MilliporeSigma Honored by R&D Magazine for Innovation

• Awards for AFS® water purification systems and Simplicon™ technology exemplify commitment to advancing life science

Billerica, Massachusetts, December 16, 2015 — MilliporeSigma, the U.S. life science business of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, today announced it has received two prestigious R&D Magazine 100 awards – one for its lab water purification systems, and the other for a technology that allows researchers to investigate scientific questions they previously couldn’t address.

The coveted awards, referred to as the “Oscars of Invention,” honor the 100 most innovative scientific and technological breakthroughs introduced to the marketplace in the past year. Company representatives accepted the awards at the 53rd Annual R&D Awards ceremony November 13 in Las Vegas, Nevada.

“MilliporeSigma’s researchers are relentlessly curious – aiming to provide the highest quality and most innovative products that solve the toughest problems in life science,” said Udit Batra, President and CEO of MilliporeSigma. “We will continue to drive future advancements within our expansive portfolio. I am most appreciative of our colleagues who have dedicated their careers to these efforts.”

The company’s AFS water purification systems won in the process and prototyping category. The water systems, which can be found in labs around the world, incorporate the latest technologies to help clinical labs increase productivity, decrease analyzer downtime and enable robust performance.

Simplicon RNA Reprogramming Technology won in the analytical/test category. The kits allow a safe, efficient way of generating virus-free, human-induced pluripotent stem cells using a single transfection step, and give researchers an effective reprogramming method when studying diseases, allowing them to investigate unaddressed scientific questions

In 2014, two of the company’s products – SmartFlare™ detection reagent and Clarisolve® depth filters – were named R&D 100 award winners.

Winners are selected by the editors of R&D Magazine and an independent panel of more than 70 judges.

About MilliporeSigma
MilliporeSigma, the U.S. life science business of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, has 19,000 employees and 72 manufacturing sites worldwide, with a portfolio of more than 300,000 products enabling scientific discovery.

Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany recently completed its $17 billion acquisition of Sigma-Aldrich, creating a leader in the $130 billion global life science industry. The name of the merged companies is MilliporeSigma in the U.S. and Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany elsewhere. The acquisition was the largest in the company’s 347-year history.

About Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany
Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, is a leading company for innovative and top-quality high-tech products in healthcare, life science and performance materials. The company has six businesses – Biopharmaceuticals, Consumer Health, Allergopharma, Biosimilars, Life Science and Performance Materials – and generated sales of € 11.3 billion in 2014. Around 50,000 employees work in 66 countries to improve the quality of life for patients, to foster the success of customers and to help meet global challenges.

Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, is the world’s oldest pharmaceutical and chemical company – since 1668, the company has stood for innovation, business success and responsible entrepreneurship. Holding an approximately 70% interest, the founding family remains the majority owner of the company to this day. Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany holds the global rights to the Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany name and brand. The only exceptions are Canada and the United States, where the company operates as EMD Serono, MilliporeSigma and EMD Performance Materials.