The German pharmaceutical company Bayer is planning to invest about EUR 5 million to expand its factory in Turku, south-western Finland.

Work on the approximately 2000 square metre expansion is set to begin next year, according to Peter Essen, Executive Vice President, Bayer.

Production has increased in the factory mainly thanks to the international success of the Mirena contraceptive device which had sales of EUR 680 million last year. Mirena was invented in Turku and currently contributes more than half of all export sales of Finland’s pharmaceutical products.

Bayer’s factory in Turku is Finland’s second largest pharmaceutical factory. According to Bayer, it specializes in the development and production of high quality products for global distribution to more than one hundred countries.  Bayer has recently hired 50 more employees in Turku and is planning to recruit 15 more in the near future.

Bayer’s Jadelle implant, also developed in Turku, has been selected as the product for a major international programme providing better access to contraception for women in developing countries. Bayer expects that about 27 million Jadelle implants will be distributed in the coming years.