Pharmaceutical giant Merck Sharp and Dohme (MSD) has opened a second factory in Pandaan in Pasuruan, East Java, to boost its production for the Indonesian and Asian markets.
“The crises in Europe have not affected the Asian market significantly, especially in Indonesia, where purchasing power and medicine consumption continue to increase,” MSD president for Asia Pacific Patrick Bergstedt said in Pandaan on Tuesday.
MSD’s new factory, which has an estimated price tag of US$21 million, was built on 4,900 square meters and lies about 50 kilometers southeast of Surabaya, the provincial capital.
It produces packaging for various medicines used to treat diabetes, hypertension, infections and cardiovascular and respiratory problems.
The new plant supplements the firm’s existing factory in the area, built in 1975 on a 3,350 square meter plot for $6 million.
MSD’s senior vice president for operations, John Markels, said that the company considered Pandaan a strategic location to reach the Asian market.
“Now that we have the new factory, we will be able to meet the growing demands for medicine from the international market,” he added.
MSD exports about 75 percent of the products manufactured at its Pandaan site and markets the remaining 25 percent in Indonesia.