ITRI and Merck ink MOU for collaboration

　Taiwan’s ITRI (Industrial Technology Research Institute) and the American chemical company, Merck signed an MOU on March 26, 2018, announcing the establishment of the “Taiwan-Merck Biopharma R&D and Training Collaboration Program” in the ITRI’s Guangfu Innovation Campus in Hsinchu, Taiwan in May.  This program aims to cultivate high-end biopharma professional talents in Taiwan by combining ITRI’s biomedical R&D strength and Merck’s key technologies and advanced manufacturing processes, so as to expand Taiwan’s global biopharmaceutical market to keep pace with the international market and further to create synergy value in Taiwan’s biopharmaceutical industry.  

　ITRI-Merck collaboration can be divided into two stages and the “Taiwan-Merck Biopharma R&D and Training Collaboration Program” represents the initial one.  The planned partnership is expected to introduce the international cutting edge purification technology and high-efficiency mass production process, incorporate the standards of validation and verification methods required by the European and American regulations, and combine basic, theoretical, and non-GMP practice training, so as to reinforce the key production technology of Taiwan’s biopharmaceutical industry.  Besides, the manufacturing and know-how of Merck’s antibody-drug conjugates (ADC) will be introduced to boost Taiwan’s precision medicine and new drug development competence and further to gain a portion of the global pharmaceutical market.  

　Merck, the leading company in the fields of healthcare, life science, and performance materials, now joins hands with ITRI to ensure that customers have access to the essential technology required for developing pharmaceuticals that accelerate human health.  (March 2018)

/CCS