News Release
August 7, 2012
Merck Millipore Announces Exclusive Agreement with Julphar Diabetes to Offer Non-animal Origin, Recombinant Human Insulin as Cell Culture Media Supplement
August 7, 2012, Darmstadt, Germany — Merck Millipore, the Life Science division of Merck, today announced an exclusive agreement to sell recombinant human insulin manufactured by the United Arab Emirates-based pharmaceutical production company Julphar Diabetes. The insulin is of non-animal origin and will be marketed under Merck Millipore’s CellPrime™ brand name, complementing the company’s range of non-animal origin supplements for cell culture biomanufacturing.
CellPrime™ Insulin stimulates the proliferation of cells and aids in carbohydrate metabolism, helping to ensure the long-term viability of various cell lines. It also effectively enhances cell growth rate and therapeutic protein production, while preventing morphological abnormalities of the cells.
“CellPrime™ Insulin will help the biopharmaceutical industry enhance cell culture performance without sacrificing safety,” said Burghard Freiberg, Senior Vice President Pharm Chemicals Solutions. “Owing to its non-animal origin, its consistent manufacturing process and the traceability of its raw materials it enables manufacturers of monoclonal antibodies and recombinant biologics to use an insulin supplement that is both safe and effective.”
Joe Saldanha, GM of Julphar Diabetes said, “This agreement marks a significant achievement for Julphar Diabetes and demonstrates the global impact that the state of the art manufacturing facility is set to make on the diabetes drug industry worldwide. We are proud to be associated with such a strong partner in the Life Science sector.’’
Julphar Diabetes is the division of Julphar that manages the manufacturing and commercialization of diabetes products. The Julphar Diabetes facility (Julphar XI) is built in accordance with the latest EMEA regulations, utilizing the best available technologies in the market to comply with the latest international quality standards.
Merck Millipore partnered with Julphar Diabetes as its source for recombinant human insulin as the company has extensive experience in the production of pharmaceutical grade materials, currently manufacturing more than 800 drugs with distribution in 40 countries. The Julphar manufacturing process complies with current pharmacopeial standards and is animal-origin-free which helps ensure batch-to-batch consistency.
For more information, please visit www.merckmillipore.com/insulin.
About Merck Millipore
Merck Millipore is the Life Science division of Merck KGaA of Germany and offers a broad range of innovative, performance products, services and business relationships that enable our customers’ success in research, development and production of biotech and pharmaceutical drug therapies. Through dedicated collaboration on new scientific and engineering insights, and as one of the top three R&D investors in the Life Science Tools industry, Merck Millipore serves as a strategic partner to customers and helps advance the promise of life science.
Headquartered in Billerica, Massachusetts, the division has around 10,000 employees, operations in 67 countries and 2011 revenues of EUR 2.4 billion. Merck Millipore operates as EMD Millipore in the U.S. and Canada.
Note: Merck KGaA or Merck shall mean Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany
About Julphar
Julphar is a public shareholding company based in Ras Al Khaimah (UAE). It was established in 1980 under the guidance of H H Sheikh Saqr Bin Mohammed Al Qasimi, the Ruler of Ras Al Khaimah, and is currently a leader in the production and distribution of pharmaceutical products.
Since inception, Julphar remains committed to meeting the needs of an evolving society and playing an instrumental role in global healthcare development. Its approach to a fast paced market is to focus on strategic initiatives, quality product development and ensuring responsible practices.
Julphar’s goal is to create innovative and high-quality products, whilst maintaining a competitive cost. This is achieved through ten world-class plants based in the UAE, and a reliable transportation network which covers five continents.
Julphar contains a diverse portfolio of products which targets a large range of major therapeutic segments, including cardiovascular, diabetes, gynecology and other consumer products.
Julphar is well positioned to meet tomorrow’s healthcare challenges.