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Merck have announced an investment of €62 million at its Darmstadt headquarters in a new quality control building for its Life Science business. The facility will bring together approximately 135 employees across several departments into one collaborative state-of-the-art space. The nearly 10,000 square meter building is scheduled for completion by mid-2025. The new building is part of an investment program at the Darmstadt site: Merck will invest a total of around €1.5 billion here by 2025.
“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 & Regulatory Management, Life Science business of Merck. “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.”
Quality control is an essential step to ensure the safety of life science products used in the research, discovery, and manufacture of medicines. During the quality control process, products are tested for purity, allowing for the detection and removal of any harmful substances. Merck’s Life Science business has more than 25 labs specialising in the relevant methods.
Built to meet the German Sustainable Building Council GOLD standard for sustainability, the facility will feature regenerative energy generation (self-sufficient) and low-CO2 construction, as well as comply to special safety requirements for genetic engineering, biology laboratories, as well as dust-free labs that require specific hygiene protocols. The labs will be GMP-compliant.
Darmstadt is one of Merck's most important research and development centres for life science technologies. Over the next ten years, approximately one-fifth of the Life Science business' sales from new products are expected to come from here. The goal is to expand Life Science's capacities and capabilities to meet the growing global demand for medicines.