CONTRAST MEDIA: GE HEALTHCARE GE HealthCare celebrated 30 years at its Irish campus in Carrigtohill, Co. Cork.
GE HealthCare celebrates 30 years in Ireland GE HealthCare has been supporting patients across the globe for three decades from its Irish base in Carrigtohill, Co. Cork. In 2023, GE HealthCare’s pharmaceutical imaging agent manufacturing facility at its Ireland Campus in Carrigtohill, Co. Cork, celebrated 30 years. During that time, the site has seen significant growth – it started production in 1993 with 43 employees, producing three million doses annually for customers in western Europe. Today, more than 760 employees work at the site, producing over 32 million doses annually for customers and their patients across the globe. The site manufactures injectable diagnostic imaging agents (contrast media) used in X-ray and Computed Tomography (CT) procedures around the world. Contrast media helps improve the visibility of specific organs, blood vessels or tissues during imaging procedures. This aids clinicians in making better informed decisions regarding monitoring and treatment of patients.
Increasing demand The company estimates that demand for its iodinated contrast media products will increase significantly over the coming years, largely due to an increase in the use of CT imaging procedures. To help address this increasing demand, GE HealthCare invested $30 million into additional production capacity at the Carrigtohill site to support the company’s ambition to produce an additional 30 million patient doses per year by the end of 2025, compared to 2022. Eugene Barrett, GE Healthcare Ireland Site Leader, who leads the team at the Cork facility, said: “We know that our products play an important role in helping clinicians diagnose patients and put in place the most appropriate treatment options available. As a team, we’re driven by that purpose to deliver on our promises to our customer because patients rely on us each and every day to have Irish PharmaChem | Industry Buyers Guide 2024
their scheduled X-ray and CT procedures. “The opening of our newest production line has been a great success and means that our products can help even more customers and patients. That’s only possible because of the commitment of everyone on the team,” Eugene continued. “We’ve come a long way over the last 30 years and we’re looking forward to the next 30 years and the opportunities there will be for us to make an even bigger impact for our customers and their patients but also for our local community, as an employer seeking to grow further.”
A global leader in imaging agents The Carrigtohill site is part of GE HealthCare’s Pharmaceutical Diagnostics segment, a global leader in imaging agents used to support around 100 million procedures per year globally, equivalent to three patient procedures every second. For more than 40 years, GE HealthCare imaging agents have been routinely used across MRI, X-ray/ CT and ultrasound to enhance clinical images and support diagnosis. GE HealthCare is a leading global medical technology, pharmaceutical diagnostics and digital solutions innovator, dedicated to providing integrated solutions, services and data analytics to make hospitals more efficient, clinicians more effective, therapies more precise and patients healthier and happier. Serving patients and providers for more than 100 years, GE HealthCare is advancing personalised, connected and compassionate care, while simplifying the patient’s journey across the care pathway. For more information about roles currently open at GE HealthCare, visit: https://jobs.gecareers.com/healthcare/global/en/.
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