Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, today signed an agreement with Alibaba Health, opened a technology center for its OLED customers in Shanghai, and announced the participation of Tongji University, Shanghai, China, in its CRISPR Core Partnership Program.
The new collaboration with Chinese Internet healthcare company Alibaba Health, which was announced today, aims to provide Chinese patients and their families with improved access to healthcare services via a patient-centric health platform. The collaboration will start with a drug tracking platform.
Based on the expertise of Merck KGaA in diabetes, thyroid disorders, and cardiovascular diseases, the platform will help ensure safety and security of drug use, while generating consistent value for patients through a series of add-on services. With Alibaba Health’s strengths in the field of online healthcare, the two companies plan to explore online healthcare service applications, direct-to-patient models, as well as Artificial Intelligence-enabled healthcare applications.
Merck KGaA also opened its new OLED Technology Center China in Shanghai today. The new center will provide local customers with customized solutions to enable innovative OLED application development. It offers state-of-the-art equipment and cleanroom facilities for OLED device fabrication and characterization.
This location will serve as a collaboration space for customers and Merck KGaA as they work together to generate the ideal solutions for OLED display products. This investment reflects the approach of Merck KGaA in developing highly pure, reliable, and efficient OLED materials for new products in line with market requirements and in support of customer innovation.
Thirdly, the Life Science business of Merck KGaA today announced a new CRISPR core partnership with Tongji University, Shanghai, China. This is the first partner in China to join leading global scientists from renowned academic institutes including for example Stanford University in the CRISPR Core Partnership Program of the company.
To date, Merck KGaA has more than 70 CRISPR core partners around the world. The program allows dedicated research on treating challenging diseases using genome editing. CRISPR genome-editing technology, which allows the precise modification of chromosomes in living cells, is advancing treatment options for a variety of medical conditions. CRISPR applications range from identifying genes associated with cancer and rare diseases to reversing mutations that cause blindness.
In addition, the company will be opening a new LIfe Science facility at the Nantong, China pharmaceutical production plant in early 2019, as announced in late 2016. The overall investment in the second-largest production plant of Merck KGaA after its headquarters in Darmstadt, Germany is €250 million ($290 million).
(Source: Merck, KGaA)
Filed Under: Drug Discovery
