Merck Joins TRANSVAC2 Program to Advance Vaccine Development and Manufacturing

• TRANSVAC2, part of the EU’s Horizon 2020 program, provides trainings to streamline vaccine manufacturing and development
• Merck to offer its M LabTM Collaboration Center in Molsheim, France for process development skills training

Darmstadt, Germany, May 20, 2019 — Merck today announced its participation in a collaboration with the Vaccine Formulation Institute and the European Vaccine Initiative. The effort will provide vaccine process development training courses within TRANSVAC2, a collaborative infrastructure project under Horizon 2020.

“Involvement in this project is a natural extension to our longtime focus on accelerating vaccine development and manufacturing,” Udit Batra, member of the Merck Executive Board and CEO, Life Science. “Through the TRANSVAC2 initiative, we are able to lend our expertise in vaccine research and development in this critically important field.”

Funded by the European Commission (EC), TRANSVAC2 exists in part to accelerate vaccine development by enhancing European vaccine research and training and increase sustainability of EC vaccine projects by implementing a permanent research infrastructure for early vaccine development. Merck is among a list of collaborators joining the TRANSVAC2 program.

As part of the program, Merck will hold a two-day training module in 2019 and in 2021 and will host applicants, selected by the TRANSVAC2 Course Selection Panel, at Merck’s recently inaugurated M Lab™ Collaboration Center in Molsheim, France. Participants will experience simulated lab processes, which will help them acquire fundamental skills needed for process development and will acquaint them with a single-use environment.

Merck’s focus, to find effective ways to accelerate vaccine development and manufacturing, includes collaborative work with leading research institutes and industries to introduce new technologies that advance the global vaccine industry. For this initiative, Merck is tapping its internal manufacturing expertise and process knowledge in viral vaccines and vectors.

Follow Merck on Twitter @Merckgroup, on Facebook @merckgroup and on LinkedIn.