MOSCOW (MRC) -- Merck KGaA (Darmstadt, Germany) announced that it will add a single-use assembly production unit at its Life Science Center in Molsheim, France, said Chemengonline.
With the EUR25-million investment, the company is accelerating its European expansion plans for this key technology, which is used for the production of Covid-19 vaccines and other lifesaving therapies. Molsheim will be the first site in Europe where the Life Science business sector manufactures the product. Further production sites are located in Danvers, Massachusetts, and Wuxi, China.
"The pandemic has confronted the world with inconceivable challenges. The science and technology efforts of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany have resulted in significant contributions since the outset of Covid-19. Our new European production unit will increase capacity of the urgently needed supply of single-use assemblies to vaccine and therapeutic manufacturers worldwide. Today’s announcement of our expansion in Europe speaks of the company’s global commitment during and beyond this pandemic," said Belen Garijo, Vice Chair of the Executive Board and Deputy CEO of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany.
The investment in Molsheim will add more than 350 new jobs in total along with 1,700 square meters of ISO7 or ISO5 cleanrooms, using modular building design and existing infrastructure to allow future expansions without any disruptions. The new unit will produce Mobius single-use assemblies, a key offering that is part of the Mobius MyWay program of the company’s Life Science business. It is planned to be operational by the end of 2021.
With more than 1,700 employees of 32 different nationalities, and producing more than 10,000 products, the Molsheim hub is the third largest site globally belonging to the company’s Life Science business. It supplies the world market, exporting more than 85 percent of its production. It hosts three production units dedicated to the manufacture and assembly of products and solutions for pharmaceutical manufacturing processes and applied solutions products for analysis in clinical and industrial environments and water purification systems.
Recently, Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany announced expansion projects in its Life Science business sector in Darmstadt, Germany; Cork, Ireland; Buchs, Switzerland; Carlsbad, California; Madison, Wisconsin; Jaffrey, New Hampshire; and Danvers, Massachusetts. At the latter site, the company is currently working to double the local single-use production capacity by the end of 2021. These expansions are part of an ambitious, multi-year program to increase the industrial capacity and Life Science capabilities to support growing global demand for lifesaving medications and to make significant contributions to public health.
As per MRC, Russia's output of chemical products rose in February 2021 by 5.3% year on year. Thus, production of basic chemicals increased year on year by 7.5% in the first two months of 2021. According to the Federal State Statistics Service of the Russian Federation, mineral fertilizers accounted for the greatest increase in the January-February output. Production of benzene dropped to 113,000 tonnes in February 2021, compared to 120,000 tonnes a month earlier. Overall output of this product reached 241,000 tonnes over the stated period, down by 7.5% year on year.
Headquartered in Darmstadt, Germany, Merck opened an OLED application center in Pyeongtaek, Korea, in 2015. Merck Korea now has 11 operation sites and some 1,200 employees and operates businesses in functional materials, health care and life sciences. The functional materials business encompasses advance materials for information technology products such as displays and semiconductors. It also includes cosmetics and paints for automobiles.
Its health care business involves pharmaceuticals and medical devices for treatments of cancer, multiple sclerosis and infertility. The life sciences business deals in an extensive portfolio of over 300,000 products used for protein research, cell biology, antibodies, water purification and microbiome tests.
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