Abiomed, a global leader in heart assist technologies, is to establish a Global Manufacturing facility for its Impella 2.5 cardiac assist device in Athlone, Co Westmeath, creating 250 new jobs over five years.

The Tánaiste said “This is excellent news today for Athlone and for Ireland. This investment will bring further new high quality employment opportunities to the region and is another superb overseas medical technologies company choosing Ireland for its future growth and development. This is the first minimally invasive medical device product of its kind and we are delighted that Ireland was chosen for its production. It is companies of this highly sophisticated nature that we are striving to win. We faced strong global competition for the investment and it is a fantastic result for Ireland.”