dsm-firmenich completes the acquisition of Glycom and accelerates its leadership in the Early Life Nutrition market

Summary

• By completing the acquisition of Glycom, dsm-firmenich expands its offering for next-generation Early Life Nutrition solutions.
• Glycom is a major pioneer in HMOs, with a rich, science-backed product pipeline, and the only fully-integrated HMO provider in the world. 
  
• The synergy accelerates dsm-firmenich’s leadership by combining it’s broad market reach with Glycom’s best-in-class HMO platform. 

Sealing a strategic fit 

dsm-firmenich is a leading global solutions provider to the Early Life Nutrition and Dietary Supplement industries with a unique portfolio including nutritional lipids, vitamins and custom nutrient premixes. With the acquisition of Glycom and by integrating the HMO platform into its full solutions portfolio, dsm-firmenich furthers its leadership and enables the combination of complementary competences and expertise serving its global customer base. 

Glycom has its own product development, preclinical and clinical programs, regulatory team, as well as large-scale production in its state-of-the-art manufacturing plant in Esbjerg, Denmark. Next-generation HMOs are part of Glycom’s exciting innovation roadmap, with four new HMOs becoming available this year to further catalyze the already fast-growing HMO market.

Part of our purpose-led promise

HMOs are a collection of carbohydrate structures and the third largest solid component of human milk after fat and lactose. They act as prebiotics in infants, which help to develop the desired microbiota by serving as food for the good bacteria in the intestine. Naturally occurring in breast milk, they have evolved over thousands of years, providing us with unique health benefits. In particular, they support both immune and cognitive development, which may open future innovation opportunities. 

Global consensus supports breastfeeding as the gold standard to give newborns the best start in life. When mothers cannot breastfeed or do not want to breastfeed, whatever the reason may be, a safe and suitable breastmilk substitute should be fed to the newborn. Together, dsm-firmenich and Glycom enable its customers to develop innovative solutions to help set infants on a path to a long, healthy life, which is part of our promise to help keep the world’s growing population healthy.

Beyond the Early Life Nutrition market, there is significant interest in HMO use as a dietary supplement and potentially in food & beverage, and in fulfilling unmet medical nutrition needs, such as irritable bowel syndrome.