German Chancellor Olaf Scholz pledged further government backing for the pharmaceutical industry and touted recent investments in the country.
Scholz spoke at the laying of the foundation stone on Thursday for a €300 million ($320 million) new research centre at German chemical and pharmaceutical firm Merck's headquarters in the western German city of Darmstadt, located south of Frankfurt.
The chancellor called the expansion project a "commitment to Germany as a strong location for pharmaceuticals, industry and research."
The centre is scheduled to open in three years.
"Investments such as those made by Merck here at the Darmstadt headquarters make exceptional economic, medical and scientific sense," said Scholz.
The chancellor noted that Merck isn't the only firm from the sector to invest heavily in Germany, pointing for example to plans by the US pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly to build a €2.3 billion plant as well as similar plans from Switzerland's Roche and Japan's Daiichi Sankyo.
"These are investments on a scale that we have not seen in Germany for a long time," said Scholz. "As the German government, we will continue to support this new awakening with all our strength."
As a sign of his commitment, Scholz placed the draft of the German government's Medical Research Act in a time capsule, which was embedded in the foundation stone of Merck's new research centre.
Scholz's coalition government has sought to boost the pharmaceutical industry, which employs around 128,000 people in the country and is considered robust in the face of economic fluctuations.
The government strategy calls for faster regulatory approval procedures and less bureaucracy in order to strengthen pharmaceutical research.
Scholz also referred to a €1 billion fund to back start-ups and better tax write-off options for research expenditures.
Starting in early 2027, the research centre will offer around 18,000 square metres of space for around 550 employees. The new building is part of Merck's investment programme, which comprises around €1.5 billion for the Darmstadt site through 2025.
The investments will enable progress that will benefit millions of patients around the world, said Merck chief executive Belén Garijo.
At the Advanced Research Centre, Merck intends to conduct research into solutions for the production of antibodies, mRNA applications and other products for biotechnological production, according to the company.
The mRNA technology in particular is seen as promising for medicine, and became widely known during the coronavirus pandemic when it was used to develop vaccines. It is based on the blueprints of the body's own proteins.