MilliporeSigma has invested €62 million ($66 million) in a quality control (QC) building at Darmstadt. The 10,000 square-meter facility will create 135 jobs and is expected to open by mid-2025. The news comes after the company announced a $321 million investment in an 18,000 square-meter research center at the site in April 2024.
“Quality plays an essential role in our purpose to impact life and health with science. The quality, compliance and business support are fundamental to our innovative life science products, services and digital offerings and make us a trusted partner to our stakeholders,” said Robert Nass, head of quality and regulatory management, MilliporeSigma.
“Our new quality control facility is a reflection of our commitment to deliver the highest quality and safest products to our customers and the patients they serve.”
The €62 million investment is a part of Merck’s €1.5 billion investment program for the Darmstadt site by 2025. QC is a crucial step to ensure the safety of life science products used in research, discovery, and production, during which purity plays a vital role. Merck KGaA has more than 25 laboratories specializing in QC.
In other news, the firm has nearly doubled its Schnelldorf site in Germany adding 25,000 square-meters with an investment of €180 million. The expanded facility houses a manual down filling line and a distribution space along with laboratories to serve its life science customers.
“By combining manual down filling capabilities with our distribution expertise, our customers will benefit from increased product availability and quicker delivery,” said Matthias Heinzel, CEO, MilliporeSigma.
“This is critical to ensuring that medicines reach patients faster, safely, and more efficiently. This is how we do our part to impact life and health with science.”
The plant will employee over 470 experts and is a part of Merck’s multi-year investment program. Since 2020, the firm has invested more than €2 billion to increase its industrial capacity throughout Europe, China, and the US.
“With this expansion, Schnelldorf is becoming one of our flagship sites, providing end-to-end capabilities for our customers,” said Ivan Donzelot, head of integrated supply chain operations, MilliporeSigma.
“With the full integration of manufacturing and distribution in one site, our customers can now receive even faster and better service whether they are in Europe or in other regions of the world.”
Merck's life science business includes over 50 production and testing facilities, 64 distribution centers, and employs more than 27,000 people across 65 countries.
The firm reported a 13.8% year-on-year decline in sales in its life sciences business due to continued equipment destocking and a volatile CDMO market in the first quarter of 2024.
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