Merck invests over €50 million in flagship pharmaceutical packaging building in Darmstadt

Focus on Merck’s brands Glucophage, Concor and Euthyrox to meet increasing patient needs in the areas of diabetes, cardiovascular diseases and thyroid disorders.

“Sustained growth of healthcare needs in the areas of diabetes, cardiovascular diseases and thyroid disorders continues to meet increased patient demand,” said Belén Garijo, Member of the Executive Board of Merck and CEO Healthcare. “We are committed to helping to ensure that our medicines are always available to patients who need them. Therefore, we are investing in our manufacturing and supply network across the world to continuously adapt our footprint and capacity while leveraging new technologies to always better serve patients.”

“Darmstadt is our largest site and centre of excellence for oral and solid dosage forms and this new packaging building will be the place to implement state-of-the-art smart packaging technology,” added Thierry Hulot, Head of Global Manufacturing & Supply at the biopharma business of Merck.

With its state-of-the art, flexible and modern technology, this new centre of excellence will enable the packaging of more than 400 million blisters or 150 million packs annually. It will use energy-saving technologies, and forms part of Merck’s strategy to sustain its leading position in healthcare manufacturing. It is aligned with other investments across Merck’s manufacturing network worldwide and aims to further strengthen the company’s manufacturing footprint and upgrade its services for patients. Construction of the 15,000 m2 packaging building is planned to be completed by the end of 2017 and expected to be operational as of mid-2018. The centre will be designed to comply with the highest international GMP quality standards.

In Darmstadt, Merck is committed to invest around €1 billion until 2020 and this investment is part of this initiative.