Merck dedicates Durham, NC, vaccines plant

Merck dedicates Durham, NC, vaccines plant

US drug major Merck & Co says that its Durham, North Carolina, vaccine manufacturing facility has completed start-up activities and is beginning to validate production processes, a major step toward regulatory approval and licensure of the new facility. When licensed, the site will produce key childhood vaccines for measles, mumps, rubella and chickenpox, as well as a vaccine for shingles in older adults. Merck makes 11 of the 17 diseases on the pediatric, adolescent and adult recommended immunization schedules in the USA.

Merck also announced that it is naming the new facility in memory of its most distinguished vaccine researcher, the late Maurice Hilleman. During his 30 years at Merck, Dr Hilleman developed vaccines for eight of the diseases for which vaccines are routinely recommended for children in the USA, including measles, mumps and rubella. The facility will be named The Maurice R Hilleman Center for Vaccine Manufacturing.