MilliporeSigma, the U.S. and Canada life science business of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt Germany, expanded its facility in Lenexa, KS, adding 98,000 ft2 lab space and production capability to manufacture cell culture media.
Cell culture media is an essential raw material used in the manufacture of therapies and in processes as varied as vaccine manufacturing, gene therapy, and monoclonal antibody manufacturing. Because of its central role in biomanufacturing, a consistent supply of high-quality media is required to deliver the necessary concentration and protein quality for therapeutics. The cell culture media market reached a valuation of $25.4 billion in 2022 and is valued at $29.0 billion in 2023.The market is expected to surpass a valuation of around $88.6 billon by 2022.
“This expansion makes Lenexa the company’s largest dry powder cell culture media facility and Center of Excellence in North America,” said Darren Verlenden, head of process solutions, life science. “Investing in the region reflects our strategy to expand and diversify our supply chain to ensure we meet current and future demand for cell culture media.”
The company’s strategic investments to expand capacity with the new dry powder media manufacturing lines in existing production facilities in the Lenexa and Nantong, China, sites will increase both local and global production capacity to meet current demand and ensure supply for future demand surges, ensuring for future supply robustness, added Verlenden.
“As our customers’ needs and technologies evolve, so must we. The new production line represents the company’s vision for our Lenexa site, as it was initially constructed for three manufacturing lines for dry powder cell culture media,” he continued. “The new production line is the culmination of multiple years of planning, and now we are able to offer greater flexibility and faster cell culture media manufacturing for our customers.”
The company has a total of three Centers of Excellence for dry powder cell culture media manufacturing: in addition to the site in Lenexa serving the Americas region, and Nantong for the Asia Pacific region, the third site is located in Irvine, Scotland, serving Europe, the Middle East and Africa region.
