Emerald Kalama’s expanded plant in Rotterdam. grances in personal care and other applications. Emerald also makes the chemicals in Kalama, Wash. —ALEX TULLO
BUSINESS
▸ Venator to shutter color pigments plants Venator, the titanium dioxide and pigments maker spun off from Huntsman Corp. last month, plans to close color pigments manufacturing sites in Easton, Pa., and St. Louis by the end of 2017. The firm recently ramped up production at its Augusta, Ga., site, from which it will continue to supply customers. The closures are part of a $90 million efficiency drive that the firm expects to complete by the end of 2019.—
MARC REISCH
BIOLOGICAL CHEMISTRY
▸ Evonik buys into low-cost peptides Evonik Industries has acquired a minority stake in Numaferm, a spin-off
from Heinrich Heine University that is developing a process for making peptides using bacteria. Evonik is one of a handful of companies, including venture capital firms, that have invested a combined total of about $1.2 million in the spin-off. Numaferm claims it can make peptides at 1/1,000th of the price of standard chemical process costs (about $1.2 million per kg). Numaferm’s technology is cheaper partly because to make 1 kg of peptide, it uses 1 metric ton of raw materials compared with 25 metric tons for chemical processes, the firm says.—ALEX SCOTT
NUCLEIC ACIDS
▸ Alnylam and Sanofi report RNAi success Patisiran, an RNA interference drug being developed by Alnylam and Sanofi, met its primary goals in a Phase III study as a treatment for hereditary ATTR amyloidosis, a rare genetic disease. Alnylam plans to file a New Drug Application later this year. “We are proud to report the first-ever positive Phase III results for an RNAi therapeutic,” says Alnylam CEO John Maraganore. Alnylam’s stock price soared more than 20% on the news. The firm earlier experienced setbacks for two other RNAi drugs, revusiran and fitusiran.—MICHAEL MCCOY
Business Roundup
C R E D I T: EM E RA L D KA LA M A
▸ Sun Chemical is partnering with the Canadian firm GreenMantra Technologies to develop printing ink formulations based on recycled polystyrene. GreenMantra has a thermocatalytic technology to process hard-to-recycle polymers and is building a pilot plant in Brantford, Ontario, that will have 1,000 metric tons of capacity per year. ▸ Dow Chemical has collaborated with the plastic packaging firm Bemis and the plastics converter Polykar to produce plastic trash bags made from postindustrial scrap. The Ocean Conservan-
cy used the bags as part of its International Coastal Cleanup event, held last week. ▸ GreenLight Biosciences, a Boston-area start-up, raised $18 million in a fourth round of venture funding, which it will use to develop and field test its double-stranded RNA-based pest control products. Investors included Fall Line Capital, S2G Ventures, and Syngenta Ventures. ▸ Mitsui Chemicals and Osaka-based Microwave Chemical will collaborate to develop new manufacturing processes using microwaves.
MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS
▸ Catalent acquires Cook Pharmica In a further consolidation of the contract drug-making industry, Catalent is purchasing Cook Pharmica and its 80,000-m2 facility in Bloomington, Ind., for $950 million. Catalent will pay $750 million cash when the deal closes, with the remainder delivered in four annual installments. The acquisition will bolster Catalent’s cell culture manufacturing and also biologics development, manufacturing, and packaging programs.—RYAN CROSS
PROCESS CHEMISTRY
▸ Matthey, Snapdragon in flow chemistry pact Johnson Matthey and Snapdragon Chemistry have formed a collaboration to bring continuous-flow chemistry to the pharmaceutical industry. Johnson Matthey is a leading supplier of bulk pharmaceutical chemicals, made mostly in batch processes. Snapdragon was formed in 2015 by two professors to introduce flow chemistry to drug manufacturing. The partners say they will work together at their Boston-area facilities on projects for drug industry customers.—MICHAEL MCCOY
Mitsui Chemicals will dispatch some of its researchers to Microwave’s labs and will also invest in the firm. ▸ Recipharm will acquire a solid-dose drug plant in Leganés, Spain, from Roche. The Swedish contract research firm says it also signed an agreement to supply more than $40 million per year of solid-dose products to Roche. ▸ Immunocore will get up to $40 million from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to develop T-cell-receptor-based drugs against infectious diseases, particularly tuberculosis and HIV. The British firm says the investment will allow it to expand
its focus beyond oncology. ▸ Ultragenyx, a rare-disease drugmaker, has bid to purchase gene therapy developer Dimension Therapeutics for about $138 million. Ultragenyx’s move trumped Regenxbio’s offer of about $86 million for Dimension last month. ▸ Honeywell will expand its capacity for Aclar poly(chlorotrifluoroethylene) pharmaceutical film at sites in Louisiana and Pennsylvania. The company says the project, to be completed in the coming years, will meet growing demand for blister packs and other forms of drug packaging.
SEPTEMBER 25, 2017 | CEN.ACS.ORG | C&EN
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