EMD Pharma awards Aker Kvaerner cell culture project

Mumbai: Aker Kvaerner has secured a contract for preliminary design of a new large-scale multi-product mammalian cell culture facility for EMD Pharmaceuticals of Durham, an affiliate of Merck KGaA of Darmstadt, Germany.

As a result of winning the EMD conceptual design competition against several international competitor companies, the Aker Kvaerner team, whose members include Kinetics Biopharm of Philadelphia, has been awarded the contract for preliminary design of this world-scale commercial production facility.

Aker Kvaerner has also been selected for the project's basic design, equipment procurement, detailed engineering design, field support and validation. The project will be executed by Aker Kvaerner's US pharmaceutical headquarters in Bridgewater, New Jersey.

The BioFab Project, EMD's name for this project, will commence immediately. The state-of-the-art EMD biopharmaceutical facility will include laboratories, offices, warehouse, and the cGMP Mammalian Cell Culture plant.

Implementation of the BioFab project will be in two phases. Phase I: the preliminary design, will begin immediately. Phase II: scheduled to begin in mid-2003, after Merck KGaA has made a final determination of where the facility will be located. The project is planned to be over by mid-2006.

“Aker Kvaerner is delighted to be working with EMD Pharmaceuticals, a valued customer and a global pharmaceutical leader,“ says John Petchonka, the president of Aker Kvaerner's pharmaceutical business.