UPS will open a dedicated global healthcare facility in Dublin, Ireland in a bid to support the logistics needs of the Irish pharmaceutical and medical device industries as well as the biologics sectors.

The planned new 6,000 m2 facility for the pharma and healthcare-focused arm of the global logistics firm is expected to open its doors in late 2023 helping connect Ireland's growing pharmaceutical and medical technology industries to UPS' global logistics network.

Cathy O’Brien, UPS Healthcare’s vice president for international sales, said the investment is a demonstration of  UPS' commitment to supporting global healthcare supply chains.

"Our new facility supports the quality and regulatory needs of manufacturers, many of whom are providing critical upstream activity, and we provide them with resiliency and scale," O'Brien said, adding that UPS Healthcare now offers the first truly dedicated freight, small parcel and logistics offering in Ireland, including cold chain management services.

"Ireland is a world leader in research, biologics and healthcare innovation, and we are confident that our clinical to commercial service offering will drive value for the Irish healthcare and economic ecosystem in the years to come," O'Brien added.

Meanwhile, UPS noted that 80% of pharmaceutical drugs in the EU require cold-chain logistical support and temperature-controlled transportation, and more than half of all new drugs in the global pharmaceutical pipeline are cutting-edge biomedical drugs – including vaccines – that are usually temperature-sensitive.

UPS said the new facility will support Ireland's pharmaceutical industries in delivering next-generation biologics and critical vaccines to patients around the world.

It will also offer producers of new drugs and medical devices in this country specialised global distribution to hospitals and pharmacies.

In a related development, UPS earlier announced its plan to acquire Italian healthcare logistics provider, Bomi Group which has temperature-controlled facilities in 14 countries in Europe and Latin America.