From a Galway idea to a global medical technology success, Aerogen is showing what can happen when innovation, ambition and a deep connection to community come together.
There are few better examples of Galway’s ability to think globally while remaining firmly rooted at home than Aerogen.
From its headquarters in the city, the indigenous medtech company has grown into a world leader in acute care aerosol drug delivery, with its technology now supporting respiratory care for more than 30 million patients across 80 countries.
Yet while the numbers tell the story of an extraordinary business success, they do not tell the whole Aerogen story.
Because alongside the patents, investment, international expansion and highly skilled jobs is another thread — a commitment to Galway and to the communities in which its people live and work.
That combination was recognised at this year’s Galway Chamber Business Awards, where Aerogen took home two major accolades: Company of the Year 2025 and the Community & Social Impact Award 2025.
In front of more than 400 business leaders and community representatives, the awards recognised both sides of the company's identity — Aerogen as an internationally successful Galway business, and Aerogen as an organisation that believes commercial success carries a responsibility to give something back.
At the heart of the company’s global success is its patented vibrating mesh technology. The sophisticated system transforms liquid medication into a fine aerosol, allowing treatment to be delivered directly to the lungs of critically ill patients.
It is technology that operates quietly in the background of some of the world's most demanding healthcare environments, from intensive care units and emergency departments to general hospital wards and ambulances.
Improving patient care
The impact is enormous.
With more than 300 international patents and over 300 associated clinical studies, Aerogen has spent more than 25 years developing technology with one objective at its centre: improving patient care.
The company’s journey has also demonstrated the potential for a Galway-founded and Galway-headquartered business to compete on the world stage without losing its connection to home.
Today, Aerogen employs around 600 people and has announced an ambitious €300 million scaling plan, supported by Enterprise Ireland. The investment is expected to create 725 highly skilled jobs across Galway and Shannon, covering areas including research and development, engineering, manufacturing and science.
More than 1,100 of the company's projected global workforce of 2,000 are expected to be based in Ireland.
For Galway, this represents more than another major corporate investment. It is an investment in the city's future talent — in scientists, engineers, researchers and highly skilled workers who can build international careers without necessarily having to leave the west.
It is also another indication of the growing importance of Galway as a centre for medtech and life sciences.
But Aerogen's horizons stretch far beyond Galway.
Tokyo office another key step
The company's expansion into Japan, including the opening of a new Tokyo office, marks another step in its international growth. The Japanese operation is expected to create up to 30 jobs over five years and will provide Aerogen with a base from which to serve an important and increasingly significant healthcare market.
That global reach ultimately feeds back into the Irish economy. Aerogen has reported that it contributed €130 million to local businesses in Ireland in the previous year, underlining the wider economic ecosystem that can grow around a successful indigenous company.
For all its international ambitions, however, there is a strong sense that Aerogen has not forgotten where it came from.
The Community & Social Impact Award recognises a programme of activity that reaches well beyond traditional corporate philanthropy.
Through its Pledge 1% commitment, Aerogen has supported more than 100 charities and community organisations and donated €1.5 million in products and funding.
Its work encompasses healthcare, education, the environment and culture.
In Galway, that includes support for Galway Sick Kids, Croí and the Children’s Health Foundation, while partnerships with Druid, Music for Galway, Macnas and the Galway International Arts Festival have helped strengthen the city's cultural life.
There is an environmental dimension too, with Aerogen supporting native tree planting and a community nursery in Terryland Forest Park.
Its commitment to education stretches further afield, including support for classrooms and security fencing to help create safer educational environments in Somalia, alongside initiatives closer to home involving SVP bursaries, University of Galway pathways and scholarship programmes for refugees.
It is this blend of innovation and social responsibility that perhaps best explains why Aerogen's success resonates so strongly in Galway.
The company is not simply exporting a medical device. It is exporting an idea of what a company from the west of Ireland can become.
Its success demonstrates that global ambition can begin locally — in a city where universities, businesses, entrepreneurs, researchers and communities are increasingly interconnected.
Aerogen CEO and founder John Power has summed up that philosophy in a simple commitment: “We will continue to innovate across the respiratory journey for patients from our HQ here in Galway.”
There is something particularly significant in those final words: from our HQ here in Galway.
Because Aerogen’s story is ultimately about place as much as product.
It is about a company that has travelled far without leaving its roots behind; a business whose technology is helping patients around the world while its investment, employment and community programmes continue to make a difference at home.
The Galway Chamber awards provide a fitting recognition of that journey.
Aerogen is a Galway success story, certainly — but it is also a reminder that some of the biggest ideas can begin in the smallest places, and that global impact does not have to come at the expense of local roots.
