OUTSOURCING
AGRICULTURE
Boragen launches for boron fungicides Boragen, the first start-up to launch from a new business accelerator focused on agriculture technology, has raised $10 million in its first round of venture funding. The firm will use the money to develop synthetic fungicides based on a group of boron-containing compounds. Cofounder and chief science officer Tony Liu, a synthetic chemist, first zeroed in on a group of compounds called benzoxaboroles while screening for pharmaceutical leads. Benzoxaboroles have been used in topical antibiotics and antifungals. “Boron is a unique building block that allows a lot of freedom to moduDombrosky late geometry and charge,” Liu points out. “You can fine-tune the reactivity by changing what you put around it for a specific use.” Boragen’s lead candidate boasts a new mode of fungus-killing action, which will help prevent the emergence of resistant organisms, says CEO John W. Dombrosky. And it can be used in tiny amounts when combined with common fungicides, he adds. “We’re really only at the beginning of being able to exploit boron chemistry” Dombrosky says. Agriculture has attracted increasing interest from venture capital firms in the past two years. In 2016, Dombrosky and Alexandria Venture Investments formed the AgTech Accelerator in Research Triangle Park, N.C., a sprawling research hub for several big agchem firms. AgTech Accelerator’s partners—and Boragen investors—include the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Flagship Pioneering, Bayer, and Syngenta Ventures.—MELODY
BOMGARDNER
Lonza plans biologics plant for Sanofi Lonza and Sanofi have signed a supply agreement under which the Swiss chemical maker will operate a large-scale mammalian cell culture facility dedicated to Sanofi at its site in Visp, Switzerland. It is Lonza’s first customer-dedicated biologics plant at the sprawling site, which more typically manufactures small molecules for drug industry customers. The firm operates three similar sites in Singapore and Portsmouth, N.H., its main biologics operation. Under the contract, Lonza will construct and operate the facility. The two partners will share available capacity with excess maintained to support increases in Sanofi’s demand. Lonza will be free to market its share of capacity as well as unused Sanofi capacity where available. The partners will invest $285 million for the first phase of the project, which is expected to come on-line in 2020. Approximately 60% of Sanofi’s pipeline is comprised of biologics, including monoclonal antibodies, being developed in therapeutic areas such as immunology, cardiovascular disease, and oncology, according to Philippe Luscan, head of industrial affairs at the French drug company. “Lonza is a highly A purification vessel at experienced partner in this field, Lonza’s Portsmouth facility. and the capabilities which this joint venture will create are critical to meeting our patients’ needs.” Marc Funk, chief operating officer for Lonza’s pharmaceuticals and biotech business, says the company intends to pursue dedicated plants for biologics as part of a new “strategic roadmap” that seeks to match assets to customers’ needs. The Sanofi project closely follows the announcement of a dedicated plant in Visp for Clovis Oncology’s small-molecule cancer drug rucaparib.—RICK MULLIN
REGULATION
CREDIT: BORAGEN (MUG); LONZA (PLANT)
Business leaders want to axe regulations In an effort endorsed by several chemical companies, Business Roundtable, an advocacy group composed of CEOs, has sent the Trump Administration a list of “Top Regulations of Concern” that it believes are unnecessary. “The majority of the regulations directly and negatively impact economic growth,” wrote Mark J. Costa, CEO of Eastman Chemical and chair of the roundtable’s Smart Regulation Committee. Also signing the letter was Dow Chemical CEO Andrew N. Liveris, who is leading a manufacturing panel for the Trump Administration.
Among the environmental rules on the list is an EPA ground-level ozone standard that reduced ozone concentration limits to 70 ppb from 75 ppb. It also hit on a rule requiring carbon capture for new coal-fired power plants and on a rule expanding federal jurisdiction over state waters. Business Roundtable also targeted rules for health care, corporate governance, the workforce, taxes, the internet, and exports. Last month, President Donald J. Trump signed an executive order directing agencies to eliminate two regulations for every new regulation they implement.
While Dow’s Liveris was on hand, Trump signed another executive order on Feb. 24 requiring that each federal agency establish a task force to eliminate red tape. Robert Verchick, president of the Center for Progressive Reform, sees an attempt to roll back regulations. “In the end,” Verchick says, “this latest executive order is further evidence that the President is far more interested in doing special favors for his industry friends than he is in protecting American families and communities from polluted air and water, contaminated food, and dangerous workplaces.”—ALEX TULLO MARCH 6, 2017 | CEN.ACS.ORG | C&EN
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