MilliporeSigma Builds on Leading Viral and Gene Therapy Service Offering with Capacity Expansion

- Larger Carlsbad, California facility will allow seamless scale-up customer support from clinical to commercial scales

- Campus expansion increases Good Manufacturing Practice capacity by nearly 90 percent

BILLERICA, Mass., May 4, 2016 /CNW/ -- MilliporeSigma today announced an expansion of its Carlsbad, California facility to meet growing demand for viral and gene therapy products.

Scheduled for completion in 2016, the Carlsbad campus will increase from 44,000 square feet to 65,000 square feet, with 16 modular viral bulk manufacturing cleanroom suites, two fill/finish suites and twice the warehouse capacity. The expansion will incorporate single-use equipment in a flexible, scalable format for clinical and commercial bulk drug production.

"We are building on our industry-leading offerings in the manufacturing and testing of innovative and complex products, underscoring our commitment to being a trusted, long-term partner of choice," said Udit Batra, Member, Executive Board, Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany and CEO, MilliporeSigma.

The company's new capacity at Carlsbad positions MilliporeSigma to seamlessly support customers from clinical to commercial scales, and is complemented by cell-banking services in Rockville, Maryland, viral and gene therapy manufacturing capacity in Glasgow, Scotland and global BioReliance^® biosafety testing offering.

The Carlsbad facility – MilliporeSigma's flagship site for SAFC's viral and gene therapies offering – will remain fully operational throughout the expansion.

The Carlsbad campus features segregated fill/finish capacity for gene therapy, viral vaccine and immunotherapy products. MilliporeSigma's teams have decades of combined experience in the viral, gene therapy and biosafety testing sectors.

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About the Life Science Business of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany

The life science business of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, which operates as MilliporeSigma in the U.S. and Canada, has 19,000 employees and 72 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 $130 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 six businesses – Biopharmaceuticals, Consumer Health, Allergopharma, Biosimilars, Life Science and Performance Materials – and generated sales of €12.85 billion in 2015. Around 50,000 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. Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany operates as EMD Serono, MilliporeSigma and EMD Performance Materials in the U.S. and Canada.

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SOURCE MilliporeSigma

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