.

With €190m invested, the proof is in the pudding, he said.

“Within our site, we ensured we had sufficient scope for expansion at our facility, recently expanding our laboratory area, but also we have a modular construction so if there is additional capacity required, we can readily add on to our facility.

“We have filled out a lot of capabilities but there is still scope to add in the short-term with our existing equipment, and in some cases scaling up. We are 30% of the tablet manufacturing that flows through this company, and we are a key part of this organisation, and we fully expect to stay that way.”

He wants the best of talent in Ireland to realise their potential with his firm, he said.

“Gilead provides great opportunities for people who want to take that control of their own development and opportunities. It does mean personal accountability on their own development but the ability to do it is strong here.”