Singapore will soon host a new MSD (Merck & Co., in the U.S. and Canada) secondary packaging facility to support the production of vaccines and biologics. The new manufacturing facilities will produce new generation inhaler medicines with an investment upto $500 million over five years, starting from 2020. 

The new secondary packaging facility and inhaler production facility is located within MSD’s existing 72-acre, multi-product manufacturing hub in Tuas, Singapore. By 2026, the new inhaler medicine facility will produce next-generation inhaler devices for targeted medicine delivery, including cancer immunotherapy products.

Singapore’s Minister for Trade & Industry, Gan Kim Yong, and Robert Davis, CEO and President of MSD officiated the announcemnt made on October 5. The investment is estimated to create over 100 new jobs over the next few years to support the new facility. 

Secondary packaging, cold storage and a quality control laboratory will be a part of the expanded facility. The secondary packaging facility features a semi-automated, vial-packaging line to produce KEYTRUDA® (pembrolizumab), an immunotherapy to treat certain cancers, and three fully automated syringe-packaging lines to produce the company’s GARDASIL®9 (Human Papillomavirus 9-valent Vaccine, Recombinant), an HPV vaccine. 

“MSD is committed to producing innovative medicines to treat chronic diseases and cancer as well as vaccines that prevent infectious diseases for patients living in Singapore and throughout the Asia Pacific region and beyond,” said Fernando Otero, associate vice president, MSD Manufacturing Division, Singapore. 

Goh Wan Yee, Senior Vice President & Head (Healthcare), Singapore Economic Development Board, said: “Singapore’s deep capabilities in advanced manufacturing and digital, MSD’s latest expansion will enable it to produce more innovative medicines and vaccines to meet the region’s needs".

Investment will furthur strengthen MSD's environmental sustainability goals, while furthur digitizing the facilities. MSD has already invested $2 billion in manufacturing operations in Singapore.