MSD announces two new manufacturing plants as part of US$500m investment over five years

AMERICAN drugmaker MSD on Wednesday (Oct 5) announced the opening of two manufacturing facilities to produce vaccines and biologics in Singapore.

The new factories are part of the US$500 million investment the company, also known as Merck in North America, has committed over five years since 2020.

It comes on top of the US$2 billion MSD has invested since it began its manufacturing operations in the Republic in 1997.

The new facilities are located within MSD’s existing 29 hectare manufacturing hub in Tuas.

The first is a newly commissioned secondary packaging facility that will increase production of immunotherapy for cancer patients in Singapore and the Asia-Pacific region, according to an MSD statement.

It will house a semi-automated vial-packaging line to produce Keytruda, an immunotherapy to treat certain cancers, as well as three fully automated syringe-packaging lines to produce the company’s human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine Gardasil 9 from next month.

David Peacock, MSD’s president for Asia Pacific, noted that the World Health Organization had set a target to eliminate cervical cancer through the use of HPV vaccines.

“As governments bring their plans into place now in terms of how they’re actually going to protect their populations, we’ll see the volumes continue to grow, so we’re building this not just based on our inherent demand but actually in anticipation of substantial future demand,” Peacock told Singapore reporters.

These vaccines will then be supplied to the Asia-Pacific market, with some possibly going beyond Asia, he said.

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“The fact that we’re actually moving these facilities to Singapore to supply Asia actually has an enormous impact on sustainability because otherwise, these same products are coming from Europe and the United States,” he said, explaining the company’s goal to be carbon neutral by 2030.

The second is a new facility, which broke ground on Wednesday, manufacturing next-generation inhaler devices for targeted administration of medicines, and will be ready by 2026.

The company said the investment will create more than 100 jobs, bringing the company’s total headcount in Singapore to more than 1,800 over the next few years.

Fernando Otero, associate vice-president of MSD’s manufacturing division in Singapore, said the new facilities would require highly-skilled operators who can work with the equipment and have skills in automation.

“We will need individuals that specialise in automation and IT technology to be able to maintain and troubleshoot equipment, and then we will have maintenance technicians that are able to work on electronics,” he said of the new jobs.

Noting that this is one of MSD’s largest facilities outside the United States, chief executive and president Robert Davis said the company continues to be “very committed” to Singapore.

“The reason we are – going back to when we came to Singapore – is what Singapore offers. World-class workforce, a political environment with a government that understands the value of partnership, R&D (research and development) and technological capabilities that allowed us to really grow the business and hopefully continue to make an impact in the world,” Davis said at the launch ceremony.

Speaking at the same event, Trade and Industry Minister Gan Kim Yong said MSD’s new investments will inject a “booster shot” for Singapore’s Manufacturing 2030 Vision and support its ambitions to become a leading biopharma manufacturing hub, adding that the government will continue to support and grow the biomedical sciences sector.

He noted that MSD’s new secondary packaging facility can produce over 33 million vaccine units annually, and the inhaler production facility will be MSD’s sole drug product manufacturing site for its new pulmonary arterial hypertension medicines.

“Drawing from the lessons of Covid-19, we must continue to improve our bio-preparedness at the national level,” Gan said. “Expanding our vaccine manufacturing capabilities will allow us to respond effectively and swiftly to future health emergencies.”

At the same time, the government wants to continue supporting the development of high-quality treatments for conventional diseases, he said.

“Through our collective efforts, I am confident that Singapore can take on a greater role in producing these innovative products and vaccines at scale, offering closer proximity and quicker access to critical medicine supplies for our region,” Gan added.