The Merck site in Molsheim.

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Merck

  • Based in Molsheim, in the Bas-Rhin, the German pharmaceutical group Merck has announced an investment of 25 million euros.

  • Ultimately, 350 jobs should be created, including 80 this year.

  • The new investment will make it possible to create a new activity: a production unit for “single-use assemblies”.

    Clearly, waterproof bags that are used during the vaccine manufacturing process.

This is good news for employment in Alsace.

The pharmaceutical group Merck announced “an investment planned from 2021 of 25 million euros to develop the production capacities of the Molsheim site dedicated to life sciences.

He promises to create 350 jobs, including 80 this year, on this site which currently has more than 1,700.

The German company notably develops products intended for other players in the pharmaceutical industry and scientific research, although it also develops its own treatments.

The Alsatian site, the third largest at Merck, for example purifies water to a very high degree so that it is then used by laboratories.

The new investment will create a new activity there: a production unit for “single-use assemblies”.

This term refers to waterproof bags that are used during the manufacturing process of vaccines, such as those currently being developed against Covid-19.

Asked about the identity of its customers, Merck declined to answer.

"Reindustrialisation of France"

The French government and the European Union welcomed Merck's investment, given the context of the fight against the pandemic.

This "contributes to the reindustrialisation of France in the field of health industries," said Agnès Pannier-Runacher.

The Minister for Industry had warned in early March that the production of anti-Covid-19 vaccines was facing a lack of equipment, for example vials.

Merck's investment allows us to “strengthen our autonomy (in) vaccine production,” she insisted.

The Minister promised that the State would provide Merck with “financial support that we are in the process of finalizing” within this framework.

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  • Employment

  • Covid 19

  • Pharmaceutical industry