The acquisition from Wuxi Biologics, the embattled CDMO named in the BIOSECURE Act, marks another expansion of Merck’s manufacturing operations in Ireland.
Facing increasing global pressure, WuXi Biologics will sell its Ireland vaccines facility to Merck for $500 million.
The two companies have been collaborating on the Dundalk site since 2019, when WuXi agreed to build the vaccine manufacturing facility. In a regulatory document dated January 6, WuXi emphasized that the partnership “highlights the company’s capability in building and operating world-class complex vaccine manufacturing facilities which meet the stringent standards of global vaccine leaders.”
The statement comes as WuXi faces pressures in the U.S., where the BIOSECURE Act could eventually bar U.S. companies from working with the contract research development and manufacturing organization. While the legislation did not pass by the end of 2024, it could be renewed under the incoming Trump administration.
Despite the uncertainly, both WuXi Biologics and its sister company, WuXi AppTec, appeared to be considering the sale of some assets, with the Financial Times reporting that WuXi Biologics was specifically eyeing the sale of some of its European production sites.
That sale has now come to fruition in Merck’s half-billion purchase of the Dundalk, Ireland, facility. Merck will gain all the property and assets, manufacturing equipment, contracts, in-process inventory and other assets. The deal is expected to close in the first half of this year.
Merck, which operates as MSD outside of the U.S., has been doubling down on manufacturing capabilities in Ireland. The company’s MSD Ireland unit celebrated the opening of a new site in County Meath and the expansion of another in County Carlow in September 2023. Those investments totaled €1 billion ($1.04 billion).
Merck bought the site in Dunboyne, County Meath from Takeda in August 2020. Financial details were not disclosed.
With the Ireland assets handed off, WuXi Biologics plans to shift focus to vaccine sites it owns in China.
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