Merck Opens M Labtm Collaboration Center in São Paulo, Brazil

- New collaboration center to provide support from pre-clinical through full-scale production in a non-GMP environment

- Hands-on customer access to Merck's product portfolio, technical expertise

SÃO PAULO, Oct. 4, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Merck, the vibrant science and technology company, today officially opened a state-of-the-art M Labtm Collaboration Center in Brazil, serving the Latin America region. The center will provide Life Science customers with a shared, exploratory environment where they can closely collaborate with Merck scientists and engineers to solve their toughest challenges and accelerate development and production of new therapies.

"With a rapidly growing biopharmaceutical industry in Brazil and Latin America, and demand for novel and cost-effective therapies worldwide, there is a need for full end-to-end process development support," said Udit Batra, member of the Merck Executive Board and CEO, Life Science. "At our M Labtm Collaboration Center, customers will benefit from Merck's deep technical expertise to develop processes for manufacturing drugs faster, safer and more effectively than in the past."

The 1,000-square meter lab facility includes non-GMP pilot and bench scale labs for customers to engage in process development support, troubleshooting, demonstrations and hands-on training. It is one of nine such centers around the world, each of which allows pharmaceutical manufacturers to explore new ways to increase productivity, improve processes and mitigate risks. Each year, more than 1,500 customers visit Merck's M Labtm Collaboration Centers, where they work alongside Merck's team of experts and get access to sizing and simulation tools and methodologies as well as analytical and modeling support. Formal bioprocessing courses are also available, including traditional classroom-style training and interactive, hands-on sessions. Other M Labtm Collaboration Center locations include China, Singapore, Japan, South Korea, India, France and the United States.

Merck opened its ?rst customer-facing laboratory in 1995 in Massachusetts, USA. The global network has steadily grown over the years, not only to meet the training and process development needs of customers in local regions, but also to allow and ensure successful technology transfer between countries for global customers. In 2015, Merck began reimagining these labs as the M Labtm Collaboration Centers with a focus on customers.

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About Merck
Merck is a leading science and technology company in healthcare, life science and performance materials. Around 53,000 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 2017, Merck generated sales of ?15.3 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 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.

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