The agreement, financial terms of which have not been disclosed, is intended to bolster DSM’s contract process research and development offering.
Business manager Oliver May told Outsourcing-Pharma.com that growing global industry demand for efficient manufacturing routes for chiral active pharmaceutical ingredients (API) and intermediates was a key driver.
“The Strongest customer base looking for innovative sustainable manufacturing processes is located in the US and Europe but an increasing demand for this green technology is seen for production of generics mainly manufactured in India and more and more also in China.
Dr May added that: “Alcohol dehydrogenases are now accepted as the first choice for the production of chiral alcohols, due on their cost advantages and sustainability.”
May went on to explain that the agreement expands on the InnoSyn route scouting service that DSM launched earlier this year, adding that the enzymes provided by c-LEcta “increase the chance of success” in process R&D.
Also under the deal, DSM will provide Leipzig-headquartered c-LEcta with support for the commercialisation of manufacturing routes, which is something the German firm’s CSO, Thomas Greiner-Stoffele, said would help meet growing demand.
“We are pleased to have this cooperation with DSM which will give us useful benchmarks for our alcohol dehydrogenase collection” he explained.
DSM sells Elastomers biz
In other news, DSM has agreed to sell its elastomers business to German specialty chemicals firm Lanxess for €310m.
The elastomers unit, which makes rubber products for a range of industries, is being sold as part of DSM’s effort to focus on growth in the life and materials sciences sectors.
The deal with Lanxess is the final stage of a divestiture programme that began in late 2007 with the sale of its Agro, Melamine, Citric Acid and Stamicarbon units.