vented agency officials from entering the quality-control lab of its plant in Takasago, Japan. The incident occurred in December 2015 when, according to FDA, “the quality-control manager directed employees to stand shoulder-to-shoulder, barring our investigator from accessing portions of the laboratory and the equipment used to analyze drugs for U.S. distribution.” During the inspection, the company didn’t allow FDA to copy customer complaint letters describing shipments that contained foreign objects including glass, cardboard, metal, and a spider. FDA has banned the company’s products from the U.S.—JEAN-FRANÇOIS TREMBLAY
INVESTMENT
▸ Helsinn launches venture fund
▸ AstraZeneca buys second Amgen site AstraZeneca has bought a second biologics site in Colorado from Amgen. The Longmont facility, reported by local media outlets to have been acquired for $64.5 million, will be used to support operations at the Boulder site that the company bought from Amgen in September 2015. The purchase of the Boulder plant doubled AstraZeneca’s U.S. manufacturing capacity for biologics, which occupy a growing proportion of the company’s drug pipeline. AstraZeneca says it will add staff in Longmont as its pipeline matures.—LISA JARVIS
CREDIT: WACKER
▸ Anellotech has received a $1.5 million investment from a new, unidentified investor. Based in Pearl River, N.Y., Anellotech is developing aromatics from nonfood biomass with a goal of enabling biobased polystyrene and other aromatic plastics.
MATERIALS
▸ Wacker to research silicones in U.S. Wacker Chemie will set up a new R&D center in Ann Arbor, Mich., dedicated to supporting the firm’s silicones business in the Americas. The German company says it will invest a “single-digit million U.S. dollar fig-
▸ Four firms get Breakout Labs support Breakout Labs, an early-stage science investment fund created by billionaire Peter Thiel, is investing in four new companies. Azitra is tapping the skin microbiome to develop treatments for skin disorders; Opus 12, founded by three Stanford University students, has developed a reactor to transform carbon dioxide into chemicals and fuel; Seatrec is trying to eliminate our dependence on lithium batteries with its thermal recharging technology; and Zymo-
Business Roundup ▸ Ube Industries will more than double nylon 6 capacity at its plant in Castellón, Spain, to 70,000 metric tons per year. The Japanese firm says nylon film is being used as an environmentally friendly replacement for polyvinylidene chloride film in packaging applications.
Chem is engineering microbes to produce chemicals. Each company will get up to $350,000 over two years to support its research.—LISA JARVIS
START-UPS
The Swiss drug firm Helsinn has started a $50 million venture capital fund to invest in drug, device, and food start-ups. The fund will support firms with early-stage technologies for cancer therapeutics, diagnostics, and supportive care; metabolic and gastrointestinal disorders; and dermatology conditions. Helsinn will invest in 10 to 15 firms, providing scientific and clinical strategy guidance, along with operational and board support. So far, the fund has invested in firms including MEI Pharma, OncoResponse, and QuantuMDx.—ANN
THAYER
BIOLOGICS
▸ Kultevat, a St. Louis-based developer of dandelions that produce natural rubber, has expanded its R&D collaboration with Dutch crop innovation firm KeyGene. The two companies will build on successes in molecular breeding and hybrids, expand plantings of dandelions, and improve rubber extraction technology. ▸ Arkema will spend $15 million to build a polyester powder coating resins facility and laboratory in Navi Mumbai, India. The company already produces alkyd, acrylic, and polyester resins at the site.
ure,” mainly for equipWacker’s ment and installation new labs will of the labs. Located complement its in Michigan Innovatechnical center tion Headquarters, a in Adrian, Mich. coworking space with other high-tech operations, the R&D center will benefit from a business incubator atmosphere, Wacker says.—MICHAEL MCCOY
▸ Medivir will cut about 25 early-stage research and five administrative jobs as it focuses on oncology. It will seek partners for its infectious disease candidates and for MIV-711, which is in Phase II studies for treating osteoarthritis. The Swedish firm’s technology centers on protease inhibition and nucleotide/nucleoside science. ▸ Crescendo Biologics will work with Takeda Pharmaceutical to develop cancer therapies based on its Humabody human antibody fragments. Takeda will pay up to $36 million in upfront fees. Crescendo could receive up to $754 million more in milestone payments.
▸ Teva Pharmaceutical Industries will help commercialize, in the U.S. and Canada, biosimilar versions of the antibody drugs Rituxan and Herceptin being developed by South Korea’s Celltrion. Teva will pay Celltrion $160 million and share profits if the drugs are approved. ▸ Immunome, a biotech developing cancer immunotherapies, has raised $12.2 million in its first major round of funding. Immunome will use the money to develop its drug discovery engine, which is based on libraries of antibodies that bind to cancer neoantigens.
OCTOBER 17, 2016 | CEN.ACS.ORG | C&EN
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