? Five year project will create more cost effective purification program

? Company to provide chromatographic expertise

Darmstadt, Germany, September 14, 2016 – Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, a

leading science and technology company, has joined the DiViNe project, a European

consortium of six companies to address the biggest challenges facing the development,

manufacture and delivery of vaccines.

The objective of the DiViNe project is to create an integrated, cost-effective purification

program specifically tailored for vaccines that achieves higher yields while preserving

product integrity. Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany’s specific focus will be on

simplifying the process of vaccine purification that typically relies on affinity

chromatography, a method of capturing antibodies. In support of this goal, the

company will be providing chromatographic materials and coupling technologies.

“Purification steps represent