News Release
June 5, 2018
Karen Tiano +1 978 495 0093
MilliporeSigma Brings Biotechs Closer to Drug Therapy Production and Commercialization
- Opens North America’s first BioReliance® End-to-End Biodevelopment Center to help customers with biopharmaceutical manufacturing processes
- Accelerates clinical development from DNA to market
- “Advance Biotech Grant Program” expands global biotech commitment to help awardees accelerate process set-up with MilliporeSigma services, expertise
Burlington, Massachusetts, June 5, 2018 — MilliporeSigma today officially opened North America’s first BioReliance® End-to-End Biodevelopment Center providing cell line development services, upstream and downstream process development and non-GMP clinical production for drug manufacturers.
“MilliporeSigma is helping drug manufacturers, from small to large innovator companies, bring life-enhancing medicines and therapies to market — and to patients — faster,” said Udit Batra, CEO, MilliporeSigma. “Customers who partner with us benefit from MilliporeSigma’s full suite of capabilities, which includes access to the latest technologies and expertise of our global footprint.”
MilliporeSigma’s new center provides hands-on experience and expert consultation at each stage of the biopharmaceutical development process and in manufacturing.
Biomanufacturing is a growing industry that is increasingly focused on optimized production and high quality. However, the drug development process is long and complex, and requires biotech companies to make significant financial investments. MilliporeSigma’s Burlington end-to-end center is one of three worldwide supporting its biotech partners in developing their processes from early clinical stage to commercialization. Other centers are in Martillac, France, and Shanghai, China.
MilliporeSigma has 31 years of process development experience and a track record of delivering robust clinical production processes and clinical material in nine to 12 months. The company has the industry’s most comprehensive portfolio of products, services and testing for biopharmaceutical manufacturing, and its global end-to-end team has executed approximately 240 large molecule projects ranging in scale from three to 2,000 liters.
Advance Biotech Grant Program – Accelerating Therapeutic Development in Life Science
MilliporeSigma is expanding its commitment to the global biotech community with its Advance Biotech Grant Program. Through the newly expanded grant program, every six months, three recipients around the globe will be awarded a total of €200,000 in free services and products to address their process development challenges. In total, six companies will benefit from MilliporeSigma’s Advance Biotech Grant Program each year.
“Biotech start-ups want to get their therapies to market fast and need expertise and funding to make that happen,” Batra said. “Having a partner like MilliporeSigma with a range of differentiated technologies, services and expertise can help our customers solve their unique challenges. These expanded grants further demonstrate MilliporeSigma’s commitment to partnering to solve the toughest problems in life science.”
MilliporeSigma has been awarding grants to emerging biotechs globally since 2015. In the first year, the program focused on advancing molecules being developed in China. Five grants were awarded to companies with promising therapies such as antibody drug conjugates for cancer and monoclonal antibodies for the treatment of fibrotic disease. More recently, the 2017 grant was awarded to four promising biotechs in China.
Winners are selected based on the scientific and societal merit of the therapy in development and process challenges and expertise gaps that may impact ongoing development.
For decades, MilliporeSigma has collaborated with its customers to shape how drug production is done today, and will continue working together to shape the possibilities of tomorrow.
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The Life Science business of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, which operates as MilliporeSigma in the U.S. and Canada, has 20,000 employees and 60 manufacturing sites worldwide, with a portfolio of more than 300,000 products enabling scientific discovery. Udit Batra is the global chief executive officer of MilliporeSigma.
Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany completed its $17 billion acquisition of Sigma-Aldrich in November 2015, creating a leader in the $125 billion global life science industry.
Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany is a leading company for innovative and top-quality high-tech products in healthcare, life science and performance materials. The company has five businesses – Biopharmaceuticals, Consumer Health, Allergopharma, Life Science and Performance Materials – and generated sales of €15.3 billion in 2017. Almost 53,000 employees work in 66 countries to improve the quality of life for patients, to foster the success of customers and to help meet global challenges.
Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany is the world’s oldest pharmaceutical and chemical company – since 1668, the company has stood for innovation, business success and responsible entrepreneurship. Holding an approximately 70 percent interest, the founding family remains the majority owner of the company to this day. The company holds the global rights to the name and the trademark “Merck” internationally except for the United States and Canada, where the company operates as EMD Serono, MilliporeSigma and EMD Performance Materials.