Business Concentrates PHARMACEUTICALS
▸ Merck to advance effects pigments Merck KGaA and the Indian materials engineering firm Steer are collaborating on a processing technology to enhance the use
Ups and downs for Pfizer in contract manufacturing Pfizer CenterOne, the contract manufacturing arm of Pfizer, has notched a win and a loss for its drug fill-and-finish business. The firm plans to expand its fill-and-finish operations with new facilities at its Kalamazoo, Mich., site. The expansion will encompass vial filling of small molecules, biologics, and sterile suspensions. But separately, Pfizer received an FDA warning letter regarding fill-and-finish work being done at its McPherson, Kan., facility for Momenta Pharmaceuticals’ Glatopa, a multiple sclerosis treatment. An Abbreviated New Drug Application for a 40-mg dose is currently under regulatory review, with approval dependent on the satisfactory resolution of compliance problems at the Pfizer plant. Momenta says an approval in the first quarter is unlikely. Pfizer has indicated that the warning letter does not restrict production or shipment of the 20-mg dose of the drug, currently approved in the U.S. Momenta codeveloped the drug, a biosimilar of Copaxone, with Sandoz.—RICK MULLIN
SPECIALTY CHEMICALS
▸ Accella acquires Covestro foam plant Partners seek to improve processing of glittery effects pigments. of special effects pigments, such as those based on mica particles, in plastics. The delicate platelet structure in such pigments is easily damaged, reducing their visual impact. Steer’s twin rotating screw extrusion technology may eliminate this problem through the precise application of forces to the resin.—ALEX TULLO
BIOFUELS
▸ Firms to make enzymes in Iowa Poet-DSM Advanced Biofuels will add on-site enzyme manufacturing to Project Liberty, the joint venture’s cellulosic ethanol plant in Emmetsburg, Iowa. The plant is ramping up capacity and producing 265 L of ethanol per dry metric ton of corn stover, close to its target, the partners say. DSM supplies enzymes for the project, which opened in 2014. However, shipping enzymes to the site requires special handling processes. The on-site facility will produce a new, more effective enzyme mix, according to the firms.—MELODY BOMGARDNER
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C&EN | CEN.ACS.ORG | FEBRUARY 27, 2017
Accella Performance Materials will purchase Covestro’s North American spray polyurethane foam business, based in Spring, Texas, for an undisclosed sum. The facility’s roughly 40 employees will join Accella and help the company grow its spray foam business, says Accella CEO Andy Harris. Owned by the private equity firm Arsenal Capital Partners, Accella has acquired more than 10 polyurethane-related businesses in recent years.—MICHAEL MCCOY
BIOBASED CHEMICALS
▸ Rennovia licenses glucaric acid to ADM Rennovia, a California-based start-up that develops catalytic routes to biobased chemicals, and catalyst specialist Johnson Matthey are licensing O OH OH their glucaric OH acid technology HO to the agriculturOH OH O al giant Archer Daniels Midland Glucaric acid for commercialization. ADM made a $25 million investment in Rennovia in 2014. Glucaric acid is used to make sodium glucarate, an alternative to phosphates in dishwasher detergents. Another start-up, Rivertop Renewables, has
been making sodium glucarate commercially since 2015. Rennovia and Matthey have operated a small-scale plant at Matthey’s Stockton, England, R&D center since 2015.—
ALEX TULLO
SOLAR POWER
▸ DSM buys Chinese solar-materials firm DSM has acquired Suzhou Sunshine New Materials Technology, a Chinese maker of back sheets for photovoltaic panels. DSM started working with Suzhou last year and now will add the protective polymer sheets, made via coextrusion, to its solar-products portfolio. High-performance back sheets improve the durability and performance of solar cells, according to DSM. China will be the biggest market for the product, the firm adds, as the world’s largest producer of solar modules.—MELODY BOMGARDNER
AGRICULTURE
▸ Bayer, Yara sow seeds of digital farming Bayer and fertilizer producer Yara have formed a software collaboration and licensing agreement to provide farmers with digital productivity tools. Yara will license technology to Bayer for determining the nutrient status of plants using a smartphone app. The app can be linked to
CREDIT: STEER
POLYMERS
The N-Sensor helps farmers tailor fertilizer application according to plant need. Yara’s N-Sensor, a tractor-mounted device that uses the light reflectance properties of crops to adjust the amount of fertilizer being applied.—ALEX SCOTT
FINANCE
PHARMACEUTICAL CHEMICALS
▸ AkzoNobel plans research hub
▸ Granules expands APIs
AkzoNobel plans to build a $13.2 million coatings research facility in Felling, England. The facility, expected to open at the end of 2018, will house 100 scientists who will focus on developing formulations that protect steel and concrete structures from corrosion, abrasion, and fire. Testing facilities at the site will allow scientists to simulate the extreme environments the coatings will be subject to in mining, energy, and oil and gas industry applications.—
Granules, an Indian producer of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs), will spend $84 million on an API plant and ancillary facilities, including an R&D unit, in Vishakhapatnam, India. International Finance Corp., a for-profit subsidiary of the World Bank, is enabling the project by buying $48 million in Granules bonds. IFC previously financed various Granules projects, including investment in cleaner production. The new plant will allow Granules to produce higher-end APIs, according to IFC.—
JEAN-FRANÇOIS TREMBLAY
MARC REISCH
▸ Activist investors dog Bristol-Myers
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
NEUROSCIENCE
Bristol-Myers Squibb has become the target of activist investors because of lowered earnings expectations, setbacks in immunooncology, and a plummeting stock price. After discussions with the hedge fund Jana Partners, BMS has agreed to add three independent board members and repurchase about $2 billion worth of its stock, or about 2% of its outstanding shares. Jana owns less than 1% of the drug company. News reports indicate that investor Carl Icahn has taken a stake in BMS as well. Together, the developments raise questions about whether the drug company will become a takeover target.—ANN THAYER
CREDIT: YARA
COATINGS
▸ Gilead addiction drug goes to start-up Gilead Sciences has sold Amygdala Neurosciences the rights to GS-6637, a small-molecule ALDH2 inhibitor with the potential to treat behavior and substance addictions by preventing dopamine surges. Former executives of CV Therapeutics, which Gilead bought in 2009, formed Amygdala to acquire GS-6637. According to Amygdala, Gilead invented GS-6637 based on an initial series of inhibitors synthesized by CV. Amygdala says it plans to start Phase II clinical trials this year.—MICHAEL MCCOY
▸ Chinese court rules in Novozymes’ favor The Supreme People’s Court of China has ruled against two Chinese companies accused of infringing Novozymes’ patent on a glucoamylase enzyme used to make fuel and beverage ethanol. Shandong Longda Bio-Products and Jiangsu Boli Bioproducts had initially been found in violation of the Novozymes patent by a lower court in 2011, but the companies appealed, arguing against the patent’s validity. Novozymes says the legal win will encourage further development of the Chinese biotechnology industry.—JEAN-FRANÇOIS TREMBLAY
Business Roundup
the plant is scheduled to open by the end of 2018.
acidemia, a rare inborn error of metabolism.
▸ Asahi Kasei and China National Bluestar will build a 20,000-metric-ton-per-year plant in China for modified polyphenylene ether as well as facilities for the intermediates 2,6-xylenol and polyphenylene ether. Modified polyphenylene ether is an engineering plastic known for its high heat resistance.
▸ Mitsui Chemicals and South Korea’s SKC plan to build a polyurethane systems facility in Andhra Pradesh in southern India. The partners combined their polyurethane businesses into a joint venture in July 2015. They already operate 10 facilities around the world.
▸ AMRI and Accord Healthcare will jointly develop an undisclosed complex parenteral drug product for the U.S. market. AMRI will provide cGMP manufacturing and analytical support. The deal includes an option to partner on additional drug development projects.
▸ Haldor Topsoe and China’s Wison Engineering have agreed to collaborate on R&D. Initially, the alliance will focus on adapting Topsoe’s catalysts to the Chinese market, but the companies hope to widen their cooperation to include
engineering management and codevelopment of new technologies. ▸ Altana has acquired technology from Landa Group for making metallized graphics. Altana, a German specialty chemical maker, says the new technology enables production of metallization graphics at up to half the cost of conventional foil stamping. ▸ Evonik Industries will build a plant in Weiterstadt, Germany, for high-quality films made from multilayer polymethyl methacrylate. Costing double-digit millions of dollars,
▸ Lonza will contract manufacture an Anc80-AAV-based gene therapy product for Selecta Biosciences at its gene therapy facility near Houston. Selecta is developing the product, which is delivered with a synthetic vector, for the treatment of methylmalonic
▸ PMV Pharmaceuticals has secured $74 million in a Series B financing round led by Topspin Biotech Fund. The New Jersey-based drug company will use the funds to advance small molecules that fight cancer by targeting mutant p53 protein, found in more than half of all tumors.
FEBRUARY 27, 2017 | CEN.ACS.ORG | C&EN
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