Merck & Co kicks off expansion of Durham vaccines facility
pharmafile | April 26, 2011 | News story | Manufacturing and Production |Â Â Merck & Co, manufacturing and production, vaccinesÂ
Merck & Co is expanding its vaccines facility in North Carolina, USA, bucking a recent trend at the manufacturer for closures and downsizing.
Merck says it plans to add a new 70,000 sq.ft. unit at its Treyburn Corporate Park plant in Durham that will be dedicated to manufacturing live virus vaccines. There is also some good news on staffing levels; Merck plans to increase the headcount at the site from around 450 people to 600 this year, according to local news reports.
The Durham facility started operations in 2006 and makes a number of Merck products including its chickenpox shot Varivax, Zostavax for shingles and measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccines.
John Wagner, the plant manager at the Durham unit, said: “The expansion that was started this year will bring the size of a bulk live virus production facility at the plant to about 270,000 sq.ft.”
Merck will also use the facility to supplement production of live virus vaccines that is undertaken at its larger production plant at West Point, Philadelphia.
The West Point unit has been struggling with a few regulatory compliance issues that have resulted in ongoing shortages of vaccines such as its adult hepatitis B shot Recombivax HB and MMR plus varicella vaccine ProQuad, according to the latest information from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Those ongoing issues are due to be resolved later in 2011 but, given the investment programme in North Carolina and the construction of a new plant in Ireland, there has been speculation that management at Merck may be shifting priorities and focus away from West Point.
The company maintains that the overall objective is to increase capacity and reduce redundancy across its manufacturing network, and that it is also investing in upgrading equipment at the West Point site.
All told, Merck has invested around $900 million at Treyburn Corporate Park to date and, when completed, the site will cover some 650,000 sq.ft. and house additional laboratory space as well as two fill-and-finish units and offices.
An additional 115,000 sq.ft. expansion kicked off in 2007 with the aim of adding sterile processing units, freeze-drying capabilities and packaging lines. Both this and the latest expansion are due to complete in 2012.
Phil Taylor
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