Royal DSM N.V., the global Life Sciences and Materials Sciences company headquartered in the Netherlands, and DuPont announce an agreement to form a joint venture to develop, manufacture and commercialize advanced surgical biomedical materials, pending European Union regulatory approval. The joint venture will be named Actamax Surgical Materials LLC. Under the joint venture agreement, DSM and DuPont will each share a 50 percent interest.

The joint venture will address the market for surgical sealants, adhesion barriers and tissue adhesives. This is a large and underserved market of over 100 million annual surgical procedures worldwide. The outcome of many surgical procedures could be positively impacted using next-generation materials under development by the joint venture.

Actamax Surgical Materials LLC will build a comprehensive biomedical product portfolio based on several patent-protected biodegradable hydrogel technologies. The early technology development was completed utilizing DuPont materials science and biotechnology capabilities. Commercialization will rely on the medical polymer processing and manufacturing capabilities of DSM.

The activities of the joint venture fit with the DSM biomedical materials portfolio in which the company, through its DSM Biomedical unit, has rapidly built a leading position in the past few years. Actamax Surgical Materials LLC is a strategic component of the DuPont Applied BioSciences business, which integrates biotechnology with other sciences to create products that can transform large, addressable markets. The joint venture will focus on the clinical validation of the products and technology and commercialization will include manufacture and sale of proprietary products as well as the establishment of joint development relationships with leading device companies.

"The cooperation with DuPont is a great way to further boost our activities in the biomedical field," said Christophe J. Dardel, president DSM Biomedical. "In line with our open innovation strategy, this will allow us to combine the strengths of two leading companies to develop solutions to better address patient needs through material innovations."

"Our platform of technologies will offer physicians and patients improved outcomes of surgery that will prevent post-operative complications while reducing health care costs," said John Ranieri, vice president DuPont Applied BioSciences. "Actamax will deliver a number of products that can be optimized for different surgical situations and clinical needs. The success DSM has had in the biomedical materials market makes them an ideal strategic partner for us to commercialize our technology portfolio."

For more information, visit www.actamax.com