- Hands-on customer access to MilliporeSigma's product portfolio and technical expertise

- Manufacturing simulations encompass end-to-end process development

BURLINGTON, Mass., March 20, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- MilliporeSigma today officially opened its new M Lab™ Collaboration Center in Molsheim, France. The center is MilliporeSigma's first in Europe and ninth worldwide, providing biopharmaceutical manufacturers with a shared, exploratory environment where they can closely collaborate with company scientists and engineers to solve their toughest challenges and accelerate development and production of new therapies.

"With the rapidly growing biopharma industry in Europe and demand for cost-effective therapies worldwide, customers will benefit from our expertise to develop processes for manufacturing drugs faster, safer and more effectively," said Udit Batra, CEO, MilliporeSigma, in Molsheim today. "Our investment will accelerate the future growth of EMEA's biopharmaceutical industry."

MilliporeSigma's newest M Lab™ Collaboration Center, which offers 43,000 square feet of space, represents a significant investment in the region. The $11 million center provides customers in Europe, the Middle East and Africa with a fully equipped, non-GMP pilot and bench scale lab and meeting center where they can work alongside company experts to solve their most pressing processing development challenges without impacting their production line.

The center in Molsheim is the latest in the company's network of enters around the world. Other M Lab™ Collaboration Centers are located in the United States, Brazil, China, South Korea, Singapore, Japan and India (where there are two labs).

MilliporeSigma's customers collaborate with the company's technical experts, exploring new ways to increase productivity, improve processes and mitigate risks. The pilot and bench scale labs are in a space that simulates a real production environment across their process. Customers operate real equipment, evaluate their processes and can also take hands-on bioprocessing training courses, educating them on best practices and new approaches to develop, optimize and scale-up processes as well as simplify global technology transfer.

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About the Life Science Business of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany
The Life Science business of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, which operates as MilliporeSigma in the U.S. and Canada, has 20,000 employees and 60 manufacturing sites worldwide, with a portfolio of more than 300,000 products enabling scientific discovery. Udit Batra is the global chief executive officer of MilliporeSigma.

Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany completed its $17 billion acquisition of Sigma-Aldrich in November 2015, creating a leader in the $125 billion global life science industry.

Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, a leading science and technology company, operates across healthcare, life science and performance materials. Around 52,000 employees work to make a positive difference to millions of people's lives every day by creating more joyful and sustainable ways to live. From advancing gene-editing technologies and discovering unique ways to treat the most challenging diseases to enabling the intelligence of devices – the company is everywhere. In 2018, Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany generated sales of €14.8 billion in 66 countries.

The company holds the global rights to the name and trademark "Merck" internationally. The only exceptions are the United States and Canada, where the business sectors of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany operate as EMD Serono in healthcare, MilliporeSigma in life science, and EMD Performance Materials. Since its founding 1668, scientific exploration and responsible entrepreneurship have been key to the company's technological and scientific advances. To this day, the founding family remains the majority owner of the publicly listed company. For more information about Merck, KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, visit www.emdgroup.com.