The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) for US biotech Moderna’s mRNA-based Covid-19 vaccine on Dec.18, a day after the agency’s advisory panel voted 20-0 to recommend it.
Swedish CDMO Recipharm is investing in a capacity expansion at its facility located south of Tel Aviv in Israel, in order to support growing demand for cGMP clinical supply of APIs and intermediates.
Evonik has entered into an agreement to buy the Lactel absorbable polymer business from Durect Corp., a US-based biopharmaceutical company focused on developing drugs for pain and chronic diseases.
German pharmaceuticals, chemicals and life sciences group Merck is broadening its manufacturing footprint in the US, splitting a planned €40 million capital investment between its production facilities in Danvers, Massachusetts, and Jaffrey, New Hampshire.
Lummus Technology and its joint venture partner Chevon Lummus Global (CLG) have won multiple technology contracts from Pertamina Rosneft Pengolahan dan Petrokimia (PRPP), a joint venture between Indonesia’s Pertamina and Russia’s Rosneft Oil, for a grassroots refinery and petrochemical complex in Tuban, Indonesia.
French family-owned CDMO Fareva has signed on to handle fill and finish manufacturing for German biotech CureVac’s mRNA-based Covid-19 vaccine candidate, CVnCoV, at the CDMO’s’ sites at Val-de-Reuil and Pau, both in France.
Confirming speculation earlier in the week, Ineos has announced the appointment of former BP chief financial officer, Brian Gilvary to head a new energy company called Ineos Energy.
ECBF has announced a second closing of the European Circular Bioeconomy Fund (ECBF). Reaching €175 million, ECBF has more than doubled its fund-size within two months after starting its operations.
Finnish chemicals company Kemira has formed an exclusive partnership with US-based Danimer Scientific to develop biodegradable aqueous barrier coatings for the paper and board industry.
Industrial gases group Linde has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Italian energy infrastructure company Snam to jointly develop clean hydrogen projects in Europe.
Facing scrutiny from the manufacturers, health ministers of some member states and the public, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) has moved the timetable to conclude data analysis of the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine candidate BNT162b2 forward by a week.
A Danish group, comprising catalyst and technology company Haldor Topsoe, sustainable energy company Vestas and renewable energy developer Skovgaard Invest, plans to build a green ammonia plant in Western Jutland.
France’s Arkema has announced plans to sell its PMMA engineering plastic arm to Trinseo of the US for an enterprise value of €1,137 million, slightly more than nine times the business’s estimated 2020 EBITDA.
German biotech CureVac has started a Phase 2b/3 clinical trial of its Covid-19 vaccine candidate CVnCoV. Planned to enroll 36,500 participants in Europe and Latin America, the study is aimed at generating data to support approval of the company’s mRNA vaccine next year. A target date has not been disclosed.
Japan’s Mitsubishi Chemical has acquired a greenfield site on the Mississippi River in Geismar, Louisiana, USA, for its proposed 350,000 t/y methyl methacrylate (MMA) plant. It has bought the 67-acre site from synthetic rubber producer Lion Elastomers.
Undeterred by the rejection of its two previous offers, Minerals Technologies submitted a revised and third proposal on Dec. 4 to take over UK specialty chemicals company Elementis.
The US Food and Drug Administration on Dec. 11 awarded an emergency use authorization (EUA) for the Pfizer-BioNTech mRNA-based Covid-19 vaccine. The green light followed a recommendation hours earlier by the US health regulator’s advisory panel, which voted 17 to 4 in favor – with one abstention – to offer the shot to people 16 years of age and older.
UK technology company Johnson Matthey (JM) has won a contract to supply multiple licenses to China’s Ningxia Baofeng Energy to develop five of the largest single-train methanol plants in the world. The contract is the fourth methanol project that Baofeng has awarded to JM.
Germany’s Wacker Chemie is selling its remaining 30.8% stake in semiconductor specialist Siltronic to GlobalWafers. As part of the transaction, which is subject to regulatory approval, the Taiwan-based company will offer Siltronic shareholders a price of €125 per share, with a minimum acceptance threshold of 65% of outstanding shares.
French specialty chemicals producer Arkema has acquired Colorado Photopolymer Solutions. Based in Boulder, Colorado. The US company develops and markets a range of value-added, formulated photopolymer resin solutions for energy curing technology, especially for 3D printing markets.
Danish paints group Flügger has entered into an agreement to take a 70% stake in Eskaro Group, a Swedish-headquartered paint and varnish producer with operations in several eastern European countries.
French technology company Axens, its parent company IFP Energies nouvelles (IFPEN), and US food and agricultural giant Cargill are joining forces to further develop and scale bio-based acrylic acid.
The board of directors at Swiss specialty chemicals producer Clariant has tapped Conrad Keijzer to be the company’s new CEO. The 52-year-old Dutch citizen will take up the job on Jan. 1, 2021, and interim CEO Harriolf Kottmann will again focus on his duties as chairman of the board.
Umicore‘s business unit Precious Metals Chemistry is further expanding its cross-coupling catalyst portfolio by acquiring Ruhr University Bochum’s YPhos ligands and catalysts technology.
Logistics service provider H.Essers, currently active in 19 countries from 77 locations, is in advanced negotiations for the acquisition of the logistics and transport activities of the Dutch Meeus Group.
The US affiliate of global energy and commodities trader Vitol Group has agreed to pay $135 million to resolve the US Department of Justice’s (DoJ) investigations into corruption, also resolving a parallel investigation in Brazil in relation to the country’s “car wash” money laundering scandal.
US pharma giant Merck has divested its direct holding in Moderna just as the US biotech is on the cusp of receiving an emergency use authorization (EUA) for its mRNA-based Covid-19. It said it expects to “record a small fourth-quarter gain.”
Bayer has taken another a step toward embracing cell therapy, this week signing a worldwide license agreement with Atara Biotherapeutics for next-generation, mesothelin-directed CAR-T cell therapies for treatment of solid tumors.
Swiss CDMO Lonza will build two new suites for the commercialization of antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) at its Visp site following the signing of a long-term collaboration with a global biopharma company.
Huntsman has agreed to buy Gabriel Performance Products, a North American manufacturer of specialty additives and epoxy curing agents for the coatings, adhesives, sealants and composite end-markets, from funds owned by Audax Private Equity.
Through debottlenecking, German specialty chemicals producer Lanxess has added more than 5,000 t/y of capacity for its black synthetic iron oxide pigments at its Krefeld-Uerdingen site, which it claims as the world’s largest plant for manufacturing synthetic iron oxide pigments. The company said it is responding to increased demand from the construction industry, especially for products to color concrete.
France has a long, grand history in chemistry.
ACG has appointed Marcus Michel as the new CEO of ACG Engineering, taking over from Richard Stedman, who will remain with the company as a special advisor over the next few months to support a seamless transition.
Within the last 24 months, a whole range of companies announced a series of massive investments in their sites in Flanders, the Northern region of Belgium.
In yet another legal repercussion of Bayer’s 2018 acquisition of Monsanto, a US federal judge has rejected the German group’s proposed $648 million settlement of class-action litigation over historic contamination from polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs).
