Merck announced the opening of its first Centre of Excellence (CoE) for fertility on January 16.The objective of the CoE is to provide fertility professionals with a strong understanding of the concepts, processes and techniques that are undertaken in high quality clinics in order to help address the unmet needs in assisted reproductive treatment (ART). The centre aims to help optimize procedures to improve treatment outcomes for couples that want to conceive. As a joint venture between Merck and Genea, a developer of innovative fertility technologies, the CoE demonstrates the two partners’ commitment to support high standards of education within ART.
“The Centre of Excellence is an international training hub addressing the global unmet needs within fertility clinics by promoting standardization of processes for consistently high treatment outcomes,” said Dorothea Wenzel, Head of the Global Business Franchise Fertility at the biopharma business of Merck. “Its unique concept is a reflection of the best practice standard in ART clinics that Merck and Genea have developed.”
The CoE is a state-of-the-art facility for high quality training of healthcare professionals, such as physicians and embryologists, to improve clinical practices, protocols and clinic outcome. Jan Kirsten, Global Head of Fertility Technologies, further explained: “The participants are given the opportunity to experience first-hand how leading science and technologies work in a real clinical environment. Thus, the concept allows Merck to offer practical hands-on training through a training lab and the adjacent Genea clinic, alongside theoretical education.” The centre is located in Bangkok, Thailand, and with this central location in the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region aims to attract participants from all over the world with focus on APAC and China. The CoE was officially opened with a ceremony held on 16 January 2017.
The centre is another collaboration between Merck and Genea, also supported by the partners of the Global Fertility Alliance (GFA), which was founded in 2015. The GFA is driving standardization in ART clinics for improved treatment outcomes. Therefore, the CoE also represents the innovative technologies from the GFA partners including Illumina, a leader in developing and commercializing systems for analysis of genetic variation and function, ZEISS, an internationally leading technology enterprise operating in the optics as well as optoelectronics industries and the associated partner Chart MVE BioMedical, the world's leading manufacturer of cryogenic freezer systems, as well as the latest technology in laser systems from Hamilton Thorne, Inc.
