Science and technology firm Merck has opened a new pharma packaging center at its headquarters in Darmstadt, Germany.
Image: Merck has opened new pharma packaging center in Darmstadt. Photo: courtesy of JOSHUA COLEMAN / Unsplash.
Merck will use the new 15,000m² facility for the packaging and shipping of its current portfolio of pharma medicines in more than 90 countries.
The company invested €63m between 2015 and 2018 for the development of new pharma packaging center.
The investment is part of the firm’s €1bn investment program, which is framed to use up to 2020 for transforming the Darmstadt site into contemporary global headquarters.
Merck CEO and executive board chairman Stefan Oschmann said: “Darmstadt is our prime hub for the manufacturing of medicines and it plays a key role in our plans for future growth.
“This latest investment in a new state-of-the-art packaging center reflects our commitment to our headquarters and is a compelling example of how we use the latest technological advances to always better serve our patients.”
The new packaging center has been developed to meet increasing patient requirements for medicines Glucophage, Concor and Euthyrox, which are used to treat diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, and thyroid disorders.
Darmstadt facility will also be used for future pharma products such as evobrutinib for neurology-immunology indications and tepotinib for oncology indications. These products are currently under clinical development.
The new packaging center is provided with eight fully automated packaging lines and robotized logistics, and holds capacity to process more than 210 million boxes of medicines per year.
Merck has integrated a range of new technologies at the facility for tracking and tracing of medicines to prevent counterfeit, as well as for smart packaging to ensure flexibility for adapting the production of medicines to patient demand
The new packaging center is designed to comply with the international standards in terms of quality, environment, health, and safety, said the company.
Oschmann further added: “That Merck is continuing to invest in the place where the company was born 350 years ago and creating new jobs in the process is a good sign for the region.
“With this investment, Merck is contributing substantially to the great density of innovative and high-performing companies in Hessen.”