The chemicals giant has reviewed the market for contract manufacturing of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs), advanced intermediates and also generic APIs and concluded that early stage (non-registered) intermediates and generic APIs will in future be increasingly sourced from rival CMOs operating in low cost economies, notably India and China.
For this reason, DSM is closing its Michigan Pharma Chemicals site, which mainly focuses on custom manufacturing of active pharmaceutical ingredients and intermediates, and will instead focus its pharmaceutical chemical operations on advanced and registered intermediates, APIs and more specialised generic APIs.
DSM has also considered the future of the contract manufacturing market for biopharmaceuticals, concluding that in the field of biopharmaceuticals and the development of cell line technology, the software, will be of more impact than the actual manufacturing facilities themselves.
Thus DSM is sharpening its focus on its alliance with Dutch biotech firm Crucell on the development of its revolutionary human cell line production technology, PER.C6. Crucell and DSM will now place more emphasis on the development of this technology by building a strong portfolio of intellectual property, with the objective of licensing this cell line extensively to the biopharmaceutical industry.
As a consequence, the facilities of DSM Biologics Montreal, which focuses on contract manufacturing of biological pharmaceuticals, will be mothballed in such a way that a restart by others will remain an option.
DSM Biologics in Groningen, the Netherlands, will now take on the role of providing full support to licensees of the PER.C6 technology, besides its services as a contract manufacturer for the biopharmaceutical market.