Gilead Buys Oxford Spin-out MiroBio
Gilead Sciences has agreed to acquire MiroBio, a privately held UK biotech focused on treating inflammatory diseases, for about $405 million in cash.
News
Borealis Reaffirms Halt to Belgian PDH Plant
Borealis has reaffirmed the suspension of construction on a new propane dehydrogenation (PDH) plant at Kallo, Belgium. The Vienna-based group cited “serious allegations” concerning a two-subcontractor joint venture that is being scrutinized by Belgian authorities.
Amgen Takes ChemoCentryx for $3.7 Billion
Amgen is beefing up its inflammatory diseases portfolio with an agreement to buy US biopharma ChemoCentryx for roughly $3.7 billion. The deal gives Amgen access to vasculitis treatment Tavneos.
Pfizer to Pay $5.4 Billion for Global Blood Therapeutics
Pfizer is paying $5.4 billion to acquire Global Blood Therapeutics (GBT), a drugmaker specialized in treating blood disorders. It is one of several deals the company has inked recently to offset dwindling sales from its vaccine and therapeutics for Covid-19.
Digitalization And Sustainability
In addition to the transformation towards a climate-neutral chemical industry and the perennial topic of digitalization, the current global political situation also poses massive challenges for the process industry. Which technologies can be used to achieve defossilization? How to secure and enhance regional and global supply chain networks? And what hurdles must be overcome in the digitalization of the industry?
McDermott and KBR in Ammonia Pact
Engineering companies McDermott International and KBR have entered into a global licensing agreement to provide integrated solutions for KBR's proprietary ammonia technologies.
Covestro Chief Sees Recession Looming
A recession is headed for Europe that will be deeper and last longer than the financial crisis of 2008, Markus Steilemann, CEO of engineering plastics producer Covestro, predicted in an interview with a German business newspaper.
Ipsen and Marengo in Cancer Collaboration
French biopharma Ipsen and US-based Marengo Therapeutics have formed a strategic partnership that aims to advance two of Marengo’s preclinical immuno-oncology candidates.
Wacker Expanding Silicone Specialties in the US
Following up on expansion plans hinted at last year, Germany’s Wacker Chemie is proposing to build up its US complex at Charleston, Tennessee, into a center for silicone specialties.
Barentz Acquires Volp in Brazil
The consolidation in the distribution sector continues. In the latest deal, Life Sciences distributor Barentz International has announced the acquisition of Volp Indústria e Comércio, a Brazilian distributor of supplies and solutions for the Personal Care sector.
Saudi Aramco and Sinopec Extend Collaboration
Saudi Aramco and Sinopec have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) that covers multiple areas of potential collaboration in Saudi Arabia.
Univar Buys Spanish Distributor Vicom
Univar Solutions has bought Vicom Distribución Productos Quimicos, a specialty chemicals distributor operating in Spain and Portugal, in its first acquisition of the year.
Cariflex Starts Work on Singapore Latex Plant
Cariflex, a subsidiary of South Korea’s DL Chemical, has started building a polyisoprene latex plant on Jurong Island, Singapore. The plant, which Cariflex said will be the world’s largest and the first in Singapore for this type of latex, is expected to be operational by the second half of 2024.
CSL Close to Finally Taking Control of Vifor
Australian biopharma CSL said this week it has received all the regulatory clearance required to take over Switzerland’s Vifor. The acquisition announced in December 2021 temporarily stalled in May 2022.
OQ Chemicals Switching to Green Power
In its drive to become a climate-neutral company, Germany-based oxo-chemicals specialist OQ Chemical has announced it will switch all of its worldwide production sites to run on electricity from renewable sources in the medium term.
Chemours Expands Refrigerant Capacity
Chemours is expanding capacity for its Opteon YF refrigerants to meet customer demand. The Delaware-headquartered US group described the $80 million project at Corpus Christi, Texas, as a “critical growth investment.”
Pfizer and BioNTech Counter CureVac Lawsuit
Pfizer and BioNTech are fighting back against CureVac’s lawsuit that asserts the makers of the Comirnaty-branded mRNA vaccine for Covid-19 infringed its patent.
Indorama and Capchem Eye EV Battery Market
Thai-headquartered petrochemicals and polyester giant Indorama Ventures (IVL) and Capchem USA, a subsidiary of China’s Shenzhen Capchem Technology, are reviewing options for jointly building and operating a carbonate plant to supply the North American lithium-ion battery market.
3M to Separate Healthcare Business
US conglomerate 3M is to spin off its healthcare business in a move that chairman and CEO Mike Roman said will result in “two well-capitalized, world-class public companies, well positioned to pursue their respective priorities.”
Unigel Plans Brazil’s First Hydrogen Plant
Major Brazilian chemical company Unigel is planning to invest $120 million in developing a site for green hydrogen production.
DuPont Opens New Biopharma Tubing Site
DuPont has officially opened its expanded Liveo Healthcare Solutions biopharmaceutical tubing extrusion plant at its Cooper River site in the US state of South Carolina.
Dow and Al-Hejailan in Saudi MDEA Venture
Dow and Saudi family business Al-Hejailan Group have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to form a joint venture to design, build and operate a methyl diethanolamine (MDEA) plant in PlasChem Park in Jubail.
Air Products Beefs up its Climate Goals
Air Products is strengthening its sustainability goals, pledging to allot at least $4 billion in fresh capital for the transition to clean energy over the next five years. This builds on the more than $11 billion already commited to real zero- and low-carbon hydrogen projects.
Ineos Snags Three Major Chinese Deals
It has gone somewhat quiet around new European joint ventures in China of late, but Ineos has just announced three back-to-back projects with Chinese state-owned Sinopec that it said are worth altogether $7 billion and will lead to sales of around $10 billion from 7 million tonnes of production.
EuroAPI to Invest in Biomass Boiler in France
EuroAPI has announced it will spend €24 million to build a state-of-the-art biomass boiler at its Saint-Aubin-lès-Elbeuf (Seine-Maritime, France) site, planned to be installed by 2025.
WeylChem Upgrades French Glyoxal Plant
WeylChem is investing about €15 million to upgrade glyoxal production at its site in Lamotte, France. A new plant, which will increase capacity by approximately a third, is expected to start operating in early 2024.
Ammonia Producers may Cut Output to Save Gas
After Russia announced further cuts in its gas supply to Germany starting Jul. 27, ammonia producers were weighing plans to curb output of the commodity, for which natural gas is the key feedstock.
Trinseo Pauses Styrenics Sale
Trinseo has suspended plans for the sale of its styrenics business because of the current macroeconomic and geopolitical uncertainty. The company announced last November that it had begun exploring a potential divestment of the business, formally launching a sales process in the first quarter of this year.
Novasep‐PharmaZell Invests €7.3 Million in APIs
Financed in part by the French government’s France Relance plan, Novasep‐PharmaZell is investing €7.3 million in production of active pharmaceuticals (APIs) at its Mourenx, France, site.
OQ Chemicals Greenlights MMA Project with Röhm
Germany-based OQ Chemicals, the former Oxea, has made a final investment decision to add capacity for propionic aldehyde and production infrastructure to support a new 250,000 t/y methyl methacrylate (MMA) plant being built by German acrylics specialist Röhm at OQ’s US site in Bay City, Texas.
Solvay Plans US Electronic-grade Hydrogen Peroxide Plant
Solvay has announced plans to build a new plant in Casa Grande, Arizona, USA, for producing electronic-grade hydrogen peroxide. The investment in its seventh such unit has been prompted by growing demand from the US semiconductor industry.
Nutrien Buys Brazil’s Casa do Adubo
Canadian fertilizer producer Nutrien has agreed to buy Brazil’s Casa do Adubo, boosting its growth in both Brazil and the Latin American region. Financial terms were not revealed.
Lummus Launches Net-Zero Ethane Cracker
Lummus Technology has launched what it terms “a major enhancement” to its technology that allows ethane-based steam crackers to achieve zero CO2 emissions.
Borealis and Total Start Ethane Cracker in Texas
The 1 million t/y ethane cracker built by US-headquartered Bayport Polymers (also known as Baystar), a 50:50 joint venture of Borealis and TotalEnergies, has begun commercial scale production at Total’s refinery in Port Arthur, Texas.
Arkema to Buy Mexico’s Polimeros Especiales
French specialty chemicals producer Arkema has announced it will acquire privately owned Mexican company Polimeros Especiales, a producer of high performance waterborne resins for applications in architectural and decorative paints, textiles, pressure sensitive adhesives and construction.
