Scotland’s life sciences sector is benefiting from one of the biggest investments into the sector that will create 500 jobs in drug safety testing facilities.

The German company is bolstering its Glasgow and Stirling operations with a €35 million investment across the two sites to meet growing demand.

The Scottish facilities already serve more than 500 pharmaceutical and biotechnology global customers and its Kelvin Campus near Glasgow university’s Garscube buildings will be expanded with an additional 1,200 sq m facility to house biosafety testing, analytical development, and viral clearance suites.

The latest investment follows the company’s recent investment in the US and China.

Dirk Lange, head of life science services at Merck Life Science, said: “We remain committed to ensuring the safety of the world’s medicines through our state-of-the-art testing solutions for our customers around the world that drive new treatments.

“Since mid-2022, we have announced investments of more than € 350 million in our global testing network to meet the growing demand for these services.”

David McClelland, site head and managing director for the Scottish sites, added.”Merck has a wealth of testing expertise spanning over 75 years, including 33 years here in Scotland.

“The biosafety testing services at our sites in Glasgow and Stirling have been experiencing strong, double-digit growth for several years. This investment is a significant announcement for Merck in Scotland and an acknowledgment of the great work of our on-site teams.”

Merck has more than 60,000 staff worldwide. Its interests include pharmaceuticals, life sciences, chemicals, healthcare and electronics and in 2022 it generated sales of €22.2 billion.

Earlier this year the company created 15 jobs at its Livingston site after winning a tender to create a diagnostic quality control product for blood type analysers while it has also invested in its antibiotics manufacturing plant in Irvine, North Ayrshire, over recent years.