DSM will invest in the expansion of DSM Anti-Infectives’ production facilities at Toansa (India). The investment will increase production of the penicillin-related intermediate 6-APA and of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs). The expansion is part of the global restructuring program at the DSM Anti-Infectives business group that DSM announced in December 2004 with the aim of improving profitability in the short term and retaining DSM’s leading positions in the global market for penicillin and penicillin derivatives.

The expansion will take place in 2006 and will lead to a doubling of production capacity for 6-APA and Amoxicillin in India. The new facilities will be based on DSM’s proprietary production technologies.

The investment at Toansa is fully in line with DSM’s new corporate strategy Vision 2010 – Building on Strengths. An essential element of this strategy is active expansion of DSM’s presence in emerging economies, in order to optimally benefit from the fast growing demand in these countries.

“It is DSM Anti-Infectives’ ambition to capture the growth of the anti-infectives market on the Asian and African continents,” says N.V. Ramanan, President of the Business Unit DSM Anti-Infectives Asia Middle East and Africa, headquartered in Delhi, India, who is responsible for the Toansa site. “But the investment not only brings higher capacity. It will also introduce our environmentally-friendly proprietary enzymatic technology for the production of active ingredients in India. This will lead to products with a unique, improved quality and will bring substantial value to the customers of our businesses in the Asia region.”

DSM Anti-Infectives will market the products from the new facilities under the PureActives™ brand, stressing the high purity and better processing capabilities of the enzymatically produced Amoxicillin. The new capacities are scheduled to come on stream in phases between January and August 2006.