Mr Maralidmaran said the company has about 7,000 employees worldwide, 700 of them in research and development.

“Malta is very important to us, we want to make it our European hub, our gateway to Europe,” he said.

Citing the reasons to set up shop in Malta, he said that our islands have a very capable and flexible workforce, which can also boast that it is English speaking.

“There are also good fiscal incentives here, especially in relation to taxation,” said Mr Maralidmaran. Moreover, he said, quality standards were credible and serious.

“We also had great support from the Government of Malta and Malta Enterprise. We have a determination to succeed, contributing towards Maltese industry and the economy in the process,” he said.

Taking a question by this newspaper, Dr Gatt said that every pharmaceutical company based in Malta had expanded its operations over the past five years. “Twenty pharmaceutical companies have expanded, most of them increasing their staff complements in the process,” he said, adding that most had pre-conditioned deals that stipulated expansion in the future.