Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Merck Breaks Ground -- On Plant In Hangzhou, China


Last week, Merck announced the closing of 16 facilities around the world; eight of those were manufacturing sites. This week, the move to low cost regimes accelerates, as Merck breaks ground on a 750,000 square foot building-site in Hangzhou, China -- according to Peoples Daily Online (English version):

. . . .Drugmaker Merck Sharp & Dohme (MSD) started work on a new manufacturing site in Hangzhoh on Monday as part of its expansion plans in China.

The 70,000 sq meter [750,000 sq. ft.] manufacturing site in Hangzhou Economic and Technological Area has been set up with a total investment of 1.1 billion yuan [$162 million USD] and is one of the largest pharmaceutical packaging projects undertaken by Merck in recent times.

The unit is expected to start production by the first quarter of 2012 and will have an annual packaging capacity in excess of 300 million packs. By 2017, the annual output value of the facility may touch 10 billion yuan [$1.48 billion USD].

The unit will package solid dosage pharmaceuticals and sterile products for the China market and manufacture clinical/commercial supplies to support future new product introduction and launches. . . .

I imagine that this is very hard for the good people of Glasgow, Scotland to stomach.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

http://www.fiercepharmamanufacturing.com/story/merck-eli-lilly-cuts-hit-those-mid-late-career/2010-07-14

"John Challenger, CEO at outplacement consultancy Challenger, Gray & Christmas, says in a phone interview that layoffs are of greatest concern to those who are midway or late in their career--those in their late 40s, 50s and 60s."

But not Freddy and his minions!