Business Concentrates MATERIALS
▸ Four die at Indian isocyanate plant Four workers died at a Gujarat Narmada Valley Fertilizers & Chemicals plant in Dahej, India. In a statement, the company said a gas leak on Nov. 2 caused the deaths at the facility, which produces the polyurethane raw material toluene diisocyanate. The company did not disclose the gas, but Indian media reports said it was phosgene; carbon monoxide is another hazardous gas involved in TDI manufacturing. The accident occurred just a day after another serious incident in India. A blast at a plant operated by Hindustan Insecticides injured 14 people.—JEAN-FRANÇOIS TREMBLAY
PEOPLE
▸ Omnova names Noonan as CEO Anne P. Noonan has been named Omnova’s president and CEO effective Dec. 1. She replaces Kevin M. McMullen, who is stepping down after more than 16 years with the specialty chemical Noonan company to pursue other interests. Noonan, 53, is currently the president of Omnova’s performance chemicals business. She joined the company in 2014 from Chemtura.—MICHAEL MCCOY
POLYMERS
▸ BASF bulks up on plastics additives BASF plans to invest more than $215 million in its plastics additives business over the next five years. Half of the investment, which includes capacity additions to meet demand for antioxidants and light stabilizers, will be in Asia. The firm also pledges to invest in digital processes and technology to enhance the reliability of its operations. Plastic additives optimize processing and
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Teijin commits to carbon fiber in the U.S. Japan’s Teijin has purchased 440 acres of land in Greenwood, S.C., where it plans to invest $600 million in facilities to produce carbon fiber. Teijin already operates carbon fiber plants in the U.S. in Rockwood, Tenn., through its subsidiary Toho Tenax. With the acquisition, the company joins other Japanese carbon fiber makers that have boosted their U.S. presence recently. Toray Industries announced in November 2015 that it would spend almost $500 million on new facilities in Spartanburg, S.C. Toray is a major supplier of carbon fiber materials to Boeing. In June 2014, Mitsubishi Rayon, a subsidiary of Mitsubishi Chemical Holdings, announced it would double the capacity of its carbon fiber plant in Sacramento, Calif. At the time, Mitsubishi noted rising demand for compressed gas tanks made from carbon fiber.—JEAN-FRANÇOIS TREMBLAY
enhance such things as polymer light stability and scratch resistance.—MARC REISCH
PETROCHEMICALS
▸ Budapest firm to invest $2 billion MOL Group, a Budapest-headquartered petrochemical and energy firm, plans to invest $2 billion over the next five years to enhance existing chemical plants and build new ones. It will spend more than a quarter of the money to increase propylene yield and lubricants production at its steam crackers in Hungary and Slovakia. The firm also plans to add capacity for propylene oxide-based polyols for the automotive, packaging, and furniture industries. MOL currently produces more than 800,000 metric tons per year of propylene.—ALEX SCOTT
BIOFUELS
▸ Fulcrum wins BP backing for jet fuel Fulcrum Bioenergy has received a $30 million investment from BP to accelerate the construction of municipal waste-to-fuel facilities. The funding is part of a deal that also includes a 10-year, 190 million-L-peryear jet fuel purchase agreement. Fulcrum is constructing its first large facility, outside of Reno, Nev., where it will produce 38 million-L of synthetic crude oil from 200,000 metric tons of waste that would otherwise be landfilled. The plant will gasify the waste and
Fulcrum CEO Jim Macias and BP technology executive David Gilmour watch trash being processed at Fulcrum’s facility near Reno. convert it to crude using a Fischer-Tropsch process.—MELODY BOMGARDNER
RENEWABLES
▸ Aramco buys Novomer’s CO2based polyols unit Saudi Arabia’s national oil company, Saudi Aramco, will pay up to $100 million to acquire Novomer’s Converge polyols business. Novomer produces the polyols by reacting carbon dioxide with propylene oxide. The polyols, which have a renewable content of about 40%, are then reacted with isocyanates to make polyurethanes. The company intends to use the proceeds from the sale to develop technology for combining ethylene oxide with carbon monoxide to make beta-propiolactone, which can be converted into industrial chemicals such as acrylic acid.—ALEX TULLO
CREDIT: OMNOVA (NOONAN); FULCRUM (MACIAS AND GILMOUR)
INDUSTRIAL SAFETY
PHARMACEUTICALS
▸ Merck KGaA builds presence in China Merck KGaA plans to spend $90 million on a facility in Nantong, China, that supplies pharmaceutical services and products such as high-purity inorganic salts and cell culture media. The firm just inaugurated a $200 million facility in Nantong for manufacturing pharmaceuticals on China’s Essential Drug List. Merck claims it is the first multinational to operate such a plant in China. The first of the drugs are set to be delivered to patients in the second half of 2017.—ALEX SCOTT
BIOTECHNOLOGY
▸ Nestlé takes stake in Aimmune Nestlé Health Science is making a $145 million investment in Aimmune Therapeutics, a biotech firm developing treatments for food allergies. Aimmune is working on “characterized oral desensitization technology,” or CODIT, a way of desensitizing a patient to a food allergen by gradually increasing exposure over a period of months. The biotech’s lead product, AR101, is in Phase III studies for people with peanut allergies. The companies also signed a two-
year research pact to develop other oral immunotherapies.—LISA JARVIS
PHARMACEUTICALS
▸ BMS grows its fibrosis portfolio Bolstering its growing portfolio of fibrosis treatments, Bristol-Myers Squibb has paid $100 million upfront for access to Nitto Denko’s siRNA molecules targeting heat shock protein 47. Nitto Denko’s lead HSP47 inhibitor, which blocks a protein responsible for regulating collagen synthesis and deposition, is in Phase Ib studies to treat advanced liver fibrosis caused by nonalcoholic steatohepatitis. BMS has in recent years assembled a pipeline of fibrosis assets through deals that include options to buy Galecto Biotech and Promedior.—LISA JARVIS
ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY
▸ EAG invests in drug analysis lab EAG Laboratories has installed six new inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry instruments at its drug analysis lab in Columbia, Mo. EAG, a scientific services provider, says the instruments will analyze
Business Roundup ▸ Orion Engineered Carbons will close its 45,000-metricton-per-year carbon black plant in Bupyeong, South Korea. The firm cites high labor costs and poor feedstock availability. Its facility in Yeosu, South Korea, will remain open.
CREDIT: EAG
▸ Merck KGaA and Japan’s Idemitsu Kosan have agreed to share some of their patents on materials for making organic light-emitting diodes. Primarily an oil refiner, Idemitsu has been conducting research on OLED materials for several years. ▸ FMC Corp. and BASF will jointly develop crop protection products for the U.S. corn
market. The firms will combine insect and disease protection active ingredients, namely BASF’s Headline fungicide and FMC’s Capture insecticide, which is designed to be blended with liquid fertilizers. ▸ BioConsortia, a developer of yield-enhancing microbial crop treatments, has raised $12 million from investors including Khosla Ventures and Otter Capital. The funds will help advance field trials of seed and soil treatments that enable drought tolerance, efficient fertilizer use, and resistance to soil-borne diseases. ▸ Recipharm will spend $1.3 million to expand its
EAG says ICP-MS is the best choice for elemental metals analysis. metals and other impurities for drug industry customers seeking to comply with U.S. government drug-safety guidelines that go into effect Jan. 1, 2018.—MICHAEL MCCOY
START-UPS
▸ Partnership backs Oxford spin-offs The contract research firm Evotec is joining the University of Oxford to create LAB282, a place where basic biomedical research from Oxford can be translated into preclinical proof of concept for new drugs and companies. Also participating are Oxford University Innovation, the school’s research commercialization arm, and Oxford Sciences Innovation, an investment company dedicated solely to Oxford. LAB282 will be supported by a $16 million investment fund. Projects will be aided by an Evotec drug discovery expert.—MICHAEL MCCOY
small-scale active pharmaceutical ingredients plant in Dugnano, Italy, upgrading development laboratories and adding analytical tools. The company says it expects to double its R&D staff at the facility over the next three years. ▸ Neopharm Labs, a Montreal-based pharmaceutical services firm, has acquired Averica Discovery Sciences, a Boston-area contract research firm that specializes in early-stage research and analytical development. The acquisition gives Neopharm its first U.S. operation. ▸ Infectious Disease Research Institute has received $7.5 million in funding and an equal amount of in-kind services from Eli Lilly & Co.
The Seattle, Wash.-based nonprofit will apply the award to the discovery of anti-tuberculosis drugs. ▸ Bristol-Myers Squibb has sold Lexicon Pharmaceuticals the rights to BMS-986176, a small molecule for neuropathic pain that is expected to begin Phase I studies in 2017. The drug candidate, now called LX9211, was discovered as part of a research alliance between the two firms. ▸ BenevolentAI, a British firm that applies artificial intelligence methods to drug development, has licensed a series of small-molecule drug candidates from Janssen Pharmaceuticals. BenevolentAI hopes to begin Phase IIb clinical trials next year.
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