Booming Irish pharmaceutical sector sets sights on China

"It's a very important relationship and it's developing more and more significance as each day goes by. So we liaise a lot with our Chinese partners both from a research but particularly from a training and education perspective," said O'Driscoll.

While Ireland is a relatively small country, its dedication to research and development along with its educated workforce makes it tailor fit to the production of pharmaceuticals.

"We have a very strong regulatory framework which companies really appreciate because it gives them a lot of guidance and security in terms of what they are achieving and the industry has really been able to access excellent talent here with the engineering and science graduate output from the universities. They've had, I think, a second to none track record in excellence in both development and manufacturing," Heavey said.

O'Driscoll said it's a key component to develop the industry in Ireland. "It's an industry based on science and technology so all the new products are very much based on research and development so having a strong internationally focused R&D sector is a critical component," he said.

Heavey said there's been a big focus as part of government efforts to prioritize the investment of the 8 billion euros ($10.3 billion) in research funding.

"One of the areas that's been identified as an area for focus from the stakeholder group is in research and development that supports manufacturing of therapeutics and process development," he said.

In Ireland, pharmaceutical and bioprocessing industries have been growing very strongly in the last number of years. Ireland is now the No 1 location in Europe for life sciences foreign direct investment.

"Over 50 percent of our gross domestic product is driven by life sciences and within that we've seen a number of very strong investments from companies such as Amgen, Merck and Lilly over the last 12 to 24 months," said O'Driscoll.

Laurent Borla, general manager of Arkopharma Ireland, listed several key reasons for the French-based multinational decided to invest in Ireland.

"Ireland was chosen because it's an English speaking country, it's in the eurozone, there is a well educated workforce, the climate is quite proper to control environments, it's never too warm, never too cold so there is good savings to be made on energy costs and it's just a great place to be in. I mean, the quality of life in Ireland is quite spectacular and it's important when people work hard, after a long day," said Borla.