Merck invests 250 million euros in Swiss biotech facility

German life sciences and pharm company Merck KGaA (MRK: DE) says it is investing 250 million euros ($276 million) in a new facility in Corsier-sur-Vevey, Switzerland – the Merck Biotech Development Center – dedicated to biotech development and manufacturing for clinical studies.

Driven by the growth of the Healthcare business sector R&D pipeline, this investment will help to sustainably secure capacity and high agility to deliver clinical trial material in a cost-effective way, contribute to accelerated development timelines of new biological entities, and address the increasing manufacturing complexity of the next generations of biotech compounds.

“This investment in the Merck Biotech Development Center reflects our commitment to speed up the availability of new medicines for patients in need, and confirms the importance of Switzerland as our prime hub for the manufacturing of biotech medicines,” said Stefan Oschmann, chairman of the executive board and chief executive of Merck, at the ground-breaking ceremony for the new facility held today.