PEOPLE
▸ New leaders named at Dow Corning Mauro Gregorio will become CEO of Dow Corning once Dow Chemical completes its $4.8 billion purchase of Corning’s share of the joint venture. Gregorio is the Dow vice president leading the integration of the silicones producer into Dow. Current Dow Corning Chairman and CEO Robert Hansen Gregorio plans to retire after a transition period following completion of the deal in June.—MARC REISCH
DRUG DEVELOPMENT
▸ Celgene, Agios in cell metabolism deal Celgene is paying $200 million to collaborate with Agios Pharmaceuticals in the area of immuno-oncology. The companies will work on altering the metabolic state of immune cells to help them attack cancers. Agios will conduct drug discovery and early development, while Celgene has the
right to opt into programs through Phase I trials for at least $30 million each. Agios can also earn up to $169 million in milestone payments for each program. Celgene can license inflammation or autoimmune programs.—ANN THAYER
ONCOLOGY
▸ Janssen, MacroGenics sign second pact Janssen, the pharmaceutical arm of Johnson & Johnson, will pay MacroGenics $75 million to license the bispecific antibody MGD015. In preclinical studies, MGD015 blocks both CD3 and an undisclosed tumor target with the goal of redirecting T cells to kill cells that overexpress the undisclosed antigen. This is the second pact between Janssen and MacroGenics. The companies are already developing MGD011, a bispecific molecule targeting CD19 and CD3, as a blood cancer treatment.—LISA JARVIS
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
▸ Ajinomoto sues over tryptophan patents The Japanese amino acid producer Ajinomoto has sued South Korean competitor CJ CheilJedang for infringing
Business Roundup
CREDIT: DOW CHEMICAL
▸ Ineos has green-lit plans to build a 420,000-metric-tonper-year linear α-olefin plant at its Chocolate Bayou, Texas, site by 2018. Strong market prospects for α-olefins and cheap ethylene on the Gulf Coast prompted the company to increase the size of the plant above its previously planned 350,000 metric tons. ▸ Sol Voltaics, a Swedish start-up, has raised $17 million in a third round of funding, including an investment by the venture arm of King Saud University and a grant from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 program. Sol
is developing high-efficiency solar materials based on gallium arsenide nanowires. ▸ Gilson, a laboratory equipment provider, is offering analytical scientists free lab notebook software. The software was unveiled at the Analytica scientific instrumentation show in Munich earlier this month. ▸ Klogene Therapeutics, at work on therapies for Alzheimer’s and other neurodegenerative diseases, has been awarded a $1.49 million Small Business Innovation Research grant by the National
patents covering the manufacture of animal-feed-grade l-tryptophan. At issue is use of genetically O enhanced Escherichia coli to imOH prove the yield HN NH2 of the essential amino acid. In L-Tryptophan suits filed in U.S. federal court and Germany, Ajinomoto seeks unspecified monetary damages and a halt to CJ’s sale of the product. Ajinomoto recently said it would build a feed-grade tryptophan plant in Eddyville, Iowa, its first in the U.S.—MARC REISCH
MICROBIOME
▸ Seres forms two microbiome pacts Seres Therapeutics will work with scientists at the University of Pennsylvania and Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center on microbiome therapeutics. With Penn, the start-up will develop bacteria-based treatments for metabolic diseases including urea cycle disorders and inflammatory bowel disease. And Seres aims to support the translation of the cancer center’s discoveries into microbiome therapeutics that help patients undergoing hematopoietic stem cell transplantation and increase the efficacy of checkpoint inhibitors used in immuno-oncology.—
MICHAEL MCCOY
Institute on Aging. The company was cofounded by Boston University biochemistry professor Carmela Abraham.
oppement. Terms of the deal haven’t been disclosed, but the business generated about $270 million in sales last year.
▸ Sanofi-Genzyme BioVentures is collaborating with Johns Hopkins School of Medicine on understanding multiple sclerosis. SGBV has several collaborations in MS research, including one signed last year with Ablynx that is investigating the use of single-domain antibody fragments.
▸ Taiho Pharmaceutical, a Japanese oncology drug developer, has launched a $50 million California-based fund that will invest in oncology startups worldwide. Taiho injected $30 million into Remiges BioPharma Fund in 2014.
▸ Bayer has agreed to sell its North American and European Bayer Garden and Bayer Advanced units, which sells plant care products to gardeners and homeowners, to SBM Dével-
▸ Fosun Pharmaceutical of China has made a nonbinding offer to buy India’s Gland Pharma, reportedly for more than $1 billion. The private equity firm KKR paid $200 million for a minority stake in Gland, a contract manufacturer of injectable drugs, in 2013.
MAY 23, 2016 | CEN.ACS.ORG | C&EN
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