„Merck Discovery Tour“ was the highlight of the 9th Biological Production forum

The annual “Biological Production” forum is one of the major European events for biotechnology specialists. This year’s forum, taking place from June 21-23 in Frankfurt/Main, Germany, focused on topics in upstream and downstream processing and good manufacturing practices for biological production. In addition, the 2010 forum offered a very special opportunity for its attendees: the first “Merck Discovery Tour” including an exclusive visit to the Merck headquarters and to our brand-new GMP process solutions plant. More than 100 tour participants had the chance to see first-hand how Merck’s products and services support the entire value chain in biopharmaceutical production – from upstream processing to formulation.

9th Biological Production forum

150 biotech specialists from all over Europe met at this year’s 9th Biological Production forum at the Sheraton Frankfurt Hotel & Towers in Frankfurt, Germany. High-class presentations examined different aspects of biopharmaceutical production from innovation to product quality to regulatory support. The themes discussed included ways to achieve faster transitions to facilitate commercial-scale manufacturing, multi-product manufacturing strategies, yield improvement methodologies for monoclonal antibody production, or cost-reductions through various process optimisations.

Innovative solutions from Merck

Merck took the opportunity to showcase its latest innovations for downstream bioprocesses, among them the new chromatography resin Eshmuno™ Q and the ready-to-use Plug n’ Flow™ columns for small-scale process chromatography. The Eshmuno™ Q anion exchanger is part of our new Eshmuno™ range of tentacle-structure chromatography resins for monoclonal antibody (mAb) downstream processing. Thanks to its superior binding capacity at high flow rates, Eshmuno™ Q enables higher productivity and considerable cost savings in mAb production. Merck’s pre-packed, pre-tested and ready-to-use Plug n’ Flow™ high-performance columns are especially designed for easy handling – saving preparation costs and time and minimizing the risk of cross-contamination when switching projects.

Discovering Merck first-hand

About 100 visitors – nearly two thirds of the forum’s attendees – seized the chance to take part in the comprehensive “Merck Discovery Tour” that took them, among other places, to Merck’s new GMP Process Solutions plant in Darmstadt. Here we produce ultra-pure solutions for cleaning in place (CIP) and other cleanroom process operations. A growing number of biotech companies need high amounts of CIP solutions that are specifically tailored to their processes. With the new plant, Merck can flexibly react to these requirements.

Great networking opportunities

The feedback we received on the tour as well as on the presentations of the Biological Production forum was very positive. Participants especially appreciated the many networking opportunities. Numerous Merck experts were available to discuss topics like increasing productivity and flexibility, new trends and future requirements. Another highlight leading to intensive discussion was the interactive workshop “Study of ion-exchange media surface design for efficient purification” hosted by Prof. Christian Frech, University of Applied Sciences, Mannheim, Germany.

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