The Covid-19 initiative of the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) has awarded a milestone-based grant of up to €375 million for BioNTech, the Mainz, Germany-based biotech, to support its efforts to develop a commercially available vaccine against the virus.
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is deliberating whether to allow AstraZeneca to resume its recently begun Phase 3 US clinical trial of the adenovirus-based Covid-19 vaccine it is developing for Oxford University. An adverse event last week caused the – meanwhile resumed – UK study to be paused,
Pharmaceuticals heavyweight Novartis is changing the name of its previously indirect subsidiary AveXis to Novartis Gene Therapies. The Swiss drugmaker said the change signifies the growing importance of gene therapy to building a leading, focused medicines company with advanced therapy platforms. In future, AveXis and Novartis brands will operate under one corporate umbrella.
Gilead Sciences is to acquire Immunomedics for approximately $21 billion. The deal, unanimously approved by both companies' boards of directors, will be funded by $15 billion in cash and $6 billion in new debt, and is expected to close during the fourth quarter of 2020.
US-based CDMO Catalent is joining forces with compatriot drug discovery company Exelixis to develop multiple antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs). The company’s Redwood Bioscience subsidiary will use its proprietary SMARTag site-specific bioconjugation technology to build ADCs using monoclonal antibodies from Exelixis’ preclinical pipeline.
Dow is selling its three industrial terminals on the US Gulf Coast to a new 50:50 joint venture of Royal Vopak and BlackRock’s Global Energy & Power Infrastructure Fund for $620 million. The terminals, with a total combined capacity of 825,000 cubic meters, are at Freeport, Texas and St. Charles and Plaquemine in Louisiana.
Despite the global coronavirus pandemic that threatened to wipe out gains made since the deep economic recession of a decade ago, Germany’s chemicals and pharmaceutical producers held up relatively well in the first half year, Christian Kullmann, president of the industry association Verband der Chemischen Industrie (VCI), told journalists last week.
According to its latest Chemical Quarterly Report, which CEFIC, the European Chemical Industry Council, published on Sept. 10, chemical output in the EU27 dropped by 5.2% from January to June 2020 compared to the previous year’s level (January to June 2019), following the Covid-19 outbreak in Europe.
Dupont has announced the sale of its trichlorosilane (TCS) business and its equity interest in the Hemlock Semiconductor (HSC) joint venture to Hemlock for $725 million. The business, based in Saginaw County, Michigan, USA, produces TCS, which is a key raw material for HSC’s high-purity polysilicon that it supplies to the semiconductor and solar industries.
US industrial gases producer Air Products has signed a long-term contract to build a new state-of-the-art plant to supply an unnamed manufacturer of memory chips on-site in Malaysia’s Prai Industrial Park at Penang.
AstraZeneca has resumed Phase 2/3 clinical trials with Oxford University’s Covid-19 vaccine candidate in the UK, days after halting the tests due to an “adverse neurological event” that CEO Pascal Soriot said occurred in the UK trial and involved an inflammatory spinal cord disorder.
US biopharma AbbVie has signed a global collaboration agreement with China’s I-Mab to develop and commercialize lemzoparlimab – also known as TJC4 – an anti-CD47 monoclonal antibody for treating multiple cancers. The companies can also potentially expand the collaboration to include other therapies.
Invista Performance Technologies (IPT) has won two separate contracts to supply its PTA technology for projects in China and Turkey.
Catalent Gene Therapy, a unit of US-based CDMO Catalent, is spending $130 million on five new Phase 3-through commercial-scale manufacturing suites at its gene therapy campus in Harmans, Maryland, near Baltimore Washington International (BWI) airport. The company said the investment is in reaction to a growing customer pipeline and market demand.
Dutch-domiciled, US-managed olefins chemicals and plastics major LyondellBasell and China's Liaoning Bora Enterprise Group (Bora) have started up their new polyolefins complex at Panjin in northeastern China’s Liaoning province. Bora is one of the largest private petrochemical enterprises in the region.
UK specialty chemicals and sustainable technologies company Johnson Matthey (JM) and US engineering and construction contractor KBR have entered into an alliance to license a “ground-breaking” ammonia-methanol co-production process.
AstraZeneca has temporarily paused Phase 2/3 global clinical trials of the adenovirus-viral vector-based Covid-19 candidate it is developing for Oxford University. The Anglo-Swedish drugmaker initially cited “a serious suspected adverse reaction” in a participant without revealing details.
Shell has announced plans to replace the ethylene steam cracker furnaces at its petrochemicals complex in Moerdijk, the Netherlands, in a move that will reduce the site’s annual greenhouse gas emissions by 10%.
DSM has formed a 50:50 joint venture with Dutch industrial manufacturing group VDL Groep to produce medical facemasks and components in the Netherlands.
With some potential Covid-19 vaccine makers suggesting they could have a candidate ready for approval and maybe even deployment this autumn, concerns are arising that a doubting public could shun inoculation.
Air Liquide has entered into a long-term agreement with Eastman Chemical for the supply of additional gaseous oxygen, nitrogen and syngas. The extra volumes will support Eastman’s growth and production in Longview, Texas, USA.
To help meet surging demand for Covid-19 diagnostics, US diagnostic specialist Thermo Fisher Scientific has completed a new $40 million production plant for viral transport media at its Lenexa, Kansas, site in a record six weeks.
AkzoNobel has completed its acquisition of Stahl Performance Powder Coatings, adding to its range of products for heat sensitive substrates. The Dutch coatings giant said the deal gives it accelerated access to unique low curing technology and strengthens its position as a complete provider of sustainable solutions for these substrates, in particular for its wood coatings customers.
LyondellBasell has been chosen by Duqm Refinery and Petrochemical Industries Company (DRPIC) to license its PP and HDPE technologies for new plants to be built in Al Duqm, Oman. The plants will have capacities of 280,000 t/y PP and 480,000 t/y HDPE, using Spheripol and Hostalen technologies, respectively.
Synthetic biotech company Amyris said it has successfully scaled up commercial production of cannabigerol (CBG) through leveraging its industrial fermentation process capability. The precursor from which all other cannabinoids are synthesized, CBG is a non-psychoactive cannabinoid that is said to present significant therapeutic potential.
Acting on an executive order by president Donald Trump, the US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has levied sanctions on six international companies for allegedly supplying oil and feedstock to Iran’s Triliance Petrochemical.
Unilever has announced that it will source 100% of the carbon used in its cleaning and laundry products from renewable or recycled sources rather than from traditional fossil fuels as it seeks to transform the sustainability of well-known brands such as Omo (Persil), Sunlight, Cif and Domestos.
Catalent Biologics is investing $50 million in an additional high-speed vial filling line at its Bloomington, Indiana, USA, facility to support the growing pipeline of clinical programs and commercial launches at the site.
Specialty chemicals producer Evonik is investing around €15 million in its C4 production network in Marl. Germany. The three-pronged focus is on Tert. butanol (TBA), di-isobutene (DiB) and 3,5,5-trimethylhexanal (TMH).
Specialty chemicals and ingredients distributor IMCD has entered into an agreement to take over South Africa’s Siyeza Fine Chem Propriety. Financial terms of the transaction, which is expected to close in December, were not disclosed.
French biotech Domain Therapeutics, which specializes in the discovery and development of new drugs targeting G Protein-Coupled Receptors (GPCRs) in immuno-oncology, neurology and rare diseases, has signed a collaboration agreement with US pharma giant Pfizer to profile downstream signaling pathways of a set of GPCRs potentially involved across multiple therapeutic areas.
Huntsman has agreed to sell about 42.5 million shares in Venator Materials – representing just below 40% of Venator’s outstanding shares – to private equity group SK Capital Partners for $100 million cash. The deal includes a 30-month option at $2.15/share for the remaining 9.5 million shares that Huntsman owns.
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has come under fire again as the federal health agency issued its third Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) for a Covid-19 treatment since the beginning of the pandemic. This extended the authorization for Gilead’s remdesivir, which it markets as Veklury.
Nestlé Health Science has agreed to buy Aimmune Therapeutics, a US biopharma and developer of food allergy treatments. The Swiss multinational food and beverage conglomerate already owns about 25.6% of the company through investments worth $473 million made between November 2016 and January 2020.
The Society of Chemical Manufacturers & Affiliates (SOCMA) has purchased the Specialty & Custom Chemicals Show from previous owner Chemicals America.
