Merck 2014 Annual Report Download - page 81

76 GROUP MANAGEMENT REPORT → FUNDAMENTAL INFORMATION ABOUT THE GROUP → Research and development at the group
In the second quarter of 2014, the Life Science division launched
a €12 million investment in its Molsheim, France facility. This
investment will expand the Life Science division's ready-to-use
(RTU) media manufacturing capabilities, better provide security of
supplies for customers in the region, and sustain the heipha Hycon
product lines. The increased manufacturing capacity will serve
global market demand, and will ensure sufficient capacity to
support the market growth.
The Bioscience business area launched Simplicon™ RNA
Reprogramming Technology, which uses synthetic self-replicating
RNA to create large numbers of human induced pluripotent stem
cells (iPSCs) using a single transfection step. This efficient repro-
gramming of somatic cells offers a more defined and safer system
for iPSC generation.
The Process Solutions business area expanded Provantage®
upstream bioproduction services to the North American market.
The expansion provides North American customers with media
and feed screening, small-scale material production, and optimi-
zation of conditions for scale-up and technology transfer. Process
Solutions also announced a new Formulation Lab in India, its first
outside of Europe. The Lab is strategically located at Nerul, Navi
Mumbai, with easy accessibility from the major pharmaceutical
manufacturing centers at Ahmedabad, Goa and Hyderabad. The
facilities at the lab are built to provide services and application
assistance to the pharmaceutical industry for classical pharma-
ceutical clients working on solid-dose formulations.
2014 also marked the 40th anniversary of the Steritest™ system,
the
first closed filtration device for sterility testing. Since intro
ducing
the Steritest™ system in 1974, the Life Science division has
improved standards in sterility testing, reducing the risk of false
positive
and false negative results, increasing reliability and
streamlining
workflows for microbiologists around the world. As
part of the
celebration of 40 years of sterility testing, the Life
Science division will be launching three new pumps in 2014.
In August2014, the Life Science division and Samsung Bio-
Logics signed a Memorandum of Understanding for a strategic
alliance in the biopharmaceutical business. The proposed alliance
is intended
to encompass a long-term supply agreement in which
the Life Science division will provide raw materials for biopharma-
ceutical manufacturing.
In the third quarter of 2014, the Life Science division also
announced the
opening of a new Biomanufacturing Sciences
Training Center
(BSTC) facility in Tokyo, Japan. The state-of-
the-art facility is designed
to help biopharmaceutical companies
develop manu
facturing processes and find solutions to processing
challenges in collaboration with engineers from the Life Science
division. The goal for this facility, now the ninth of its kind for
the Life Science division, is to enhance the custo
mer experience
by delivering innovation, quality
products, and comprehensive
technological support– all major
components of our product and
service portfolio offering.
In December, the Life Science division launched its first round
of new large lab water purification systems (AFS) expanding the
ability to feed high throughput analyzers.