MilliporeSigma, Merck KGaA’s life science arm, plans to spend $25 million as part of an expansion project at its dry powder cell culture media facility in the Kansas City suburb of Lenexa, Kansas.
The project will add 98,000 square feet of new manufacturing and lab space at the plant and is expected to generate 60 new jobs, the company said in a July 12 press release.
When completed, the Lenexa site will be MilliporeSigma’s largest dry powder cell culture media facility in North America.
Cell culture media is utilized in the production of novel therapies, vaccine manufacturing, gene therapy and monoclonal antibody manufacturing.
“The new production line represents the company's vision for our Lenexa site, as it was initially constructed for three manufacturing lines for dry powder cell culture media,” Darren Verlenden, MilliporeSigma’s head of process solutions, said in the release. “The new production line is the culmination of multiple years of planning, and now we are able to offer greater flexibility and faster cell culture media manufacturing.”
In addition to the Lenexa facility, MilliporeSigma operates two other global sites located in Nantong, China, and Irvine, Scotland, for the production of dry powder cell culture media.
In October, Merck KGaA announced plans to make “larger-scale” investments including acquisitions this year. The push includes expansion plans for MilliporeSigma, which opened a $49.4 million drug substance facility in Martillac, France, around the same time Merck KGaA announced its five-year plan to increase sales from 19.7 billion euros in 2021 to 25 billion euros by 2025. The bulk of the new investments are to be focused on MilliporeSigma’s single-use capabilities, the company said.