DSM has said that it has decided to decommission manufacturing of pharma chemicals at its location in Greenville, US. Production operations will cease in the course of 2004.

The company blamed the move on increasing competition in the market for manufacturing active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) from Asian firms. Also, with fewer new drugs being produced at present, the number of customers for contract API manufacture is shrinking.

The DSM Greenville site hosts three independent businesses: DSM Pharma Chemicals, DSM Pharmaceuticals (which manufactures finished drugs) and DSM High Performance Fibers (which makes a fibre for use in bulletproof vests). The latter two businesses will continue normal operations. The decision to discontinue the DSM Pharma Chemicals operations in Greenville will affect over 200 employees, said the company

All staff who are affected by these measures will have positions at least to early to mid December 2003, and have been informed about the restructuring measures, according to DSM.

DSM said that the Pharma Chemicals unit will work closely with its customers to transfer the volume of remaining products to other manufacturing sites.