MilliporeSigma, a Merck unit, has opened its new $317.2 million biosafety testing facility in Rockville, Md. Developed by Alexandria Real Estate, the 260,000-square-foot project represents the life science company’s largest investment in contract testing in history.
The property will house biosafety testing, analytical development and cell banking manufacturing services, consolidating labs in four separate buildings into one facility. The move is expected to increase collaboration between scientists and enable higher automation and digitalization.
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Biosafety testing and analytical development are crucial in drug development and commercialization for traditional and novel modalities. Global demand for these services is growing at a double-digit rate, according to MilliporeSigma, which represents the U.S. and Canada life science business of Merck KGaA, based in Darmstadt, Germany.
A major biopharma hub
Rockville is in Montgomery County, Md., which anchors the third-largest biopharma hub in the U.S. More than 350 life science companies, including Amgen, AstraZeneca and Novavax, specialize in gene and cell therapies, vaccines, pharmaceuticals and manufacturing there.
Montgomery County was the first in the nation to have a local biotechnology investment incentive program.
Alexandria Real Estate, which has the Alexandria Life Science and Translational Research Center in Rockville, has recently been active in the life science sector. In late June, it leased 127,300 square feet at 10075 Barnes Canyon Road (Building C), a 253,000-square-foot life science building currently underway in San Diego.
Upon completion in 2025, a top 20 pharmaceutical company will use the space as an R&D facility, upping its San Diego footprint by more than 50 percent. The project is part of SD Tech by Alexandria Mega Campus, situated in the city’s Sorrento Mesa submarket.
Lab space oversupply?
Demand for lab space has surged following the pandemic, driven by breakthroughs in mRNA and CRISPR technologies. Developers have responded, bringing millions of square feet of life science space to the market.
According to the latest CommercialEdge report however, some areas are experiencing an oversupply of lab space. In 2022, life science properties traded for a combined $6.2 billion. In 2023, sales dropped to $1.8 billion. Despite the slowdown in demand for this type of assets, the life science real estate market is expected to remain strong, as most lab work requires physical spaces, unaffected by remote work trends.