Merck, the vibrant science and technology company, has officially opened a state-of-the-art M Lab Collaboration Centre in Brazil, serving the Latin America region. The centre will provide Life Science customers with a shared, exploratory environment where they can closely collaborate with Merck scientists and engineers to solve their toughest challenges and accelerate development and production of new therapies.

At Merck's new M Lab Collaboration centre, customers will benefit from the company's deep technical expertise to develop processes for manufacturing drugs faster, safer and more effectively

"With a rapidly growing biopharmaceutical industry in Brazil and Latin America, and demand for novel and cost-effective therapies worldwide, there is a need for full end-to-end process development support," said Udit Batra, member of the Merck Executive Board and CEO, Life Science. "At our M Lab Collaboration centre, customers will benefit from Merck's deep technical expertise to develop processes for manufacturing drugs faster, safer and more effectively than in the past."

The 1,000-square meter lab facility includes non-GMP pilot and bench scale labs for customers to engage in process development support, troubleshooting, demonstrations and hands-on training. It is one of nine such centres around the world, each of which allows pharmaceutical manufacturers to explore new ways to increase productivity, improve processes and mitigate risks. Each year, more than 1,500 customers visit Merck's M Lab Collaboration centres, where they work alongside Merck's team of experts and get access to sizing and simulation tools and methodologies as well as analytical and modeling support. Formal bioprocessing courses are also available, including traditional classroom-style training and interactive, hands-on sessions. Other M Lab Collaboration centre locations include China, Singapore, Japan, South Korea, India, France and the United States.

Merck opened its first customer-facing laboratory in 1995 in Massachusetts, USA. The global network has steadily grown over the years, not only to meet the training and process development needs of customers in local regions, but also to allow and ensure successful technology transfer between countries for global customers. In 2015, Merck began reimagining these labs as the M Lab Collaboration centres with a focus on customers.