Merck India inaugurates its R&D Excellence Centre in Bengaluru

Bengaluru: Merck, a leading science & technology company, has announced the inauguration of its Healthcare R&D Excellence Centre facility in Bengaluru.

The Merck India R&D Excellence Centre contributes to the company’s Healthcare Research & Development (R&D) ambition of delivering the health care remedies of tomorrow, that can help treat patients with unmet medical needs around the world.

By utilizing India’s scientific talent and technical advancements, the R&D Excellence Centre aims at promoting innovation among the scientific community to improve healthcare solutions around the globe. Since 2020 the Excellence Centre has onboarded around 300 employees and will continue its expansion over the next 2 years.

Commenting on the inauguration of the Centre in Bengaluru, Suneela Thatte, VP and Head R&D Excellence Centre said, “India has a wealth of talent and expertise in Science and Technology. At Merck, we believe that curiosity is the key to driving innovations to address current and future challenges in the society. Through the Centre, we will strengthen our presence in healthcare R&D in India, while supporting Merck Group’s global efforts in drug discovery.”

“The R&D Excellence Centre at Merck enables employees with an innovation-friendly environment, encouraging their curiosity. The Centre in Bangalore aims to establish a one-team culture, delivering critical responsibilities in the drug development journey as well as develop a valuable talent pool. The R&D Excellence Centre strives to bring the best of global practices and local talent to enable the vison of enhanced patient outcomes,” added Thatte.

The R&D Excellence Centre continues to evolve with various functions critical across R&D from its inception in 2021. There are different functions of R&D Excellence Centre which includes monitoring safety of Merck’s medicines throughout their use in healthcare practice and managing scientific exchange to enhance patient care by improving efficiency and ensuring quality and consistency.

Presently, the center constitutes six different functions:

• Global Regulatory Affairs (GRA) harmonizes and centralizes regulatory execution, driving deliverables in strong collaboration with the global R&D functions and other R&D hubs in healthcare.

• Global Patient Safety (GPS) monitors safety of Merck’s medicines throughout their use in healthcare practice. The team collaborates with the global R&D functions and plays a significant role in integrating deep knowledge of safety into early decision-making.

• Global Development Operations (GDO) in alignment with the global R&D functions delivers clinical study portfolio leveraging technology and digital innovations.

• Strategy, Portfolio & Innovation (SP&I) team is responsible for interfacing cross-functional management of the Development portfolio, along with R&D digital and data transformation.

• Global Scientific Exchange and Communication (GSEC) manages scientific exchange to enhance patient care by improving efficiency and ensuring quality and consistency.

• Global Biostatistics Epidemiology and Medical Writing (GBEM) team of medical writers focuses on bringing data to life in core decision making, consistently delivering on improving medicine.