First to receive US approval under an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) in late 2020, the BioNTech/Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine on Aug. 23 became the first to be fully approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for marketing and use in the country.
Swiss specialty chemicals company Sika has agreed to sell its European industrial coatings business to US paints and coatings group Sherwin-Williams for an undisclosed sum.
Odfjell Gas Shipowning, a wholly owned subsidiary of Norwegian shipping and storage operator Odfjell, has agreed to sell two ethylene/liquified petroleum gas (LPG) carriers to Singapore’s BW Epic Kosan (BWEK), marking its exit from the gas carrier business. The two vessels, named Bow Guardian and Bow Gallant, were both built at a South Korean shipyard in 2008.
Swiss CDMO Lonza plans to invest an undisclosed sum to establish drug product manufacturing capabilities at its site in Guangzhou, China. The investment in the central-southern province of Guangdong will include installation of an aseptic drug product fill and finish production line at the 17,000 m2 state-of-the-art cGMP mammalian facility.
Fu Xiangsheng, Vice Chairman of the China Petroleum and Chemical Industry Federation, characterized China`s chemical industry as having a a surplus of basic chemicals and a shortage of functional chemicals. Indeed, the share of fine chemicals as a percentage of the total industry value is only about 45% compared to 60-70% in the US and in many European countries, and 90% in Switzerland. Thus, the Chinese government is interested in supporting the development of local fine chemicals production.
South Korean chemical giant LG Chem has announced plans to invest 2.6 trillion won – or $2.2 billion – in building 10 new plants for environmentally friendly materials by 2028. LG said the move is aimed at transforming its business structure toward high-value sustainability businesses.
Curia, the US CDMO formerly known as AMRI, has announced it will invest $35 million to expand commercial manufacturing capacity at its Rensselaer, New York, production facility over the next 18 months.
Alex Gorsky, chairman and CEO of Johnson & Johnson since 2012, has announced he will step down from the healthcare giant’s top slot at the beginning of 2022 and hand over to current vice chairman of the executive committee, Joaquin Duato. With the transfer of responsibility, Gorsky will become executive chairman, and Duarto will be appointed to the board of directors.
Dow is investing an undisclosed sum in its methyl acrylate production to meet growing demand both in North America and worldwide. The project at its St Charles operations in Hahnville, Louisiana, USA, will add 50,000 t/y of capacity by the first half of 2022. Dow said the extra output will “enable global growth with a focus on supplying North American demand.”
US drugmaker Eli Lilly has announced changes to its executive leadership team as it creates two new business units in order to strengthen its focus on introducing breakthrough medicines for patients with unmet needs.
After more than a decade, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is finally moving to block the use of the controversial insecticide active ingredient chorpyrifos on food crops. It will still be permitted for nonfood uses such as on golf courses, turf, utility poles and fence posts as well as in cockroach bait and ant treatments.
US biotech Novavax, in the final stage of developing its protein-based Covid-19 vaccine, NVX-CoV2373, is adding muscle in human resources before applying to the US Food and Drug Administration, along with other national and international regulators for emergency use authorization in the fourth quarter.
Ineos Energy, Wintershall Dea and a consortium of 29 companies, research institutes and universities have signed an agreement to support the next and second phase of the Greensand pilot project in Denmark to demonstrate the safe and permanent storage of CO2.
Despite the double whammy of the coronavirus pandemic and the related supply chain disruption, Germany’s chemical and pharmaceutical industries performed well in the first half of 2021, the industry association Verband der Chemischen Industrie (VCI) said.
UK sustainable technologies company Johnson Matthey and Kebobtix, a US technology platform company for new chemicals and materials, have agreed to jointly explore developing the next generation of coatings for catalytic converters.
Azelis has agreed to acquire the Greater China operations of Ingredients Plus for an undisclosed sum, boosting the European distributor’s presence in the Chinese personal care industry. The deal is expected to close by the end of this month.
On behalf of Monsanto, which it carries as a US subsidiary, Bayer is pressing ahead with plans floated earlier to ask the US Supreme Court to review one of the three US court cases it has lost to plaintiffs charging that Monsanto’s glyphosate-based Roundup herbicide caused their cancer.
Indorama Ventures (IVL), a world leader in the PET market, is continuing its acquisition spree, in its latest move buying Brazil’s Oxiteno Indústria e Comércio, a subsidiary of Ultrapar Participações. In picking up the new asset, IVL said it will gain a unique portfolio in high-value surfactants and significantly expand its existing Integrated Oxides and Derivatives (IOD) business.
Henkel Adhesives Technologies has invested an undisclosed sum in Richland Capital Fund III, a leading investment firm for emerging technology in China. The fund focuses on investments in advanced materials, high-end manufacturing equipment, digital technologies and digital business models.
CV2Cov, the next-generation Covid-19 vaccine under development by German biotech CureVac and UK drugs giant GSK, outperformed CureVac’s first-generation Covid shot in preclinical trials with non-human primates, the companies have reported.
Subsidiaries of Italian engineering contractor Maire Tecnimont have been awarded a contract worth about €130 million by Kazanorgsintez to build an ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA)/LDPE plant in Kazan, in the Republic of Tatarstan.
North American distribution group LBB Specialties has acquired Centerchem for an undisclosed sum. Located in Norwalk, Connecticut, USA, Centerchem is a distributor of specialty chemicals and ingredients to the personal care and food & beverage industries.
As the delta variant of the coronavirus tears through the US, pushing both new and breakthrough infections higher, the US Centers for Disease Control (CDC) has now come out in favor of recommending that vulnerable individuals be given booster shots.
US biotech Amgen is planning to spend $550 million on building a new biologics manufacturing plant in Holly Springs, Wake County in North Carolina. Construction is scheduled to start in December with completion estimated for late 2024. The facility is anticipated to provide up to 355 full-time jobs in the region by 2029, including engineers, technicians, and quality, management and administrative roles.
Finnish nanoparticle medicine specialist Nanoform and German drugmaker Boehringer Ingelheim have agreed to collaborate on proof-of-concept studies related to Nanoform’s proprietary Controlled Expansion of Supercritical Solution (CESS) platform.
With changes made to the age group of people receiving the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine, the rare but troubling incidence of blood clots seen earlier this year has disappeared, a new study published this week says.
GC International and Cargill, the parent companies of biopolymer producer NatureWorks, have given their final approval for construction of a new Ingeo polylactic acid (PLA) manufacturing complex in Thailand.
Diversey Holdings, a US-headquartered provider of hygiene, infection prevention and cleaning products, has entered into an agreement to buy Australia’s Tasman Chemicals. Financial terms were not revealed. Headquartered in Melbourne, Tasman manufactures professional hygiene and cleaning products to the institutional and food & beverage sectors.
As it continues to grapple with documentation issues, US biotech Novavax has again altered its timeline for seeking Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for its two-dose Covid-19 vaccine. Concurrently, the US government is curbing some of the funding awarded last year by the administration of former president Donald Trump.
BP has agreed Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) with four new potential customers for its proposed clean hydrogen production facility in Teesside, said to be the UK’s largest when it goes on stream.
WuXi STA, CDMO subsidiary of WuXi AppTec, has completed the acquisition of a drug product manufacturing facility in Couvet, Switzerland, from US pharma Bristol Myers Squibb. The Chinese company, which announced the purchase plans earlier this year, said the state-of-the-art facility significantly enhances its European capacity.
Pfizer and BioNTech applied to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in May for full authorization of their Covid-19 vaccine Comirnaty, and in the interest of encouraging more Americans to get vaccinated the health agency is now conducting a priority review to speed the approval process.
US biotech Regeneron is planning to invest roughly $1.8 billion over six years to expand its research, preclinical manufacturing and support facilities at its Westchester County campus in Tarrytown, New York.
US technology and engineering group KBR has forged an alliance with compatriot firm Petron Scientech Inc (PSI) to license energy-efficient and sustainable technologies for producing renewable chemicals.
For an undisclosed sum, Germany’s Evonik has acquired German industrial biotech JeNaCell, thereby expanding its biomaterials portfolio to biotechnologically derived cellulose. The Essen-based group said the acquisition confirms its venture capital arm’s strategy of investing early in start-ups with visionary technology relevant to its own innovation growth fields.
