Dexcom has joined the scrum of major U.S.-based medtech companies flocking to Ireland as a European home base.
The glucose sensor maker has broken on a new manufacturing facility planned for the small town of Athenry in County Galway, it announced Friday, marking the company’s first manufacturing site in Europe.
According to Dexcom, placing an outpost in Western Ireland will open up a new channel for distributing its diabetes management devices throughout the continent, as well as the Middle East and Africa—potentially lowering costs and speeding up delivery times, which will also help to improve the company’s sustainability efforts.
When the Irish government’s Industrial Development Agency, known as IDA Ireland, announced last May Dexcom’s plans to break ground in the region, the five-year, €300 million project was billed as “one of the biggest single private sector investments ever in the West of Ireland,” by Leo Varadkar, Ireland’s taoiseach.
The devicemaker has estimated that building the state-of-the-art facility in Athenry will create at least 1,000 jobs in the region over the next half-decade, including engineering roles of all experience levels, plus postings in the finance and human resources departments.
Meanwhile, IDA Ireland, which lent its support to Dexcom’s project, estimated that each of those new Dexcom jobs will also indirectly create another one to 1.7 jobs in the region by attracting new contracts and roles to other nearby businesses.
“The creation of the Dexcom manufacturing facility will undoubtedly be a game-changer for the West of Ireland,” Barry Regan, Dexcom’s executive VP of operations, said in IDA Ireland’s own announcement Friday. “This is a pivotal moment for Dexcom and we are confident it will have an immensely positive impact in Galway and the wider region too, not only in relation to job creation but also as we become part of and contribute to this community.”
In another step toward embedding itself in the Western Ireland community, Dexcom has also inked a deal with the local Connacht Rugby team. For the next 12 years, the Galway stadium where the team’s rugby matches are held, dubbed The Sportsground, will be known as Dexcom Stadium.
“We’re already proud to be partnering with Connacht Rugby, and this is only the beginning,” Regan added in the release.