In a move to advance productivity, the healthcare division of Germany’s Merck is realigning its drug discovery and launch strategy. Global healthcare research chief Danny Bar-Zohar told a conference call this week that the Darmstadt-based company will seek to strike a new balance between in-house R&D and external collaboration.
Dutch storage operator Vopak and Malaysian energy company Petronas have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to develop carbon capture and storage (CCS) in Southeast Asia.
US CDMO Cambrex has agreed to buy Snapdragon Chemistry, a compatriot company specializing in developing continuous flow and batch processes for APIs. Snapdragon is based in Waltham, Massachusetts, where it employs 74 people.
IMCD has agreed to buy Parkash DyeChem, a leading Indian distributor of specialty chemicals for construction and printing inks. Financial terms of the deal, which is expected to close next month, were not revealed.
LyondellBasell (LYB) said it is moving ahead with engineering for a commercial scale advanced plastics waste recycling plant it intends to build at its Wesseling, Germany, production site together with Germany’s 23 Oaks Investments.
As abortion continues to dominate the political discussion in the US and at least half of the 50 states move toward outlawing the procedure in response to last summer’s Supreme Court decision that it is not a constitutional right, conservative and religious groupings are pushing for a ban on sales of the oral abortifacient Mifeprex. (mifepristone).
Saudi Aramco has announced that its South Korean affiliate S-Oil will proceed with a refinery-petrochemical project at Ulsan. The complex will represent the first commercialization of Aramco and Lummus Technology’s thermal crude-to-chemicals technology (TC2C) when it starts up in 2026.
After a long delay, Shell has started up its controversial super-sized US ethane cracker and downstream polyethylene complex at Monaca in western Pennsylvania, close to the Utica and Marcellus shale basins in the heart of the US fracking industry.
John Wood Group has settled a lawsuit brought by Enterprise Products relating to delays on a propane dehydrogenation (PDH) project in Mont Belvieu, Texas, USA.
Chevron Phillips Chemical (CPChem) and QatarEnergy — formerly Qatar Petroleum — have taken a positive final investment decision on their proposed $8.5 billion joint ethylene/PE complex in the US. They have formed a joint venture called Golden Triangle Polymers, owned 51% by CPChem and 49% by QatarEnergy.
Germany has tapped US industrial gases producer Air Products and Oiltanking Deutschland, part of the Mabanaft group, to realise the country’s first large-scale, green energy project as it transitions toward making hydrogen the backbone of its renewable energy strategy.
LyondellBasell is evaluating an expansion of propylene production at its Channelview complex on the US Gulf coast, widening output by 400,000 t/y. A final decision is expected at the end of 2023. The expansion would lift output by more than 35% and create some 10-15 new jobs.
Germany’s Merck is investing over €290 million in US biosafety testing capacity at Rockville, Maryland, to “significantly increase” its ability to meet double-digit demand growth. The largest investment in contract testing in its history will create more than 500 new jobs.
US titanium dioxide pigments and performance additives producer Venator Materials has agreed to sell its iron oxide business to Hong Kong’s Cathay Industries for an enterprise value of $140 million. The transaction is expected to close by the end of quarter one 2023.
International Chemical Investors Group (ICIG) has entered exclusive negotiations with Nippon Soda and made what it said is a “firm and binding offer” to acquire the Japanese group’s offshoot Métaux Spéciaux (MSSA), a sodium metal specialist.
Univation Technologies has been selected by PT Kilang Pertamina Internasional (PT-KPI) to provide its Unipol PE process for a new 700,000 t/y plant to be installed at the latter’s Tuban complex in East Java, Indonesia.
British drugmaker Indivior has agreed to buy Opiant, a US biotech specializing in treatments for addiction and drug overdose. Indivior will pay about $145 million upfront, plus another $68 million if Opiant hits revenue milestones.
Sinarmas CEPSA, a 50:50 joint venture between Spanish CEPSA and Indonesian conglomerate Sinar Mas, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Singaporean palm oil producer Golden Agri-Resources – a subsidiary of Sinar Mas – to expand bio-based chemicals production.
AstraZeneca (AZ) has announced it is permanently backing away from any plans to sell its Vaxzevria-branded Covid-19 vaccine in the US.
Solvay said it plans to resume construction on its 600,000 t/y soda ash capacity expansion at its Green River, Wyoming, US plant, with production now expected to start at the end of 2024. The project was put on hold in September 2020, due to the coronavirus pandemic
French pharma Sanofi has entered a multi-year, multi-target research collaboration worth up to $1.2 billion with Hong Kong biotech Insilico Medicine.
The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has awarded $7.7 million in research grant funding to 11 technology institutions to develop and evaluate innovative methods and approaches to inform understanding of the human health risks of exposure to chemical mixtures in the environment.
German Covid-19 vaccine specialist BioNTech has acquired a production facility in Singapore from Swiss drugmaker Novartis that will serve as a manufacturing base in addition to being its Asia-Pacific headquarters.
Leading chemicals and ingredients distributor Brenntag has announced the second phase of its strategic growth plan, which sets new goals until 2026.
LyondellBasell has won contracts for two PP projects, one in China and the other in Vietnam. The value of the contracts was not disclosed.
Angus Chemical Company, a US-based global manufacturer and marketer of specialty ingredients for life sciences and industrial markets, has acquired Expression Systems, a compatriot manufacturer of cell culture media, baculovirus molecular reagents and cell lines used in advanced biological-based therapeutics.
Japan-based multinational chemical producer Asahi Kasei has begun construction of an alkaline water electrolysis pilot test plant for hydrogen production in Kawasaki, Japan.
The International Society for Pharmaceutical Engineering (ISPE) has announced Takeda Pharmaceuticals International as the 2022 Facility of the Year Awards (FOYA) Overall Winner.
After several delays and restarts and a lengthy review by the European Medicines Agency (EMA), the Covid-19 vaccine called VidPrevtyn Beta developed by the French-British partnership of Sanofi and GSK has been greenlighted by the European Commission.
Australia’s Incitec Pivot Ltd (IPL) has entered into a joint venture with Saudi Arabia’s Modern Chemicals Company (MCC) to build the Kingdom’s first technical-grade ammonium nitrate plant. The companies did not reveal the size of their stakes in the venture.
UK specialist healthcare investor GHO Capital Partners and US investment firm The Vistria Group have entered into an agreement to buy a controlling interest in US CDMO Alcami from current private equity owners Madison Dearborn Partners (MDP) and Ampersand Capital Partners. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Turkish industrial conglomerate Yildirim will now launch a mandatory takeover bid for fertilizer producer Rosier – and a squeeze-out offer for the remaining shares – once the acquisition from Borealis has closed.
UK health regulator Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has approved the Pfizer/BioNTech bivalent Covid-19 vaccine for use as a booster in people 12 years and older.
US nylon giant Ascend Performance Materials has acquired an undisclosed majority stake in compatriot Circular Polymers, a recycler of post-consumer high-performance polymers including PA 6 and 6.6, polypropylene and PET.
Sandoz, the generics arm of Swiss drugmaker Novartis, has announced plans to spend an additional €50 million on raising European manufacturing capacity for finished dosage forms of amoxicillin and other key penicillin products.
