DSM and Chemtrix sign collaboration agreement in Continuous Flow Chemistry

PARSIPPANY, N.J., Feb. 19, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- DSM Pharmaceutical Products, the custom manufacturing and technology business of Royal DSM (NYSE, Euronext: DSM KON), announced today that it has signed a collaboration agreement with Chemtrix B.V., The Netherlands, in the field of Continuous Flow Chemistry. The Collaboration will provide equipment, development and manufacturing services to the pharmaceutical industry, resulting in novel, sustainable production methods.

The agreement brings together the expertise of both parties in continuous flow chemistry to better serve the pharmaceutical industry with processes for the development and manufacture of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs), which require new technologies to increase sustainability, reduce energy consumption and provide benefits for cost-of-goods.  Chemtrix specializes in ready-to-use laboratory and kilo-scale micro reactors, as well as reactor and process design for industrial reactors, complementing DSM's proven track record in drug synthesis route development, scale-up and implementation of continuous flow processes for manufacturing. DSM achieved one of the first FDA approved uses of micro reactors for making a pharmaceutical at commercial scale under current Good Manufacturing Practices (cGMP) at their facility in Linz, Austria, where their dedicated commercial scale installation is located.

Initially the DSM-Chemtrix collaboration will offer an Industrial Flow Process Development package to clients in order to provide tailor-made, scalable flow chemistry solutions.  This package covers all phases of process design, from scanning chemistries, chemistry development, route scouting, equipment design and scale-up for fully continuous or integrated processes.

Alexander Wessels, President and CEO of DSM Pharmaceutical Products, stated, "Working with Chemtrix underlines the further advancement of DSM's stated strategy toward strategic partnerships to excel in providing new customer solutions. DSM is a global leader in cGMP continuous flow chemistry manufacturing, with a commitment to the future of pharmaceutical manufacturing in a sustainable manner."  Simon Hickling Ph.D., Senior Business Manager at DSM, added, "Continuous flow chemistries are becoming more important in API manufacturing, as the pharmaceutical industry focuses on sustainable manufacturing solutions and competitive cost-of-goods.  Together with Chemtrix we now offer a complete turnkey solution to manufacturing in flow-reactors from conception to cGMP bulk manufacturing; flow chemistry to the power of two."

Hugo Delissen, CEO of Chemtrix BV, stated, "Together with DSM we are the most complete flow chemistry partner for pharmaceutical and fine chemical companies. Delivering a complete package of equipment and services based on our joint knowledge ranging from lab (milligrams) to production (ton) scale, ensures the delivery of the best possible solutions for our joint customers." "With this collaboration we complete our product portfolio which has always been based on scalability. Using micro reactors for flow chemistry method development is only valuable if customers can use it to produce their products on commercial scale. To ensure that the whole scale-up process will run smoothly together we offer a complete service package which will help our customers to implement this process intensification technology to improve the sustainability and safety of their processes,"  added Dr. Charlotte Wiles, Chief Technology Officer of Chemtrix BV.

About Chemtrix B.V.
Chemtrix B.V. offers a complete, easy to scale product portfolio for continuous processing from lab to industrial production scale. Laboratory development is enabled with our Labtrix^® bench-top systems, and industrial scale reactions are enabled with our KiloFlow^® and Plantrix^® systems.  The latter is a cost-optimized modular reactor system which allows for the free combination or exchange of components with high chemical flexibility due to the use of EKasic^®* Silicon Carbide reactors and heat exchangers; the perfect material for challenging chemical reactions such as fast, highly exothermic reactions, those involving reactions with equilibrium or unstable intermediates and hazardous reactions.  Chemtrix provides services to Companies in the Pharmaceutical and Fine Chemical Industry, and is headquartered in Geleen (The Netherlands) with offices in the USA, UK, Taiwan, China & India.  For more information on Chemtrix B.V. please visit www.chemtrix.com

DSM – Bright Science. Brighter Living.™
Royal DSM is a global science-based company active in health, nutrition and materials. By connecting its unique competences in Life Sciences and Materials Sciences DSM is driving economic prosperity, environmental progress and social advances to create sustainable value for all stakeholders. DSM delivers innovative solutions that nourish, protect and improve performance in global markets such as food and dietary supplements, personal care, feed, pharmaceuticals, medical devices, automotive, paints, electrical and electronics, life protection, alternative energy and bio-based materials. DSM's 22,000 employees deliver annual net sales of about € 9 billion. The company is listed on NYSE Euronext. More information can be found at www.dsm.com/pharma

Forward-looking statements
This press release may contain forward-looking statements with respect to DSM's future (financial) performance and position. Such statements are based on current expectations, estimates and projections of DSM and information currently available to the company. DSM cautions readers that such statements involve certain risks and uncertainties that are difficult to predict and therefore it should be understood that many factors can cause actual performance and position to differ materially from these statements. DSM has no obligation to update the statements contained in this press release, unless required by law. The English language version of the press release is leading.

SOURCE DSM Pharmaceutical Products