Merck, a leading science and technology company, announced the opening of its first BioReliance End-to-End Biodevelopment Center in the Asia Pacific (APAC) region. Located in Shanghai, China, the center will provide a full range of process development capabilities and services, including cell line development, upstream and downstream process development and non-GMP clinical production.

The Shanghai center is designed to meet the specific needs of customers in the APAC region. Staffed by local process scientists and engineers, the center will provide an integrated suite of services for biopharmaceutical companies in China and across APAC to accelerate clinical drug development from molecule to commercial production. Customers will get full support, not only with process development or production, but also with regulatory, quality and training.

Merck's end-to-end global team has a track record of executing nearly 240 large molecule projects, ranging in scale from three- to 2,000-liters. Early-stage companies with limited resources and infrastructure can benefit from Merck's expertise and experience in process development and GMP clinical manufacturing to advance their early clinical development programs. Additionally, Merck's end-to-end approach can facilitate and accelerate scaling, process and analytical method validation and technical transfer of an entire process to a customer-designated location.

This new investment in China marks another milestone for Merck in one of Asia's most dynamic biotech markets. In November 2016, Merck announced a €250 million production value chain investment in Nantong, dedicated to both the production of pharmaceuticals on China's Essential Drug List and the manufacture of a range of innovative products and services for the pharma, biopharma and life sciences industries.