Merck KGaA (Merck), a pharmaceutical company based in Germany, will build a new state-of-the-art advanced research centre at its headquarters in Darmstadt, Germany. The research centre named Life Science Advanced Research Center (LS ARC) will be utilised by Merck’s Life Sciences business sector to explore critical technologies for manufacturing antibodies, mRNA applications, essential products for biotechnological production and more. Merck will invest more than €300m ($321m) in the project.
The investment is part of a broader €1.5bn ($1.6bn) investment programme at the Darmstadt site by 2025.
The construction of the research centre officially began in April 2024, following the completion of the feasibility study in 2022. The facility is expected to begin operations in 2027 and can accommodate approximately 550 employees. Location of Merck’s new research centre The advanced research centre will be situated at the Merck Firmenzentrale on Frankfurter Street 250 in Darmstadt.
The new research building will be built facing the city centre within a central research and development (R&D) campus at Merck Group’s headquarters. The campus is located along an area called the Innovation Mile, whose southern end is marked by at Emanuel-Merck-Platz. The Darmstadt site is among Merck’s most critical centres for life science R&D, with an estimated one-fifth of the life science business sector’s sales from new products forecasted to originate from this location over the next de.
