Fujifilm Diosynth Biotechnologies is investing £400 million to expand its Teesside site in northeast England, where it makes the active ingredient for the Novavax Covid-19 vaccine. The Japanese company said the expanded facilities are set to open in 2023 or early 2024, creating as many as 350 “highly skilled jobs” in contract manufacturing.
Chinese small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the chemical industry and other industries have achieved rapid growth in the past years and are contributing to China’s economic development.
In the past 20 years, the chemical industry in China has grown rapidly and today accounts for close to 40% of worldwide chemical-industry revenue. Understanding environment-related regulatory and policy shifts now in full swing in China is critical to ensuring compliance and reducing business interruption risks for chemical companies either operating in or sourcing from China.
South Africa’s Competition Commission has blocked Sasol’s proposed sale of its sodium cyanide business to Czech-based firm Draslovka on pricing concerns. Sasol said the decision to block the deal was unexpected, particularly given that the Commission had fully evaluated the pricing issue earlier in the review process.
With a vote of 13 to 10, the Antimicrobial Drugs Advisory Committee, an advisory panel to the US Food and Drug Administration, narrowly decided to to recommend emergency use authorization (EUA) of the Covid-19 antiviral pill molnupiravir (brand name Lagevrio) developed by US drugmaker by Merck &Co together with compatriot Ridgeback Biotherapeutics.
Globally active life science ingredients distributor Barentz International is acquiring an undisclosed majority stake in the distribution activities of India’s Gangwal Chemicals. The Mumbai-based company is a high-end distributor and specialty solutions provider that focuses on pharmaceuticals with a strong presence in the pharmaceutical, nutraceutical, personal care and cosmetics ingredients segments. Additionally, it has a strong position in high-end and niche specialty excipients.
Azelis has acquired Neupert Specialities, an Austrian distributor specializing in food and health raw materials and ingredients in its local market, as well as in Germany and Switzerland. The deal strengthens the Belgium-based distributor’s presence in the growing Austrian food and health segment and in the region’s broader life sciences market, also adding cross-selling opportunities.
Ineos Styrolution has confirmed plans to invest in a pilot plant in the UK for the chemical recycling of polystyrene (PS). The site in Swindon is being developed in collaboration with Recycling Technologies, a UK-based company with proprietary, patented depolymerization technology, and US plastics and rubber producer Trinseo.
Britain’s largest drugmaker, GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) has landed a major coup, luring Pfizer’s vaccines R&D chief away, as it tries to regain its position in the top tier of the vaccine league and build up its presence in the mRNA field. On Dec. 3, Philip Dormitzer, who had served as the US pharma giant’s chief scientific officer for RNA and viral vaccines since 2015, will say goodbye to New York and, figuratively, at least, hello to London.
US food and nutrition group ADM has acquired Sojaprotein, a Serbian-based provider of non-GMO soy ingredients, for an undisclosed sum. The acquisition expands ADM’s global alternative protein capabilities and its ability to meet growing demand for plant-based foods and beverages.
In response to new data published by rival Merck that downgrade earlier efficacy forecasts for its for Covid-19 oral antiviral treatment, Pfizer has announced will increase production capacity of its own antiviral pill Paxlovid as it waits for an emergency use authorization (EUA) from the FDA.
World’s largest chemical producer BASF is creating a new company dedicated to renewable energy. The new firm, BASF Renewable Energy, which is to be based at the group’s Ludwigshafen, Germany headquarters, will steer internal projects as well as collaboration with external partners.
Danish companies Novozymes and Novo Nordisk Pharmatech are teaming up to develop technical enzymes to support biopharma processing. The companies aim to develop high-quality enzymatic processing aids for the regenerative medicines market, focusing on stem cell and gene therapies.
The European Commission has opened an in-depth investigation to assess Greiner’s proposed acquisition of Recticel over concerns that the combined entity would reduce competition in the technical foams market. The polyester- or polyether-based flexible foams are used in a wide variety of applications in diverse industries, including the automotive, construction, household and clothing industries.
British energy giant BP has decided to build a large-scale plant to produce green hydrogen from renewable feedstocks, wind, water and solar energy at its Teesside complex in northeast England. The plans are in line with the London-based group’s drive to move away from fossil fuels, in company with other global petrochemical powerhouses.
Days before news of the omicron-dubbed latest coronavirus mutant emerged, the administration of US president Joe Biden called on the courts to remove a stay on the implementation of its plans to mandate Covid-19 vaccines mandatory for employees of all companies employing more than 100 people by Jan. 4, 2022 or require them to undergo weekly testing.
Lummus Technology’s Green Circle subsidiary has finalized a Letter of Intent with Phigenesis, which will use its New Hope Plastics Pyrolysis technology in a new chemical recycling facility in Europe. The facility, which will have a capacity of 150,000 t/y, marks the first license of the process in Europe. The companies did not disclose where the plant will be built.
German specialty chemicals and plastics producer Lanxess is widening its plastics compounding network in China further. With an investment of €30 million, the company is building a second compounding line for its Durethan- and Pocan-branded PA and PBT engineering plastics at its site in Changzhou, Jiangsu province.
China’s 14th Five-Year Plan “145” suggests that the dynamics initiated by the previous Five-Year Plan are to be maintained and even surpassed. As in the previous planning period, high priority is given to modernizing the country and the economy through R&D.
Agile and resilient: This is how manufacturers in the life sciences industry could be described during the Covid-19 pandemic. As disruption took hold in many other industries’ supply chains, life sciences companies moved to rapidly develop new products and build new capacity. They are maintaining this momentum, with pharmaceutical and biotech businesses showing continued interest in expanding existing operations in Europe or starting operations from scratch.
French CDMO Novasep is collaborating with compatriot biotech McSAF on the preclinical production of Adcitmer, a next-generation antibody drug conjugate (ADC) for treating neuroendocrine cancers.
German industrial gases and technology company Linde has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Kazakhstan’s state-owned oil and gas group KazMunayGas to jointly develop clean energy projects.
Air Liquide and BASF have received an undisclosed funding award from the European Innovation Fund as part of plans to develop what the EU expects to be the world’s largest cross-border Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) value chain, starting at the Port of Antwerp in Belgium.
OCI, a Dutch producer of methanol and nitrogen products, has formed a strategic alliance with investors ADQ and Alpha Dhabi Holding. The Abu Dhabi-based firms will take a 15% stake in OCI’s methanol business for $375 million. The transaction is expected to be finalized this year.
The delta variant of the coronavirus is taking its toll on Europe as vaccine skepticism shows no signs of going into remission, and promising oral treatments developed by Pfizer and Merck & Co have not yet been approved. With deaths now feared to top 2 million by March 2022, the World Health Organization (WHO) says the pandemic has become the leading cause of death in the region, whereby it helps to know that the WHO’s definition includes such countries as Russia, Ukraine, Tajikistan and Israel.
Concluding its ongoing strategic review, Hexion Holdings has agreed to sell its epoxy-based Coatings and Composite businesses to Westlake Chemical for about $1.2 billion. The deal is expected to close in the 2022 second half, following all approvals. The activities to be divested include the epoxy specialty resins and base epoxy resins and intermediates product lines.
Bayer has lost another appeal of one of its three lost Roundup cases. The Supreme Court of the US state of California late last week declined to review the verdict in the trial Pilliod v. Monsanto. The German group, which bought Monsanto in 2018 as the first round of litigation was getting started, petitioned for a review this past September.
UK CDMO Sterling Pharma Solution has announced the next phase of a multi-year investment at its site in Dudley. The £10m project will include new process development laboratories plus the installation of additional commercial-scale production equipment to meet the ongoing growth in demand for small molecule API manufacturing.
Reliance Industries and Saudi Aramco have mutually agreed to shelve plans for the latter to take a stake in the Indian company’s oil-to-chemicals (O2C) business. Reliance is now withdrawing its application with India’s National Company Law Tribunal to spin off the O2C business in preparation for the deal.
US president Joe Biden has nominated Robert M. Califf to return to the job he once held as commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). In a statement, Biden – who had been criticized for not naming a new FDA chief sooner, said Califf “has the experience and expertise to lead FDA during a critical time in our nation’s fight to put an end to the coronavirus pandemic.”
French drugmaker Sanofi is taking an equity stake worth $180 million in and entering a new strategic collaboration with artificial intelligence (AI) and precision medicine specialist Owkin.
Russian oil and rubber company Tatneft has signed a license and engineering contract with Italy’s Versalis for two new rubber plants in Togliatti. The value of the contract was not disclosed.
Danish pharma Novo Nordisk has agreed to buy Dicerna Pharmaceuticals, offering $3.3 billion for the US biopharma and its ribonucleic acid interference (RNAi) platform.
BASF is selling its kaolin minerals business to KaMin, a globally active minerals company owned by IMin Partners and headquartered in Macon, Georgia, USA. Part of BASF’s Performance Chemicals division, the activities had sales of around €155 million in 2020 and a workforce of 440 in North America, Europe and Asia.
Pharma giant Pfizer has filed an application with the US Food and Drug Administration seeking an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) for its Paxlovid-branded antiviral oral CovidD-19 treatment. Specifically, the company is seeking authorization for the oral drug to be used in treating mild to moderate disease in patients at a higher risk of hospitalization and death.
