• Part of company’s €440 million investment in Ireland, strengthens in-region-for-region supply resilience
• Company’s first climate-neutral manufacturing facility, powered by 100 percent renewable electricity
• New Blarney site in Cork, Ireland expands filter manufacturing capacities, creating more than 200 jobs by 2028

Darmstadt, Germany — MilliporeSigma, the U.S. and Canada Life Science business of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, a leading science and technology company, announces the opening today of a €150 million filtration manufacturing facility in Blarney Business Park, Cork, Ireland. The site is the company’s first manufacturing facility designed for climate-neutral operations, marking a key milestone in the company’s ambition to achieve climate neutrality by 2040.

The 3,000-square-meter cleanroom facility will support global demand for critical filtration products used in the manufacturing of vaccines and life-saving therapies, including monoclonal antibodies, and emerging modalities like cell and gene therapies. By localizing these capacities in Europe, the company hopes to reduce cross-border dependencies for their customers.

“Ireland is a leading hub for biopharmaceutical manufacturing and innovation for Europe and globally. By expanding manufacturing in Cork, we reinforce our in-region-for-region manufacturing and supply model, reducing cross-border risks and providing manufacturers with reliable access to critical filtration technologies they need to deliver life-changing therapies”, said Jean-Charles Wirth, CEO MilliporeSigma.

The facility is expected to begin production in the fourth quarter of 2025 and will manufacture filtration devices used in aseptic processing, tangential-flow filtration and virus filtration. These filtration technologies are key components of most bioprocessing templates and are vital to controlling bioburden, streamlining purification and removing viral contaminants. They assure vaccines and therapeutics meet expected purity standards and are safe for administration to patients.

The new site will run on 100% renewable electricity and an innovative heat recovery system, which is estimated to avoid up to 61 metric tons of CO₂ equivalents annually. It will also reuse up to 95% of high-purity reverse osmosis water from its filtration manufacturing process.

The Blarney Business Park facility is part of the company’s largest Life Science investment to date. Together with the nearby Carrigtwohill site, Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany has committed €440 million to expand membrane and filtration manufacturing in Ireland. These investments are part of the company’s €2 billion Life Science global expansion program, announced in 2020, to meet growing demand for life-saving therapies across Europe, China, and the United States.

About the Life Science business of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany

The Life Science business of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, which operates as MilliporeSigma in the U.S. and Canada, has more than 26,000 employees and more than 55 total manufacturing and testing sites worldwide, with a portfolio of more than 300,000 products focused on scientific discovery, biomanufacturing and testing services. Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, a leading science and technology company, operates across healthcare, life science and electronics.

Around 62,000 employees work to make a positive difference to millions of people’s lives every day by creating more joyful and sustainable ways to live. From providing products and services that accelerate drug development and manufacturing as well as discovering unique ways to treat the most challenging diseases to enabling the intelligence of devices – the company is everywhere. In 2024, Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, generated sales of € 21.2 billion in 65 countries.

The company holds the global rights to the name and trademark “Merck” internationally. The only exceptions are the United States and Canada, where the business sectors of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, operate as MilliporeSigma in life science, EMD Serono in healthcare and EMD Electronics in electronics. Since its founding in 1668, scientific exploration and responsible entrepreneurship have been key to the company’s technological and scientific advances. To this day, the founding family remains the majority owner of the publicly listed company. For more information about Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, visit www.emdgroup.com.