News Release
October 4, 2018
Karen Tiano +1 978 495 0093
- New collaboration center to provide support from pre-clinical through full-scale production in a non-GMP environment
- Hands-on customer access to MilliporeSigma’s product portfolio, technical expertise
Burlington, Massachusetts, October 4, 2018 — MilliporeSigma today officially opened a state-of-the-art M Lab™ 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 company 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, CEO, MilliporeSigma. “At our M Lab™ Collaboration Center, customers will benefit from MilliporeSigma’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 MilliporeSigma’s M Lab™ Collaboration Centers, where they work alongside MilliporeSigma’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 Lab™ Collaboration Center locations include China, Singapore, Japan, South Korea, India, France and the United States.
MilliporeSigma opened its first customer-facing laboratory in 1995 in Massachusetts. 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, MilliporeSigma began reimagining these labs as the M Lab™ Collaboration Centers with a focus on customers.
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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.