LONDON — General Electric (GE) is digging deeper into biotechnology with plans to build four prefabricated drug factories in Ireland, bringing to Europe a low-cost manufacturing concept it first pioneered in China.The US conglomerate, better known for making jet engines and turbines, said on Monday it would invest €150m in a biopharmaceutical campus in county Cork. The new factories on the site will be owned and run by GE customers.The GE BioPark Cork site is expected to create 500 jobs when fully operational, in a boost for Ireland, whose low tax rates have helped it attract hi-tech companies — also sparking an angry row with Brussels in the case of Apple.Ireland has long been a major base for drug firms such as Pfizer and it has recently seen a wave of new investments by firms making biotech medicines."Ireland is a real hub for biopharmaceuticals, so it’s logical to do it there," Kieran Murphy, CE for life sciences at GE Healthcare, said."It’s one of the key places people are goin...
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