German specialty chemicals producer Evonik has emerged as one of only a handful of companies with concrete plans to use green hydrogen to make chemicals, although several others are eyeing the renewable fuel as an energy source.
In its second acquisition this month, IMCD has taken over Swedish minerals and chemicals distributor ACM. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
Roquette, a French-based multinational provider of pharmaceutical and nutraceutical excipients, has opened a new Pharmaceutical Innovation Center near Philadelphia in Pennsylvania, USA, complementing its other centers in France and Singapore.
All immediate challenges to the status of abortifacient mifepristone on the US market are on ice for the near future after the Supreme Court on Apr. 21 — without considering the merits of the case — approved a Justice Department request to put temporarily suspend recent rulings by a federal district court and an appeals court.
Bayer has seen its share of turbulent shareholder meetings, and the event on Apr. 28 is likely to continue in that vein, though it would be tough to top 2019. In that year, when anger over lawsuits involving Monsanto’s Roundup herbicide boiled over, 55% voted not to discharge CEO Werner Baumann and the managing board of their responsibilities.
Austrian technology group Andritz and Norwegian green hydrogen company HydrogenPro are working together to scale up the manufacturing and assembly of electrolyzers for the European market.
DSM is in exclusive talks with US CDMO Adare Pharma Solutions to buy Adare Biome, a French developer and manufacture of postbiotics, for €275 million.
Thailand’s Indorama Ventures (IVL) says it is “continuing to assess” plans to build and operate a plant for “world-class” lithium-ion battery solvents at one of its petrochemical facilities on the US Gulf Coast, but no longer with Capchem USA, subsidiary of China’s Shenzen-Capchem Technology.
Together with its Brazilian joint venture partner Tovani Benzaquen Ingredientes, Dutch distributor Barentz International has bought Metachem Industrial e Comercial and associate Chemtra Comercial Importação e Exportação.
Ghana-based start-up AppCyclers has developed a web- and app-based solution for local electronics waste (e-waste) management services. What distinguishes these innovators is their holistic approach: With this contribution to sustainable chemistry, they not only focus on safe and efficient disposal of e-waste and material recovery. They also educate local communities about the importance of proper disposal and reducing their e-waste footprint.
At its production site in Herne, Germany, specialty chemicals producer Evonik is investing in a pilot electrolyzer to produce green hydrogen as a feedstock for isophorone diamine (IPDA), a key raw material for wind turbine rotor blades.
Interview with Annegret Vester, Chief Sustainability Officer (CSO), CHT Germany
AkzoNobel has agreed to buy Sherwin-Williams’ Chinese decorative paints business for an undisclosed sum. The transaction is expected to close in the second half of this year. The business has annual revenues of about €100 million and employs about 300 people.
Saudi Arabia is transferring another 4% chunk of state-owned oil giant Saudi Aramco, parent company of petrochemicals and plastics producer SABIC, to Sanabil Investments, a vehicle wholly owned by the Kingdom’s Public Investment Fund (PIF).
Shares of Prometheus Biosciences soared on news that US drugs major Merck will acquire the company in an all-cash deal valued at roughly $200 per share, or $10.8 billion.
British multinational engineering and consulting business Wood Group has decided to engage with private equity firm Apollo Management, which has made a fifth offer valuing the group at about $2 billion.
Versalis is planning a project at its site in Ravenna, Italy, to increase capacity for elastomers. Estimated investment costs are put at about $80 million
Italian biopharma Chiesi has completed its acquisition of Irish rare disease drugmaker Amryt Pharma. The deal, which was originally announced in January, could be worth up to €1.4 billion for Amryt if certain milestones are met for its epidermolysis bullosa (EB) drug Filsuvez.
With much fanfare, Swiss specialty chemicals producer Clariant has opened a new production facility for its Catofin-branded catalysts completed late last year at Jiaxing in China’s Zhejiang Province.
As part of administrator Michael Regan’s drive to improve air quality in residential areas bordering chemical production facilities, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has proposed that companies measure emissions of certain hazardous compounds that drift beyond the factory fence lines and reduce them if they are too high.
Swiss WorldCargo, Swiss Airtainer, and B.P.L. have announced the launch of a self-sustaining airfreight container.
All changes to the US use of abortifacient mifepristone are now on hold – for three more days – pending a review by Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito of two complex and differing lower court decision on lawsuits brought by anti-abortion groups.
Azelis has agreed to acquire the majority shares of Brazilian specialty distributor Vogler Ingredients. Vogler is active in the food & nutrition and animal nutrition markets and employs 130 people servicing 2,300 customers, including many of the region’s largest food and animal feed producers.
Lummus Technology and US biotech RWDC Industries have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to cooperate on deploying polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs), a group of natural biodegradable polyesters that are a sustainable alternative to fossil-based plastics.
A move by US drugmaker Merck & Co. to have Bayer assume all liability for lawsuits alleging that the talc-based Dr. Scholl's foot powder causes cancer has failed, at least in the first instance.
US renewable chemicals and advanced biofuels company Gevo has entered into a joint development agreement for its ethanol-to-olefins (ETO) technology with South Korean chemicals group LG Chem.
German biotech and Covid vaccine maker BioNTech has sealed a major deal with Chinese biotech DualityBio to co-develop and commercialize two cancer antibody drug candidates (ADCs).
WuXi STA has added two reactors at its Changzhou campus in China, enhancing capacity and capability at its TIDES contract research, development and manufacturing platform for oligonucleotide, peptide and related synthetic conjugates. The reactors have capacity of 2,000 liters each, taking total volume for solid-phase peptide synthesizers to more than 10,000 liters.
Germany’s Merck plans to invest some €300 million in an integrated specialty gas plant in Hometown, Pennsylvania, to support the development of its semiconductor business.
Catalent, a US-headquartered CDMO, has broken ground on a project in Schorndorf, Germany, that will add capacity for storing and handling clinical trial supply materials at controlled temperatures.
Solvay has agreed a strategic collaboration with Ginkgo Bioworks, which the Belgian chemical giant said is aimed at “building the leading platform for cell programming and biosecurity.” Financial details were not disclosed.
Polish chemical producer Grupa Azoty, US-based Ultra Safe Nuclear Corporation (USNC) and the West Pomeranian University of Technology in Szczecin, Poland, have signed an agreement to develop and construct a nuclear energy research facility based on Ultra Safe Nuclear’s Micro-ModulaReactor (MMR) technology in Poland.
Austrian biotech Proxygen has announced a multi-year collaboration and license agreement with US drugmaker Merck & Co to identify and develop molecular glue degraders against multiple therapeutic targets. The deal could be worth up to $2.55 billion for Proxygen, based on achieving certain milestones.
Plaskolite, a US producer of engineering thermoplastics, has agreed to buy a facility in Mexico that specializes in manufacturing cell cast acrylic sheet from Trinseo. The deal, which is expected to close in the next few weeks, includes the land, buildings and equipment – financial terms were not disclosed.
Conflicting decisions by federal courts in Texas and Washington on separate lawsuits involving mifepristone, one of the two drugs most widely used in medication-induced abortions, dominated US news over the Easter weekend. One of the rulings is thought likely to be challenged all the way to the Supreme Court.
