Merck Builds on Leading Viral and Gene Therapy Service Offering with Capacity Expansion

          - Larger Carlsbad, California facility will allow seamless scale-up customer support from clinical to commercial scales

          - Campus expansion increases Good Manufacturing Practice capacity by nearly 90 percent

           Merck , a leading science and technology company, today announced an expansion of its Carlsbad, California facility to meet growing demand for viral and gene therapy products.

         

          Scheduled for completion in 2016, the Carlsbad campus will increase from 44,000 square feet to 65,000 square feet, with 16 modular viral bulk manufacturing cleanroom suites, two fill/finish suites and twice the warehouse capacity. The expansion will incorporate single-use equipment in a flexible, scalable format for clinical and commercial bulk drug production.

          "We are building on our industry-leading offerings in the manufacturing and testing of innovative and complex products, underscoring our commitment to being a trusted, long-term partner of choice," said Udit Batra, Member of the Merck Executive Board and CEO, Life Science . The company's new capacity at Carlsbad positions Merck to seamlessly support customers from clinical to commercial scales, and is complemented by cell-banking services in Rockville, Maryland, viral and gene therapy manufacturing capacity in Glasgow, Scotland and global BioReliance? biosafety testing offering.

          The Carlsbad facility – Merck's flagship site for SAFC's viral and gene therapies offering – will remain fully operational throughout the expansion.

          The Carlsbad campus features segregated fill/finish capacity for gene therapy, viral vaccine and immunotherapy products. Merck's teams have decades of combined experience in the viral, gene therapy and biosafety testing sectors.

          All Merck news releases are distributed by email at the same time they become available on the Merck website. Please go to www.merckgroup.com/subscribe to register online, change your selection or discontinue this service.

          About Merck

          Merck is a leading science and technology company in healthcare, life science and performance materials. Around 50,000 employees work to further develop technologies that improve and enhance life – from biopharmaceutical therapies to treat cancer or multiple sclerosis, cutting-edge systems for scientific research and production, to liquid crystals for smartphones and LCD televisions. In 2015, Merck generated sales of EUR12.85 billion in 66 countries.

          Founded in 1668, Merck is the world's oldest pharmaceutical and chemical company. The founding family remains the majority owner of the publicly listed corporate group. Merck, Darmstadt, Germany holds the global rights to the Merck name and brand. The only exceptions are the United States and Canada, where the company operates as EMD Serono, MilliporeSigma and EMD Performance Materials.