German life sciences firm Merck has opened a new biopharmaceuticals production and development support center in the Songdo district of Incheon, Korea.
The M Lab Collaboration Center offers biopharmaceutical manufacturers with a shared, exploratory environment, allowing them work with Merck scientists and engineers to address various challenges and speed up development as well as production of new therapies.
The center, which replaces a smaller plant in Seoul, will feature a simulated manufacturing environment and provide end-to-end process development support.
It will offer local clients such as Samsung BioLogics with technical support and training.
Merck executive board member and CEO of Life Science Udit Batra said: "With a rapidly growing biopharmaceutical industry in Korea and demand for novel and cost-effective therapies worldwide, there is a clear need for innovative concepts like our M Lab Collaboration Centers.
"At our new center in Incheon, our customers will benefit from our deep technical expertise to develop processes for manufacturing drugs faster, safer and more effectively than ever before."
Including Korea, Merck has a total of nine M-Lab centers in Brazil, France, India, Singapore, Japan, China, Taiwan and the US.
Each center enables pharmaceutical manufacturers to identify new ways for increasing productivity, enhancing processes and mitigating risks through access to a team of experts.
It will also give customers access to sizing and simulation tools and methodologies as well as analytical and modeling support.