DRUG SAFETY
customers in China. Separately, Boehringer announced that it will fund early drug discovery projects at Peking University. Several academic investigators will work closely with the German firm, Boehringer says.—
▸ Indian workers shut lights during FDA inspection
JEAN-FRANÇOIS TREMBLAY
FDA warned the drug producer Vikshara Trading & Investments for obstructing an inspection of its plant in Ahmedabad in northwestern India. During the inspection last year, the company allegedly impeded FDA officials by blocking access to the vessel room as well as the packaging and labeling areas. Workers also did not turn on the lights in unlocked parts of the facility. Using a flashlight, FDA officials were, however, able to observe “powder scattered throughout the production areas, including powder caked on the floor.”—JEAN-
FRANÇOIS TREMBLAY
PHARMACEUTICALS
▸ Boehringer starts plant, expands China R&D
DRUG DISCOVERY
▸ Vertex and X-Chem form library pact Vertex Pharmaceuticals will pay X-Chem an undisclosed up-front payment as well as milestones as part of a small-molecule drug discovery pact targeting severe, genetic diseases. X-Chem, based in Waltham, Mass., says it will screen Vertex targets against its library of more than 120 billion small molecules tethered to DNA tags that record their synthetic history. Vertex has the option to license leadlike hits. X-Chem already has agreements with AstraZeneca, Bayer, Pfizer, Roche, and other firms.—MICHAEL MCCOY
SPECIALTY CHEMICALS
Boehringer Ingelheim has started up a $78 million biopharmaceutical plant at the Zhangjiang Hi-Tech Park in Shanghai. The facility, the company claims, is the only biopharmaceutical plant started up in China by a major international producer. Boehringer plans to use the plant to supply monoclonal antibodies and recombinant proteins to its
CREDIT: MERCK KGAA
Merck and FlexEnable will together make novel-shaped displays.
▸ Merck and FlexEnable shape the future Liquid-crystal display materials maker Merck KGaA has teamed up with Cambridge, England-based flexible electronics producer FlexEnable to develop a new generation of LCDs with complex surfaces and shapes.
The displays are set to combine FlexEnable’s organic thin-film transistors with Merck’s polymer-wall organic LCD technology. The organic LCDs the firms are working on have a bend radius that can go below 30 mm.—
ALEX SCOTT
BIOTECHNOLOGY
▸ Synlogic goes public through merger In a bid to take itself public, Synlogic will merge with Mirna Therapeutics, an Austin, Texas-based biotech firm developing microRNA-based cancer treatments. The merged company, to be known as Synlogic, will focus on engineering bacteria found in the human gut to perform a metabolic function. Synlogic expects to put its first treatment, for urea cycle disorders, into the clinic by midyear. Last fall, Mirna shut down development of its lead oncology drug candidate, MRX34, after three patients in its Phase I study died. The company, with shares already listed on NASDAQ, then began pursuing strategic alternatives for its business.—LISA JARVIS
Business Roundup
Fund, and Roche Venture Fund.
studies for the pulmonary drug Aerodone.
▸ Reichhold and Polynt got the go-ahead for their merger from the European Commission, provided Reichhold divests its Étain, France, unsaturated polyester resins plant to a buyer approved by the commission. In April, Reichhold penned a deal to sell the Étain plant to Ashland.
▸ Ashland has completed its separation from oil change firm Valvoline with the final distribution of Valvoline common stock to Ashland shareholders. Ashland says it is now “fully focused” on its specialty chemical operations.
▸ Biogen has paid Remedy Pharmaceuticals $120 million up front for access to Cirara, which is currently in Phase III studies to treat a severe form of ischemic stroke. Remedy’s drug complements Biogen’s treatment natalizumab, now in midstage trials to address acute ischemic stroke.
▸ Covestro will expand by 50% to 600,000 metric tons per year the capacity of its recently-expanded polycarbonate plant in Shanghai. The company will raise capacity not by building new production lines but by upgrading
equipment on the units that are currently operating. ▸ Cargill has acquired BioBased Technologies, a maker of vegetable-based polyols based in Rogers, Ark. The business’s production method will bring to Cargill flexible foam products with high biobased content. ▸ Vivet Therapeutics, a Paris-based biotech start-up, has raised $41.7 million in funding to develop gene therapies for rare, inherited metabolic diseases. Investors include HealthCap, Novartis Venture
▸ Genoa Pharmaceuticals has raised $62 million in its first large round of financing, led by F-Prime Capital Partners and Edmond de Rothschild Investment Partners. The funds will support Genoa’s early-stage pipeline of treatments for serious pulmonary diseases and Phase II
▸ Otsuka Pharmaceutical will build its sixth pharmaceutical plant in Japan. Scheduled to come on-line in 2020 in the city of Mima on the southern island of Shikoku, the plant will initially employ 86 people.
MAY 22, 2017 | CEN.ACS.ORG | C&EN
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