The Minister of State at the Department of Health, Alex White TD, led a three-day Enterprise Ireland trade mission to Philadelphia USA in June targeting the significant Pennsylvanian Pharmaceutical and Medical Device clusters. The trade mission was organised with the support of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and the Irish Consulate in New York.

21 Irish companies participated on the trade mission from the Pharmaceutical, Pharmaceutical Services, IT for Healthcare and Medical Device sectors. The objective of the trade mission was to create opportunities for new partnerships and linkages between Irish and Pennsylvanian Life Sciences companies, ultimately driving Irish sales and exports to the region.

The Pennsylvania life sciences industry employs over 79,000 people directly in over 2,000 establishments - making it one of the top life sciences clusters not only in the US but also the world.

The trade mission was timed to coincide with an important medical device manufacturing conference and exposition, Medical Device & Manufacturing (MD&M) East, which took place in Philadelphia from 17-20 June, at which a number of the Irish companies exhibited.

Pennsylvania and Ireland are already significant trading partners with approx. $1 billion in trade in each direction annually. This puts Ireland in the top 10 trading partners for Pennsylvania (number 9 with $941 million in exports to Ireland), while Pennsylvania is number 11 in terms of exports from Ireland with just over $1billion in 2012.

Gerry Murphy, Executive Director of Enterprise Ireland’s four offices in North America, who accompanied Minister White during the trade mission commented: ‘Pennsylvania’s Life Sciences industry offers enormous potential for ambitious Irish companies to grow export sales in sectors where Enterprise Ireland’s client companies are strong performers - Pharmaceuticals, Pharmaceutical Services, IT for Healthcare and Medical Devices. Enterprise Ireland client company exports to North America grew by 20% last year - including almost 50% growth rate for pharma and medtech companies. There are major changes occurring in the US healthcare sector which will create new opportunities for innovative Irish companies’.