BUSINESS CONCENTRATES
SAUDI ARABIA DOUBLES PRICE OF ETHANE
BANNER YEAR FOR NEW DRUGS
The Saudi Arabian government has increased the price of ethane, a feedstock used by petrochemical firms, from $0.75 per million Btu to $1.57 per million Btu. The government also hiked methane prices from $0.75 to $1.25. The jump in pricing is the result of the removal of government subsidies to offset a financial deficit caused by low oil prices and heavy military spending. Ethane produced in Saudi Arabia has been among the cheapest in the world for decades. The move brings Saudi Arabian ethane prices closer to, but still below, those of the U.S.—AS
FDA approved 45 novel drugs in 2015, up from 41 in 2014 and the high for the past decade. From 2006 through 2015, FDA approved an average of 29 new pharmaceuticals each year. The agency says 14 of the new drugs approved were fast-tracked because they could address unmet medical needs. A group of 24 received priority reviews because they could potentially provide a significant advance in medical care. Targets for such treatment were reviewed within six months instead of the standard 10 months. Noteworthy approvals include Pfizer’s Ibrance to treat advanced metastatic breast cancer and Boehringer Ingelheim’s Praxbind to reverse adverse effects caused by the blood thinner dabigatran. About 47% of new drugs were approved to treat orphan diseases that affect 200,000 or fewer Americans. Among the approvals were Alexion’s Kanuma to treat lysosomal acid lipase deficiency, an inherited disorder that prevents the body from producing an enzyme for breaking down fats. Also approved was Orkambi, discovered by Vertex Pharmaceuticals, to treat cystic fibrosis.—MSR
ARIZONA ENABLES ASPHALT RECYCLING
PORT OF ROTTERDAM
This bicycle path in Rotterdam is made from recycled asphalt.
cycled asphalt, thanks to the use of a pinebased additive made by Arizona Chemical and developed with Dutch asphalt producer KWS Infra. When old asphalt is treated with the additive, it can be handled just as if it were new, according to Arizona.—AS
ALBEMARLE ADVANCES DIVESTMENT PROGRAM Albemarle has struck a deal to sell its mineral flame retardants business to Huber Engineered Materials for an undisclosed sum. The business, with annual sales of about $250 million, is one of three that Albemarle earmarked for divestment in early 2015. The firm just completed the sale of the second business, its $100 million-per-year metal sulfides operations, to Treibacher Industrie. Albemarle has reported no movement on the third business, fine chemistry services, which is a custom manufacturer of drug and agricultural chemicals with annual sales of about $200 million.—MM
INDORAMA TO GET A BP PTA PLANT Thai polyester giant Indorama Ventures has agreed to purchase BP’s purified terephthalic acid plant in Decatur, Ala. The plant supplies PTA to an adjacent Indorama polyethylene terephthalate plant. The BP facility has 1 million metric tons of annual PTA capacity and 732,000 metric tons of capacity for the PTA raw material p-xylene. It is also the world’s only plant that commercially produces naphthalene dicarboxylate, a chemical used in performance films for high-end applications such as smartphones. The sale, expected to close later this year, doesn’t signal an exit from the PTA business for BP. The company says it is spending $200 million to upgrade its Cooper River, S.C., and Geel, Belgium, facilities, the largest PTA plants in North America and Europe, respectively.—AHT
CHARLES RIVER TO BUY WIL RESEARCH Charles River Laboratories has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Ashland, Ohio-based WIL Research for $585 million in cash. WIL had sales last year of $215 million and provides safety assessment and contract development and manufacturing services to pharmaceutical, agricultural, and chemical firms. Charles River says the acquisition will enhance its position as an early-stage contract research organization, allow it to increase services to biotechnology clients, and expand its CEN.ACS.ORG
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footprint in Europe, where WIL has operations in the Netherlands and France.—MSR
FRUTAROM INVESTS IN MICROALGAE FIRM Israeli flavors maker Frutarom has invested $2.6 million in microalgae producer Algalo for a 50% stake in the firm. The move is part Microalgae is a source of food supplements and cosmetic ingredients.
of Frutarom’s expansion into natural ingredients for food, supplements, and cosmetics. Algalo is a start-up that has developed cultivation, harvesting, and processing methods for different types of algae.—MMB
HAMNER INSTITUTES CLOSES ITS DOORS The Hamner Institutes for Health Sciences in Research Triangle Park, N.C., ended operations on Dec. 31. Once known as the Chemical Industry Institute of Toxicology, it was founded by 11 chemical companies in 1974 to gauge the potential impact of chemicals on human health. In 2001, 90% of its $18 million budget came from the LongRange Research Initiative of the American
i STOCK
The cycling-mad city of Rotterdam is set to be the first in the Netherlands to have a cycle lane made entirely from 100% re-
BUSINESS CONCENTRATES
Chemistry Council. However, Hamner’s Institute for Chemical Safety Sciences will live on. SciMetrika, a Durham, N.C.-based population health consulting firm, acquired the chemical safety institute and has hired its staff of 28 scientists.—MSR
MERCK TAPS QUARTET FOR R&D Quartet Medicine and Merck & Co. have formed a research partnership based on Quartet’s pipeline of small-molecule drugs modulating the tetrahydrobiopterin (BH4) pathway. Quartet will receive $20 million, split equally between an up-front payment and milestone payments, to advance pain and inflammation treatment candidates to Phase II clinical trials. In return, Merck gets an exclusive option to purchase Quartet, in which case Quartet will receive an undisclosed option exercise payment and milestone payments of up to $575 million.—RM
C4 LAUNCHES, MAKES DEAL WITH ROCHE C4 Therapeutics has launched from James E. Bradner’s lab at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute with $73 million in financing. The firm is developing Degronimids, small-molecule binders that target disease-causing proteins and facilitate their clearance from
cells through the natural ubiquitin-proteasome system. The molecules offer a promising approach for previously undruggable proteins, it says. At the same time, C4 will work with Roche to develop Degronimids against unspecified targets. The deal could be worth more than $750 million.—MM
SANOFI ENDS INSULIN DEAL WITH MANNKIND Sanofi has ended its license and collaboration agreement with MannKind after disappointing sales of the inhaled insulin product Afrezza. In August 2014, MannKind and Sanofi signed a $925 million deal to develop and commercialize Afrezza. The companies launched Afrezza in February 2015, but sales totaled only $5 million for the first nine months of 2015. MannKind had spent more than a decade and $2.6 billion to develop an inhaled insulin while many larger firms halted their attempts. The product will be transitioned back to MannKind, which is looking to find a new partner, marketing strategy, and pricing approach.—AMT
MILLENDO LICENSES ASTRAZENECA DRUG Millendo Therapeutics, formerly known as Atterocor, has licensed a compound from AstraZeneca and raised new funding to
BUSINESS ROUNDUP
will provide technology and know-how.
EVONIK Industries is investing more than $50 million in a new specialty copolyester plant at its Witten, Germany, site. The resins are used in metal coatings such as coil coatings and the coatings for the inner lining of food cans.
GABRIEL Performance Products has acquired InChem’s phenoxy resins business, which is based in Rock Hill, S.C. Gabriel, a specialty chemical maker in Ashtabula, Ohio, recently acquired BASF’s Versamid line of polyamide curing agents used with solvent-borne epoxies.
CELANESE and China’s Sichuan Wuliangye plan a joint venture to produce cellulose acetate-based specialty products including plastics and films. Under the agreement, Sichuan Wuliangye will contribute certain cellulose acetate production assets to the venture. Celanese
RODIN Therapeutics and Biogen are joining to develop therapeutics for neurological disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease. Biogen will make up-front and milestone payments to Rodin and has an option to acquire
the firm. Rodin also raised $17 million from a preferred stock sale to Biogen and venture capital firm Atlas Venture. BRISTOL-MYERS Squibb and Oncodesign have formed a partnership to develop macrocyclic compounds to treat cancer and other illnesses. The two will use Oncodesign’s platform for developing small macrocycles as well as its proprietary cancer pharmacology technologies. Oncodesign will receive an up-front payment of $3 million. MERCK KGAA, Pfizer, and Syndax have formed a partnership to evaluate
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advance research on treatments for orphan and specialty endocrine diseases. Millendo will license AstraZeneca’s AZD4901, a therapy for the treatment of polycystic ovary syndrome, a hormonal disorder whose symptoms include infertility. In exchange, AstraZeneca will receive an undisclosed upfront payment from and take an equity stake in Millendo. Separately, Millendo raised $62 million from new and existing investors including Roche. A Roche representative will join Millendo’s board.—MSR
EDITAS IPO ADVANCES AMID PATENT DISPUTE Editas Medicine has filed for a $100 million initial public offering of stock. If it launches the IPO, Editas will be the first of the inventor-backed firms created around CRISPR gene-editing technology to go public. Founded in 2013, Editas has a license to the first foundational CRISPR patent, awarded to MIT’s Feng Zhang. A few days before the filing, a federal patent examiner recommended that the Patent Trial & Appeal Board institute an interference proceeding over rights to the technology between Zhang’s patent and a competing application filed by Jennifer Doudna of the University of California, Berkeley. The board often follows such recommendations. Doing so would bring about one of the biggest patent fights in the biotech world.—AMT
the combination of avelumab, an investigational, fully human anti-PD-L1 1gG1 monoclonal antibody being developed jointly by the German firm and Pfizer with Syndax’s entinostat, an investigational small-molecule therapy targeting immune regulatory cells for treatment of ovarian cancer. Syndax will be responsible for conducting Phase I and II clinical trials. MIMETAS, a Netherlands-based biotechnology firm, will receive $1.6 million to develop an organ-on-a-chip model to predict the neurotoxic effects of chemicals and pharmaceuticals. A panel of experts, including
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from BASF, Sanofi, and GlaxoSmithKline, working under the aegis of the U.K.-based National Centre for the Replacement, Refinement & Reduction of Animals in Research, made the award. BAXALTA has partnered with Danish recombinant antibodies and antibody mixtures expert Symphogen to develop immuno-oncology therapeutics against six targets. Baxalta will pay Symphogen $175 million up front in exchange for exclusive options to complete development of and commercialize the six therapies following Phase I development at Symphogen.
