Merck to create two dozen jobs through €18m lab facility

Science and technology company Merck is hoping to create around two dozen jobs with the creation of a new €18 million laboratory facility in Buchs, Switzerland.

Merck is developing the facility to support its growing reference materials business, which supplies companies within life sciences with analytical standards and reagents, building blocks and bioanalytical reagents.

Merck currently employs around 450 people at the Buchs location which was founded in 1950 and is one of the company’s most important research and development centres. The new facility is scheduled to be completed in December 2021, with up to 40 employees expected to move into the new building sometime in 2022. The facility will include laboratory and office space which is designed to offer a more efficient way of working for employees in research and development, as well as analytical production and quality control.

"Researchers in testing labs around the world use Merck’s reference materials every day to help generate accurate, reliable analytical results in pharmaceutical, environmental and food and beverage analysis,” said Jean-Charles Wirth, head of Applied Solutions, Life Science at Merck. “This new laboratory will allow us to continue to drive innovation in diagnostics and testing and expand our research and development of analytical standards.”