Germany’s Henkel has entered into an agreement with compatriot firm Invincible Brands Holding to take a 75% stake in a business that comprises three fast-growing premium direct-to-consumer (D2C) beauty brands: HelloBody, Banana Beauty and Mermaid+Me.
Animal health biopharma Invetx has launched an antibody-based platform for the discovery and development of novel medicines for veterinarians and pet owners.
Momentive Performance Materials is selling its consumer sealants business to Henkel for an undisclosed sum in a move the US firm said will enable greater focus on unique silicones and specialty applications where it has “a strong ability to win”.
Bayer is to acquire UK biotech Kandy Therapeutics in a move that will expand its drug development pipeline in women’s healthcare.
Brazilian conglomerate Odebrecht has begun the initial process to sell up to its full shareholding in polyolefins producer Braskem. Odebrecht is selling its stake in order to fulfil commitments it made to creditors, both before and during its bankruptcy, Braskem said.
Nouryon is to expand monochloroacetic acid (MCA) production capacity at its site in Delfzijl, the Netherlands, by the end of 2020.
US API specialist LGM Pharma has acquired the formulation development and drug product contract manufacturing business of specialty pharma company Nexgen Pharma for an undisclosed sum.
Why BASF Venture Capital is investing in SmartAHC, a supplier of digitalization solutions for pig farming on the Chinese market.
The Austrian government is sharing a third of the cost of a €150 million upgrade Novartis' generics unit Sandoz is stemming at its Kundl, Austria, facility. The Swiss drugmaker claims this is the last remaining integrated production chain for antibiotics in the Western world.
After teaming up with Germany’s BioNTech to develop a vaccine for Covid-19, US drugs giant Pfizer is joining US Gilead Sciences on the therapeutic side. The biopharma company’s antiviral remdesivir is currently favored as a treatment for the novel coronavirus.
Johnson Matthey has won a contract to build a third methanol synthesis plant for China’s Ningxia Baofeng Energy at its coal-to-olefins complex near Yinchuan in Ningxia province.
UK chemical exports in the second quarter of this year have steadied but uncertainty looms for the rest of 2020 with risks from both Covid-19 and Brexit, said the Chemical Industries Association (CIA).
Brenntag has bought the operating assets of US-based Suffolk Solutions’ caustic soda distribution business, gaining access to a bulk terminal and rail transloading facility in the Virginia port city of the same name. The acquired business had sales of about $15.6 million in the fiscal year ending Apr. 30, 2020.
Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC)’s shipping and maritime logistics subsidiary ADNOC Logistics & Services (ADNOC L&S) has formed a joint venture with China’s Wanhua Chemical, regarded as the world’s leading producer of polyurethane starting material MDI.
In a much heeded licensing deal, AstraZeneca (AZ) has awarded Chinese pharma BioKangta sole commercial rights to its AZD1222 Covid-19 vaccine candidate in the People’s Republic. The UK drugmaker is developing the adenovirus vector-based vaccine on behalf of Oxford University, which created it.
UK-Swedish drugmaker AstraZeneca has entered into a global development and commercialization agreement with Daiichi Sankyo, which could be worth up to $6 billion for the Japanese pharma.
Johnson & Johnson (J&J) has struck a deal with the US government worth just over $1 billion to supply 100 million doses of subsidiary Janssen’s SARS-CoV-2 investigational vaccine, Ad26.COV2.S. The terms apply solely to manufacturing of the vaccine in the US but the company suggests it could be distributed worldwide.
Last week’s announcement that photography group Eastman Kodak had received a 25-year, $765 million US government loan to produce active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) took the market by surprise. The plan was said to be to secure a national emergency supply, in order to reduce dependence on Chinese and Indian imports.
US thermoset resins and specialty chemicals company Hexion is collaborating with Poland’s D&R Dispersions and Resins on the first commercial-scale production of the former’s VeoVa silane technology, which is free of isocyanates.
Air Liquide and Sasol have entered into exclusive negotiations for the French industrial gases group to acquire Sasol’s oxygen production site in Secunda, South Africa. The move is part of Sasol’s plans to cut CO2 emissions.
Swiss CDMO Lonza is expanding its microbial manufacturing facility in Visp, Switzerland, to add mid-scale (3,000 l) commercial manufacturing for multiple customers and in particular to supply a long-term partner, France’s Laboratoires Servier, with active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) for acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) therapies.
Indian state-owned oil and gas group Indian Oil Corp will build an integrated paraxylene (PX) and purified terephthalic acid (PTA) complex at Paradip in Odisha, India. Investment costs are estimated at 138 billion Indian rupees, or $1.8 billion.
US chemical producer Ashland said it has reached a “definitive agreement” to sell its maleic anhydride (MA) business and the production plant at Neal, West Virginia, to AOC Materials for $100 million. The transaction is expected to close by the end of 2020, pending all approvals.
The Covid-19 vaccine partnership of Germany’s BioNTech and US drugs giant Pfizer inked its third supply pact in a week on Jul. 31. This deal, with the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare (MHLW), follows separate agreements with the US and UK signed in the two preceding days.
French storage operator Rubis Terminal is to take over leading Spanish bulk liquid storage firm Tepsa in what it describes as a “transformational and strategic acquisition” that will increase its business by about 30%. The transaction is subject to approval from Spanish regulatory authorities.
After declaring in May that it would set up a global healthcare business, petrochemicals giant Ineos launched Ineos Hygienics on Jul. 30. The move was triggered by the outbreak of Covid-19 and the subsequent pandemic, which led demand for sanitizers to soar. Ineos responded by rapidly building six hand sanitizer plants in the UK, USA, Germany and France.
Lagging behind other big names of late in announcing Covid-19 vaccine supply deals, French and British drugmakers Sanofi and GlaxoSmithkline together nailed down agreements with the US and UK at the end of last week. The companies have hinted that a deal with the EU could be reached shortly.
Wacker Biotech, CDMO subsidiary of the Munich-based chemical group, is investing a mid-double-digit-million euro sum in its production facilities for biologics, LMPs (live microbial products) and vaccines at the Amsterdam site it acquired two years ago.
Former photography giant Eastman Kodak is moving into the manufacture of pharmaceutical ingredients, supported by a $765 million government loan awarded by the administration of US president Donald Trump under the Defense Production Act (DPA).
In a study carried out by an independent laboratory, the Rely On Virkon broad-spectrum surface disinfectant produced by Lanxess was shown to inactivate the SARS-CoV-2 virus, also known as Covid-19, rapidly, the German specialty chemicals company reports.
Linde has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Beijing Green Hydrogen Technology Development, a subsidiary of China Power International Development, to jointly promote the application and development of green hydrogen in China.
Clariant has signed a licensing deal for its sunliquid cellulosic ethanol technology with Bulgaria’s Eta Bio. The Swiss specialty chemicals group said the agreement, the fourth for sunliquid, represents another significant step toward the technology’s commercialization and also gives it a foothold in the agricultural sector.
The European Commission has signed a €63 million contract with Gilead Sciences to deliver batches of Veklury, Gilead’s name for the antiviral remdesivir, to the EU’s 27 member states as well as the UK, starting in early August.
US investment firm SK Capital Partners has agreed to acquire the specialty polymers business of energy technology group Baker Hughes. The transaction is expected to close in the second half of this year.
European officials recently began talking to companies developing Covid-19 vaccines about supplying the EU’s 27 member states, in hope that none would fall behind bigger markets such as the US, which began making exclusive deals early on. Now Reuters suggests the talks may have hit a snag.
