Within the biopharmaceuticals division, the Bari site is part of fill & finish operations alongside Merck’s two other facilities in Switzerland. The new production facility in Bari is to be commissioned in 2017 for the sterile filling and packaging of liquid drugs into syringes, vials and ampoules.
Merck said that its fill-finish site in Bari and sites in Darmstadt and Aubonne, Switzerland are seeing a rising growth, especially for fertility treatments. Around two million babies of the five million born with the help of infertility drugs worldwide were conceived with the aid of Merck products, the company claims.
Merck’s multiple sclerosis drug Rebif and its oncology drug Erbitux also saw growth in the first quarter of this year.
“To make Merck KGaA fit for the future, we are also investing in modern, expanded production capacities in order to meet the rising demand for our drugs,” said Karl-Ludwig Kley, Chairman of the Executive Board of Merck. “This is part of our growth plans for Merck KGaA and for the biopharmaceuticals division in particular here in Bari, where we have excellent conditions thanks to highly skilled employees and a very good infrastructure.”
The announcement of the investment in the facility was made by Kley, alongside Italian Prime Minister, Matteo Renzi.
Biopharmaceuticals account for about half of the sales of Merck’s biotech products, the company said.