Lenexa, Kansas, USA facility becomes company’s largest dry powder cell culture media facility and Center of Excellence in North America

Merck has announced the expansion of its facility in Lenexa, Kansas, USA adding 9,100 sq m2 of lab space and production capability to manufacture cell culture media.

“The Lenexa expansion reflects our commitment to meeting the dynamic needs of our customers worldwide and delivering on our growth plans,” said Darren Verlenden, Head of Process Solutions Life Science business sector, Merck. “This expansion makes Lenexa the company’s largest dry powder cell culture media facility and Center of Excellence in North America. Investing in the region reflects our strategy to expand and diversify our supply chain to ensure we meet current and future demand for cell culture media.”

Cell culture media is an essential raw material used in the manufacture of life-saving therapies and in processes as varied as vaccine manufacturing, gene therapy, and monoclonal antibody manufacturing. Because of its central role in biomanufacturing, a consistent supply of high-quality media is required to deliver the necessary concentration and protein quality for therapeutics.

“Governor Kelly’s administration knows that supporting private sector efforts to strengthen supply chains benefits Kansas workers,” said David Toland, Lieutenant Governor and Secretary of Commerce, Kansas, USA. “These new opportunities offered by the Life Science business of Merck will allow even more families throughout the region to prosper.” 

The company’s strategic investments to expand capacity with the new dry powder media manufacturing lines in existing production facilities in the Lenexa, Kansas, and Nantong, China, sites will increase both local and global production capacity to meet current demand and ensure a robust supply for future demand surges.

The company has a total of three Centers of Excellence for dry powder cell culture media manufacturing: in addition to the site in Lenexa, Kansas, serving the Americas region, and Nantong, China, for the Asia Pacific region, the third site is located in Irvine, Scotland, serving Europe, the Middle East and Africa region.

About Merck

Merck, a leading science and technology company, operates across life science, healthcare and electronics. More than 64,000 employees work to make a positive difference to millions of people’s lives every day by creating more joyful and sustainable ways to live. From providing products and services that accelerate drug development and manufacturing as well as discovering unique ways to treat the most challenging diseases to enabling the intelligence of devices – the company is everywhere. In 2022, Merck generated sales of € 22.2 billion in 66 countries.

Scientific exploration and responsible entrepreneurship have been key to Merck’s technological and scientific advances. This is how Merck has thrived since its founding in 1668. The founding family remains the majority owner of the publicly listed company. Merck holds the global rights to the Merck name and brand. The only exceptions are the United States and Canada, where the business sectors of Merck operate as MilliporeSigma in life science, EMD Serono in healthcare, and EMD Electronics in electronics.

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