Merck has opened the doors to a new lab in London, part of the US drugmaker’s plans to grow its footprint in the UK and leverage its scientific expertise as it works to refill its pipeline.
Merck, also known as MSD outside the US, has taken over the whole top floor of the Francis Crick Institute in King’s Cross — a research hub that also houses labs for GSK and AstraZeneca — with specialized laboratories for preclinical research. The Crick Institute put $17 million into constructing the lab, and Merck supplied the equipment in the 1,098 square meter (11,800 square foot) space.
The new laboratory will focus on preclinical development of Merck’s neuroscience pipeline as well as launching the company into immunology research for the first time in the UK. There’s a large lab for chemistry, two smaller labs for antibody development, one for biologics and one for biomarkers.
“Immunology is one of the key investment therapy areas that is on a growth trajectory. And London is also part of that growth,” said Merck’s head of discovery chemistry Darren McKerrecher during an interview with Endpoints News at the new labs.
London is growing as a hub for biotech and pharma, with areas like Canary Wharf pumping $500 million into building a new life science building and other big pharmas also moving into the region.
Merck has an even bigger facility under construction not far away. It’s building a 1 billion pounds ($1.3 billion) headquarters in the UK, also in King’s Cross, that will total 25,000 square meters over 10 floors, with 800 employees, 180 of which will be research and development scientists, said McKerrecher. Once the headquarters opens, Merck will move out of the Crick Institute as well as its location in Moorgate.
London not only provides close proximity to potential partners like the University College London and the Wellcome Trust, but also gives Merck access to top talent, said McKerrecher. And with Merck’s new wet lab facilities, it’s one of, if not the only, large pharma offering wet lab jobs in London. “We have the pick of the bunch,” said McKerrecher.
Currently, the company is rapidly recruiting about 50 people, and the Crick Institute lab will be at full capacity during the first quarter of 2025, said McKerrecher.
Merck has been planning for life after Keytruda, the blockbuster cancer drug that contributed 40% of the company’s revenue last year, but whose patent protection ends in 2028.
“We’re excited about the pipeline that’s in that next phase beyond Keytruda, I think, is causing a lot of excitement. And that’s not restricted to one therapy area,” said McKerrecher. But it includes a focus on immunology, where the company has talked about the crossover science from its work in immuno-oncology. It’s also looking at developing candidates for irritable bowel disease and systemic sclerosis, said McKerrecher.
Editor’s note: The figures for the size and cost of Merck’s under-construction facility in London were wrong in a previous version of this story and have been corrected.