Merck, the German multinational company, is aiming to expand its presence in Korea’s life sciences and health care market. While Merck has three main business areas - performance materials, life sciences and health care - the Korean unit earns over half of its revenue from selling performance materials.

As part of the investment, Merck plans to break ground on a new manufacturing and distribution centre dedicated to life sciences business, tentatively called the Lifescience centre, in the second half of this year.

The centre will be in Songdo, Incheon, where Merck’s Korean clients like Celltrion and Samsung BioLogics are based. The company hopes to expand its overall life science business through the new centre.

According to Merck, the Songdo centre will give Korean clients quick and easy access to laboratory supplies that are necessary for developing new therapies and biosimilar products.