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The research programme at Merck Farma y Química receives a rating of “excellent”

By 25 de April de 2005November 18th, 2020No Comments
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 25.04.2005

The research programme at Merck Farma y Química receives a rating of “excellent”

The research programme at has received a rating of "excellent". This accreditation has been awarded by the Minstry of Education and Science as part of the Profarma II project, a programme aimed to strengthen the technological foundation of the pharmaceutical industry. This is the eleventh consecutive year that this company has been awarded this grade.

In recent years, Merck has been involved in intense preclinical and clinical research activity, focused, above all, on the field of oncology. Much of this work is conducted at the Laboratory for Bioinvestigation (LBI), which is directed by Jaume Piulats and is located at the Parc Científic de Barcelona (PCB, Barcelona Science Park).

Occupying 1,000m2, the LBI collaborates in the preclinical research done by Merck Oncology. The eight units that comprise the LBI cover the following disciplines: experimental pharmacology, immunotherapy, cell cycle, angiogenesis and bioinformatics. The laboratory is composed of a team of 40 members of staff, of which a third form a multidisciplinary team of specialised scientists and the remaining members are highly experienced laboratory technicians. This team works on the development of new vaccines, on the pharmacological modulation of cell cycle mechanisms and apoptosis, and on the regulation of tumor growth through the inhibition of neovascularization processes and tumoral angiogenesis.

The rating has been given is in recognition of the research efforts of the company, which, in recent months has launched its first anti-cancer drug (Erbitux), a monoclonal antibody for the treatment of metastatic colorectal cancer. The company is currenly performing research into new treatments for cancer, such as a vaccine against non-small cell lung tumors (L-BLP-25).