Seven companies from the European GET H2 hydrogen initiative, including chemical producer Evonik, have established a consortium to help promote industrial offtake of climate-friendly green hydrogen from renewable energies.
Interview with Christophe Couturier and Claudia Berrón, Avantor
Originally engineered for the transport of chocolate, tank containers with agitators have discovered a wide range of uses.
Besides digitalization, sustainability and the circular economy are the key issues facing the chemical industry at present and in the coming decades.
CHEManager Interview with Antti Koivisto and Michael Badine, WeylChem Advanced Intermediates
Over the years, sustainability has evolved from an aspirational goal to an operational priority. Companies in every industry are being asked to incorporate more environmental stewardship into their operations and business practices.
Michael Reubold talked to Evonik’s Sanjeev Taneja about the role of catalysts in the company and their value to the industry and the society.
To take advantage of the opportunity hydrogen presents, the European chemical industry must engage in the emerging hydrogen market now, setting up specific pilots, develop an appropriate partner and ecosystem network and, most crucially, adapt the R&D portfolios and investment plans needed to capture a share of the hydrogen opportunity.
IMCD has agreed to sell its Nutri Granulations business to Huber Engineered Materials, a division of J.M. Huber, for an undisclosed sum. The transaction is expected to close by Apr. 1. The Dutch distributor originally acquired the business as part of its takeover of US specialty chemicals distributor E.T. Horn in June 2018.
Austrian energy and chemicals company OMV has announced plans to invest about €30 million in a pilot plant that will produce propanol from glycerin. Construction is planned to start in the second quarter of 2021, with the plant due to go into operation in 2023.
AstraZeneca’s Covid vaccine is drawing negative headlines again after several incidences of blood clots have been reported, including the death of a 49-year-old nurse from multiple thrombosis 10 days after receiving the shot. On Mar. 10, eight countries had suspended injections from a batch labeled ABV5300 or halted use of this vaccine pending clarification.
The EU cleared Johnson & Johnson’s Covid-19 vaccine for conditional marketing in all 27member states on Mar. 11 as expected. The single-dose adenovirus shot made by subsidiary Janssen Biotech, under a rolling review since December 2020, is the fourth to be approved by the European Medicines Agency (EMA).
Italian engineering and construction firm Saipem has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with compatriot company Alboran Hydrogen to jointly develop and build five plants for producing green hydrogen via electrolysis.
Belgian spearhead cluster Catalisti has appointed Ann Verlinden as its new Managing Director. She will succeed Jan Van Havenbergh as of Apr. 5, 2021.
China’s WuXi AppTec has acquired British gene therapy CDMO Oxgene, making the Oxford-based company a wholly owned subsidiary of the contract testing, development and manufacturing business unit for cell and gene therapies, WuXi Advanced Therapies. With the sale, Oxgene will retain its name.
Trying to stay ahead of both coronavirus developments and criticism that it is moving too slowly or in the wrong direction, Europe is piling on fresh orders for the BioNTech-Pfizer vaccine. On Mar. 10, it announced it had agreed to acquire 4 million additional doses for delivery in the next two weeks.
Amgen is to buy Five Prime Therapeutics, a clinical-stage biotech focused on developing immuno-oncology and targeted cancer therapies, for about $1.9 billion. The transaction is expected to close by the end of the second quarter, when a wholly owned subsidiary of Amgen will merge with Five Prime.
Dow has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Zhanjiang Economic and Technological Development Zone Administrative Committee (Zhanjiang EDZ) to build the Dow South China Specialties Hub, a multi-year project providing customers local access to its products and technologies.
The Russian government has clinched a deal to produce its Sputnik V Covid-19 vaccine in Italy and will proceed with the project even if the European Medicines Agency (EMA) decides not to approve the candidate, the Italian-Russian Chamber of Commerce said. “The innovative production process will help create new jobs and allow Italy to control the entire production of the compound,” it added.
DuPont has agreed to buy electronics group Laird Performance Materials from private equity group Advent International for $2.3 billion. The transaction expected to close in the third quarter combines DuPont’s technology portfolio in films, laminates and plating chemistry with Lair’s electromagnetic shielding and thermal management solutions.
US plastics additives and colorants manufacturer Milliken has acquired Zebra-chem, a globally-focused chemical producer based at Bad Bentheim, Germany. The German company specializes in chemical blowing agents as well as peroxide masterbatches that enable plastics producers to incorporate up to 100% recycled content into new plastics.
Under a contract just announced, Baxter BioPharma Solutions will perform fill & finish services for some 60 to 90 million doses of Moderna’s Covid-19 vaccine in the US this year. The work will take place at the CMO’s facility at Bloomington, Indiana. Part of Baxter International, the company specializes in parenteral pharmaceuticals.
The European Chemical Industry has set out on an ambitious path to become carbon neutral. Germany, as one of the major chemical manufacturing nations, has committed to achieve this goal by 2050. But companies need to translate this industry vision into their specific context.
A trusted adviser to major companies with a chemical industry background, and a Global Expert with the World Economic Forum, Paul Hodges, chairman of New Normal Consulting, reflects on the issues the post-Brexit chemical industry must tackle.
AGC Biologics, a biopharma CDMO, is planning to expand its cell and gene therapy center of excellence in Milan, Italy, to increase capacities and implement viral vector suspension capabilities. Two more floors will be added to the current suite and additional equipment will be installed on the existing floor. The new facilities are scheduled to go into full operation in 2022.
Dutch distributor Barentz has acquired a majority stake in the Noack Group, extending its activities in the Central/East European region and gaining a complementary portfolio of animal nutrition ingredients.
With the race to vaccinate populations against Covid-19 going full steam, health agencies such as the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Serum Institute of India (SIL), world’s largest vaccine maker, have raised alarm that nationalism and protectionism could lead to an international vaccine trade war that in particular could disadvantage countries with insufficient resources.
PQ Group has agreed to sell its Performance Chemicals business for $1.1 billion to a partnership established by Cerberus Capital Management and Koch Minerals & Trading. The divestment is part of PQ’s strategy, called Simpler + Stronger, which the group said is aimed at driving greater value for its shareholders.
A few weeks ago, Novartis said it was exploring ways to participate in the European Covid-19 vaccine manufacturing effort. In the meantime, it has been busy. On Mar. 4 the Swiss drugmaker signed an initial manufacturing agreement with CureVac to boost the German biotech’s overall vaccine capacity by 50 million doses in 2021 and 200 million doses in 2022.
Germany’s Merck is changing the name of its Performance Materials business segment to Electronics to reflect the strategic realignment the worldwide group has undergone over the past several years and mark what it says is an additional milestone in its “Bright Future” transformation program, begun in 2018.
Honeywell UOP is providing its advanced reforming and aromatics technologies to Hengyi Industries for a proposed petrochemical complex in Pulau Muara Besar, Brunei.
As immunization woes mount, France has done a stunning about-turn and modified age limits it had placed on the AstraZeneca/Oxford vaccine. Germany may be on the brink of following suit, while Spain and Italy have not yet hinted at any moves in that direction. Earlier, French president Emmanuel Macron had labeled the UK-developed vaccine “quasi ineffective” but now says he would get it himself.
Bayer has announced its intention to offload the Environmental Science Professional business as part of plans to accelerate the strategy implementation of its Crop Science division.
Irish CDMO ICON is to acquire US-based rival PRA Health Sciences in a cash-and-stock deal worth approximately $12 billion. Both boards of directors have unanimously approved the merger.
Another “Big Pharma” company with a stalled candidate of its own is stepping in to help boost national or regional Covid-19 vaccine supply. US president Joe Biden was due to announce on Mar. 2 that Merck & Co will help make the Johnson & Johnson single-shot vaccine that received an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Feb. 27.
