DSM Pharma Chemicals, a business unit of DSM Pharmaceutical Products and DSM Anti-Infectives are pleased to announce today the DSM team has been awarded the Gold DSM Innovation Award 2007. The six site cross-functional DSM team has won the Innovation Award for their work on the development and scale up of a recombinant pig liver esterase (pharmaPLE™) and applied this novel enzyme in the synthesis of a registered starting material for a blood pressure lowering medication.

The team developed a recombinant pig liver esterase in only four months, a record time, in a collaborative effort involving 75 people from several DSM sites plus a group from the Graz University of Technology (Austria).  This methodology involving the production of the enzyme and subsequent reaction steps have been further optimized by the research team, thus reducing production time and costs.

Ronald Gebhard, R&D Director, DSM Pharma Chemicals, comments, “It is truly an honor to receive this award which would not have been possible without the synergistic approach of the entire research team. This development will further strengthen DSM’s ability to work with our customers from start to finish.”

DSM Chairman Feike Sijbesma presented the award and a cash prize of €50,000 to the winning team at the Innovation Award Event held on Tuesday, November 20, 2007 at the DSM Innovation Center in Urmond, the Netherlands.

About DSM Pharma Chemicals
DSM Pharma Chemicals is a global provider of custom manufacturing services to the pharmaceutical industry.  Including advanced intermediates, registered materials and active pharmaceutical ingredients. Our technologies include biocatalysis, homogeneous catalysis, fermentation and chiral technologies. DSM delivers comprehensive custom manufacturing services to the spectrum of pharmaceutical companies including emerging pharmaceutical companies and large pharmaceutical companies from clinical to commercial manufacturing.

About DSM Anti-Infectives
DSM Anti-Infectives is the world’s leading supplier of active pharmaceutical ingredients such as amoxicillin, ampicillin, cephalexin and cefadroxil, the worlds most widely used broad spectrum antibiotics for combating bacterial infections. Its product portfolio also includes clavulanic acid, nystatin, penicillin, penicillin intermediates (6-APA and 7-ADCA), industrial enzymes and side chains. The company is headquartered in Delft, the Netherlands, and has a global presence with manufacturing facilities in Europe, Africa, China and India and sales offices across the globe. More information can be found on http://www.dsm.com/en_US/html/dai/daihomepage.htm.