The governing board of the World Health Organization (WHO) has agreed to form a new committee to help speed up the response to health emergencies such as Covid-19. The action addresses criticism of the agency’s perceived slowness to act during the early phase of the coronavirus before it became a full-blown global pandemic.
Major API supplier Olon is establishing a €10 million central R&D hub at its headquarters site in Roadano, near Milan. The Italian company said the facility paves the way for a further major expansion and diversification of its expertise in active pharmaceutical ingredients supplied to the CDMO and generics markets.
Johnson Matthey has agreed to sell parts of its Battery Materials business in two separate transactions, marking a turnaround from its decision in January to close the division after failing to secure a buyer.
Lonza and Israel Biotech Fund (IBF) have signed a framework agreement, under which the Swiss CDMO will provide advice and support for Israeli biotech companies. IBF is dedicated to investing in and developing Israel’s biotech sector.
Azelis has agreed to buy Chemo India and Unipharm Laboratories, distributors of specialty chemicals and ingredients for the coatings, adhesives, sealants & elastomers (CASE), lubricants & metalworking fluids and pharmaceutical market segments in India.
Swiss specialty chemicals producer Clariant and its process partner, US engineering technology giant Lummus, have been tapped by Fujian Meide to supply the Catofin technology and catalysts for a new propane dehydrogenation plant (PDH) the subsidiary of Zhongjing Petrochemicals will operate in Fuzhou, China.
Building on agreements signed last September, BP, Abu Dhabi National Oil Co (ADNOC) and Masdar have inked further agreements to progress their partnerships on blue and green hydrogen projects in both the UK and United Arab Emirates (UAE).
Evonik is selling the TAeTTOOz materials technology for printable rechargeable batteries to InnovationLab, a company that helped developed it in partnership with the chemical producer’s Creavis “strategic development arm.
German chemical and pharmaceutical producers increased output by 1.3% and sales by 7.8% to €66.3 billion in the 2022 first quarter, compared with the last 2021 quarter. The quarter-on-quarter sales total was padded by a 6.7% price rise against the last three months of 2021, the industry association Verband der Chemischen Industrie said.
Norwegian renewable chemicals company Circa has teamed up with Finnish technology group Valmet to progress its ReSolute project, which is currently underway in France, as well as future large-scale plants.
US-based PCI Pharma Services, a multinational CDMO, is spending $100 million to enhance its capacity and capabilities in aseptic liquid fill-finish and sterile lyophilization at its campus in Bedford, New Hampshire. The move follows the acquisition of Lyophilization Services of New England (LSNE) last December, which added the Bedford site to PCI’s network.
In line with growth targets announced in March this year, Wacker Chemie is stepping up the pace of its capacity buildup for silicone rubber specialties to meet growing demand.
Dr. Paul Lohmann announces the cooperation with AloxX and the Otto von Guericke University Magdeburg (OVGU) in the field of innovative corrosion protection additives under the brand Lohtragon CP.
Somewhat later than expected, the US may soon be able to offer Covid-19 vaccinations for children five years of age and younger, something parents have repeatedly demanded. And there may be two companies’ mRNA-based shots to choose from.
Korea’s Hanmi Fine Chemical, which specializes in developing and manufacturing APIs, is launching a CDMO business. The Seoul-based company will invest about 10 billion Korean won to build what it terms “high-tech” CDMO facilities.
The Life Science segment of Germany’s Merck is investing around €440 million to increase membrane and filtration manufacturing capabilities in Ireland’s County Cork. The plans call for adding capacity at an existing plant in Carrigtwohill and building a new plant in Blarney Business Park.
Bayer is stepping away from the $670 million CAR-T worldwide license agreement it entered with Atara Biotherapeutics in 2020.
German drug discovery and development company Evotec and Canadian therapeutics company Sernova are collaborating to develop a diabetes treatment based on induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC). As part of the agreement, Evotec will make an equity investment in Sernova of €20 million.
Borouge, the Borealis/Abu Dhabi National Oil Co (ADNOC) joint venture, has announced plans to float a 10% stake in the company on the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX). The initial public offering (IPO) will make 3 billion shares available, which could reportedly raise about $2 billion.
Solvay is investing in Suanfarma’s manufacturing site in Lisbon, Portugal, run by subsidiary Cipan, to develop its biotechnological capabilities and support the development of natural ingredients used in the food, flavors and fragrance industries. The move is the first of a long-term strategic alliance between the two firms.
As Europe and North America face a potential monkeypox outbreak, Danish biotech Bavarian Nordic has won a contract to supply its smallpox vaccine to an unnamed European country.
BASF has doubled production capacity for its Irganox 1010-branded antioxidant at its site on Jurong Island, Singapore. The German group said the increase was achieved by integrating an additional production line into the existing production facilities.
The development and demonstration of a resilient power supply for data centers using fuel cells is the goal of the current EU research project "EcoEdge PrimePower" (E2P2). For the safe and long-term use of fuel cells, Tec4fuels is developing a water loop for the process water supply of solid oxide fuel cells (SOFC).
French technology provider Axens and compatriot producer Toray Films Europe are collaborating on a study to install a PET chemical recycling facility at the latter’s site in Saint-Maurice-de-Beynost.
Cytiva, the former biopharma activities of General Electric and now part of Danaher, will open a new manufacturing facility in Grens, Switzerland, on May 31. Operations at the existing site in Eysins will continue through 2023, while full production transfers to the Grens site.
The European Commission has indicated it may cancel an advance purchase agreement with Valneva that calls for the France-headquartered biotech to supply 60 million doses of its Covid-19 vaccine candidate over a two-year period up to 2023. A clause in the 2021 contract provided for termination if the European Medicines Agency (EMA) failed to grant conditional marketing authorization before the end of April 2022.
Malaysian petrochemicals giant Petronas Group (PCG) has conditionally agreed to acquire all of Swedish chemical producer Perstorp from Financière Forêt, a European private equity investor belonging to PAI Partners.
Shaheen Chem Holdings Investment, a privately owned company based in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), is joining the proposed Ta’ziz and Reliance Industries joint project that will produce chlor-alkali, EDC and PVC in Ruwais, Abu Dhabi.
Large-scale projects in pharmaceutical logistics are complex, long-term and investment-intensive projects that can only be successfully implemented with an assertive and goal-oriented large-scale project organization structure.
Dorothee Arns, Director General of FECC, discusses current challenges, market trends and her vision for the chemical distribution industry in Europe. The interview was conducted by Michael Reubold and Ralf Kempf.
Major UK pharmaceutical producer GlaxoSmithKline is slimming down not only by spinning off its consumer health business. It is also shedding excess verbiage by trimming its name to the three-letter acronym the company is known by, GSK.
US CDMO Avantor has announced plans to create a new manufacturing and distribution hub in Singapore in order to get closer to regional customers and strengthen its global supply chain capabilities.
Investment company H.I.G. Capital has agreed to sell Valtris Specialty Chemicals to an affiliate of funds managed by SK Capital Partners. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Based in Independence, Ohio, USA, the company manufactures specialty polymer additives and specialty chemicals at nine plants located around the world.
After making “good progress”, both strategically and financially, in the recent past, the next phase in Evonik’s drive toward enhanced business growth will see it execute “targeted and massive investments” in green chemistry and establish sustainability as its central innovation driver, CEO Christian Kullmann said at the company’s Capital Markets Day.
EureKING, a new special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) steered by former European biopharma executives, launched itself on May 9 and in a subsequent listing on the Paris-based Euronext stock exchange raised €150 million to buy up small European CDMOs that make biologics, cell and gene therapies or live biotherapeutics.
