Millipore Corporation Opens $50 Million Research And Development Center
“Our new Bioprocess R&D Center is a demonstration of our commitment to Massachusetts and our continuing investment in technologies and facilities that will help us to deliver innovative, quality products to our customers,” said Martin Madaus, Chairman & CEO of Millipore. “Over the past two years, we have begun to transform Millipore into a more innovative organization with new capabilities to meet the changing needs of our industry. The opening of this center continues this transformation, enabling us to attract the best scientific talent and bring together multiple research disciplines to develop integrated solutions. These solutions will create value for our biotechnology and pharmaceutical customers and fuel our continued growth as a leader in the life sciences industry.”
More than 200 employees, customers, partners and other guests joined the company October 3rd to mark the milestone. Deval Patrick, Gubernatorial Candidate for the State of Massachusetts; Michael Kowolenko, Senior Vice President of Pharmaceutical Operations and Technology of Biogen Idec, a long-standing Millipore customer; Christopher R. Anderson, President of the Massachusetts High Technology Council; and Millipore Chairman & CEO Martin Madaus delivered remarks at the dedication of the building.
“For the past 20 years, Millipore and Biogen Idec have been working together to deliver important biologic therapies to the market,” said Michael Kowolenko, Senior Vice President of Pharmaceutical Operations and Technology, of Biogen Idec. “Both companies share a commitment to investing in new technologies and products that will continue to move our industry forward.”
“The combination of intellectual talent, venture capital, research institutions, and entrepreneurship in Massachusetts provides us an edge in attracting companies to invest and create jobs here,” said Deval Patrick, Gubernatorial Candidate for the State of Massachusetts. “We need to support our public universities and improve our workforce development efforts to ensure Massachusetts remains competitive in the future. I am pleased to recognize private sector leaders like Millipore for its willingness to make investments, which will help to strengthen the Massachusetts life sciences industry.”
With more than 65 percent of its revenues coming from outside the United States, the research center will support the needs of Millipore’s global customers, who are involved in life science research and the production of biopharmaceutical drugs. The Bioprocess division is dedicated to helping pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies to optimize their manufacturing productivity, ensure the quality of drugs, and scale up the production of difficult-to-manufacture biologics. With the opening of the new center, Millipore is able to develop full-scale applications performance data and processes that simulate commercial conditions, ultimately resulting in increased speed and quality of biopharmaceutical production for their customers.
“Millipore’s investment in this R&D facility shows a tremendous commitment to Massachusetts and reinforces the region’s identity as the world’s premier biopharmaceutical center,” said Christopher Anderson, Massachusetts High Technology Council President.
The state-of-the-art 110,000 square foot building, designed by ARC/Architectural Resources Cambridge, contains 47,000 square feet of lab space, and consolidates multiple functions, fostering an even more collaborative approach for the up to 500 professionals who will work there. Millipore chose to build the center in Massachusetts due to its leadership in the biotechnology sector, its unrivaled talent pool, and its proximity to customers and leading academic institutions.
About Millipore Millipore is a leading provider of products and services that improve productivity in biopharmaceutical manufacturing and in clinical, analytical and research laboratories. The Company is organized in two operating divisions. Its Bioprocess Division helps to enable pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies to optimize their manufacturing productivity, ensure the quality of drugs, and scale up the production of difficult-to-manufacture biologics. Its Bioscience division helps to optimize laboratory productivity and workflows by providing reagents, kits and other enabling technologies and products for life science research and development. Millipore has a deep understanding of its customers' research and manufacturing process needs, and offers reliable and innovative tools, technologies and services. The Company is part of the S&P 500 Index and employs approximately 5,800 employees in more than 47 facilities worldwide. For additional information on Millipore Corporation, please visit its website at: www.millipore.com.