Merck has opened its first Microbiology Application and Training (MAT) Laboratory in Bangalore, India, with a €200,000 investment.
The new site will offer facilities and technical expertise to support the India life science community on microbial quality control capability development. Testing services offered in the laboratory include sterility testing, rapid bioburden testing, pyrogen testing, advance membrane filtration and other pharma QC microbiology applications.
Veena Panicker, head of BioMonitoring, Merck Life Science in India, said, “According to IBEF, the Indian biotechnology industry was valued at US$ 70.2 billion in 2020 and is expected to reach US$ 150 billion by 2025. Merck’s MAT laboratory will be a space for pharma and biopharma companies to collaborate and enhance their capability in microbiology analysis.”
“India is the world's largest supplier of generic medications, accounting for 20% of the worldwide supply by volume and supplying about 60% of the global vaccination demand,” said Sreenath NS, country speaker, Merck India and managing director, Merck Life Science. “The newly launched MAT laboratory is a space that enables pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical manufacturers to work side-by-side with our global microbiology and application experts to solve critical process developments and production challenges.”
The laboratory offers customisable solutions and services that help pharmaceutical and biopharma companies as well as regulatory to improve their processes from drug discovery, development to manufacturing.