The City of Medicine has a new addition to its namesake.

On Wednesday, state and community leaders gathered with executives and staff at Merck to officially dedicate a new vaccine manufacturing facility.

The facility is on 262 acres of land at Durham's Treyburn Corporate Park. Construction for the initial project began in 2004.

"What goes on in this lab will change the lives, and save the lives, of countless people," said Governor Mike Easley in a Wednesday address.

Officials say after approval and licensing, the new facility is set to produce vaccines for childhood illnesses like measles, mumps, and rubella. Scientists plan to also work on vaccines for chickenpox and shingles at the facility.

"This facility represents the best of Durham and North Carolina's educational, industrial, and community resources," said Durham mayor Bill Bell.

According to Merck, the facility could employ as many as 400 skilled workers when all of the phases of construction are complete in 2011. Merck has stated the total investment of the three-phase project runs about $750 million dollars.

Merck dedicated the facility to the memory of its most distinguished vaccine researcher, the late Maurice R. Hilleman, Ph.D.

Hilleman was a Merck microbiologist who developed vaccines for eight of the diseases for which vaccines are routinely recommended for children in the United States, including measles, mumps and rubella.

Margie McGlynn, the president of Merck's Vaccines and Infectious Diseases division says the new plant is an extension of Hilleman's work.

"We are absolutely committed to doing that in a way to achieve the mission of Merck to bring vaccines to those who need them and to make sure that they intended to do, and that is to save lives, and improve the wellbeing of children and adults," she said.

Construction on phase one of the Merck facility is complete. Phase two is expected to wrap up in 2010, and phase three is set to be finished by 2011.