Merck's new 120,000-square-foot research facility at its West Point campus in Montgomery County, called ADVANCE, is designed to use robotics and automation in bioanalytical science.
The Business Journals described the project as a $500 million research building.
What the Robots Actually Do
Merck's own hiring materials describe the new space as using leading-edge robotics and automation to drive efficiency, accuracy and scalability in bioanalytical science, according to jobs.merck.com. The site states that ADVANCE will automate data handling and analysis to speed up time to results — essentially compressing the back-and-forth between running a test and getting an answer scientists can act on. The company is also testing next-generation sequencing in a regulated clinical-testing setting to support vaccine development, per the same source, calling it a first-of-its-kind effort inside Merck.
ADVANCE joins Merck's 320-acre West Point complex. West Point is Merck's largest pharmaceutical manufacturing facility.
Part of a Much Bigger Buildout
ADVANCE is one piece of a sprawling expansion underway at West Point. Merck has outlined a $2.9 billion investment in Montgomery County that includes two new buildings at the campus, where the company currently employs 12,000 people, according to bizjournals.com. Just a month before the ADVANCE ribbon-cutting, Upper Gwynedd commissioners unanimously approved land-development plans for a separate Merck project known as Building 71, a two-story vaccine-manufacturing facility with roughly 41,000 square feet of footprint and just under 75,000 square feet of interior space, according to thereporteronline.com.
That facility is intended to manufacture measles and mumps vaccines, replacing production currently handled elsewhere on the property, the outlet reported. Merck has made a previously announced $70 billion commitment to domestic manufacturing and research and development.
Montgomery County's Pharma Arms Race
GSK plans to begin construction in 2027 on a more-than-$800-million expansion of its own biopharmaceutical manufacturing campus in nearby Upper Merion Township, according to enr.com.
Merck's nearby Spring House Innovation Park is another life-sciences site in the region, according to montco.today. Between Merck and GSK, Montgomery County is emerging as a focal point for pharmaceutical capital spending in the region.
