German pharmaceutical company Merck will reiterate its commitment to investment in China when the groundbreaking takes place next month for its new €80m manufacturing plant in Nantong.
The facility, which will focus on bulk production and packaging of diabetes drug Glucophage, hypertension treatment Concor and thyroid drug Euthyrox, will be Merck’s second-largest pharmaceutical manufacturing facility globally when commercial production starts in 2017. Drugs for these illnesses are referenced in China's Essential Drug List and Merck says it is the first and only multinational to dedicate a large scale greenfield site towards production of drugs on the list.
Merck currently employs more than 2,000 people at over 40 sites in China, with the most important products including Erbitux to treat cancer and infertility treatment Gonal-f.
In total, the company has committed more than €100m to investments in China over the past three years.
'China is of strategic importance to Merck,' said Karl-Ludwig Kley, Chairman of the Executive Board. 'Together with government officials, customers, partners and our highly motivated local colleagues, we will explore ways to further address critical health care needs of the Chinese population – both with our high-quality drugs and our life science tools for biopharmaceutical R&D.'
China is of strategic importance to Merck
Merck's sales in emerging markets, which includes China, grew by 9% to around €3.8bn last year, contributing 36% to total group sales of €10.7bn in 2013.
In addition to investments in drug production, the company has also expanded its services for biopharmaceutical research and development customers in the country. Recent investments by the Merck Millipore life science tools business include the Biopharmaceutical Technical and Training Centre in Zhangjiang Hi-Tech Park, Shanghai. This centre provides support, training and validation services to biopharmaceuticals customers with operations in China.
In Beijing, where Merck Serono’s Chinese headquarters are located, Merck also runs a research centre focused on biomarker research, including pharmacogenomics and bioanalytics, which is part of Merck Serono’s stratified medicine approach.
In addition to these investments, Merck has an extensive network of collaborations with leading academic and medical institutions in China, as well as local companies. The latest collaboration agreement with a Chinese company, announced in November last year, is a second co-development and commercialisation agreement with BeiGene, which will further strengthen the companies’ collaboration in oncology.
