Today, DSM Nutritional Products is the world's leading supplier of
vitamins, carotenoids and other fine chemicals. In 1933 the chemical
synthesis of vitamin C was invented by
Dr. Tadeuz Reichstein, of the Swiss Institute of Technology in Zurich. Using
Reichstein’s process, the Swiss pharmaceutical company Hoffmann-La Roche first
manufactured vitamin C in 1934 and brought the product to market.
Roche successively added other synthetic vitamins to its range during the
following decades.
Among these, the most important for the company was probably vitamin A, first
synthesised by the Roche chemist Dr. Otto Isler (below). This vitamin is
closely related to the naturally occurring pigments called carotenoids, which
suggested to Roche a new direction in which to apply its chemical processing
expertise. In 1956, Roche began producing
carotenoids with the first synthesis of
beta-carotene, and over the years followed up with
apocarotenal, apo-ester,
canthaxanthin, astaxanthin,
lycopene and zeaxanthin.
Apart from vitamins and carotenoids, Roche moved into other products of
significance to the food, feed or cosmetic industries, such as
citric acid (1977),
polyunsaturated fatty acids (1988),
feed enzymes (1990), and
cosmetic ingredients such as
sunscreens and emulsifiers (
1996).
The Vitamins and Fine Chemicals Division of Roche continued to secure its
market leadership through heavy capital investment in the 1970s,
diversification in the 1980s, and acquisition and further market penetration
in the 1990s. At the same time the strategic direction of the main
pharmaceutical and diagnostic businesses of Roche was steadily moving away
from a high dependence on active pharmaceutical ingredients which were
chemically synthesised small molecules. This strategic intent greatly reduced
the synergies with the products of the Vitamins and Fine Chemicals Division,
for which it was decided that the business should be divested to a more
appropriate owner.
On 1 October 2003, the Roche Vitamins and Fine Chemicals Division was
acquired by DSM, and became DSM Nutritional Products, setting the scene
for today’s market-leadership and an even more exciting future. Since the
acquisition, DSM Nutritional Products has demonstrated its intention to
continue responding to new opportunities with acquisitions such as Pentapharm
in 2007, and the renewal in 2008 of the strategic feed-enzymes
alliance with Novozymes, which was first formed in 2001.
Below: Otto Isler (left), who did pioneering work for Roche on the synthesis
of vitamins A,
E and K, in his lab with his
assistant Gody Ryser.
