Full coverage: Pharmaceuticals

As first revealed by The Currency, Dublin is joining the list of sites developed by the world's largest pharmaceutical company to make its flagship vaccine, leading to the creation of 75 new jobs this year.

Pfizer is highly secretive about releasing details of its vast Irish operation. However, an investigation of over 200 corporate filings made by 80 Pfizer companies in Ireland, Europe and the US reveals $100bn worth of industrial and financial assets located here.

The New York-listed pharmaceutical giant is involved with a judicial review of its tax affairs one year after a last-ditch Budget Day stamp duty change added hundreds of millions to the cost of its Allergan acquisition.

So many legal punches have landed on Mallinckrodt that it is facing a knock-out blow at any point. While the disputes engulfing the manufacturer of several controversial drugs unfold in the US, they all link back to the group’s corporate structure and intellectual property vehicles here in Ireland.

The late Tom Lynch was a polymath who played a major role in developing the Irish pharmaceutical industry. Tom Lyons talks to those who he worked with over the decades to understand a fascinating, complex and unique legacy.