NEWS OF TH E WEEK
ELECTIONS BOLSTER INDUSTRY AGENDA
& Public Works Committee, which has jurisdiction over the issue. “Over the last two years, Sen. Boxer has single-handedly blocked bipartisan efforts to reform TSCA,” Allmond says. Although the industry wants one set of federal rules for managing commercial chemicals, Boxer wants to preserve the right of states to enact their own regulations. In addition to TSCA reform, Allmond says he expects Republican leaders will act on other industry priorities, such as passing legislation to expand international trade, renew an expired tax credit for R&D, and reauthorize the Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Standards program for multiple years. Although Democrats suffered heavy losses, environmental groups say Congress should not view the election results as a shift in public support for aggressive green policies such as cutting carbon emissions. “Whatever may have driven individual races, the American people want action on climate change,” says Frances Beinecke, president of the Natural Resources Defense Council. “They didn’t vote to roll back foundational environmental safeguards for the sake of polluter profits.” Meanwhile, some advocates believe support for science research may increase, spurred in part by the Ebola outbreak. “The Ebola scare—and people are frightened about it—has led people to start to connect the dots a little bit,” says former Rep. John Porter (R-Ill.). “There is a general feeling that in the next Congress there will be more goodwill toward research funding.”—GLENN HESS & ANDREA WIDENER
CONGRESS: Chemical makers
expect progress on TSCA reform, other priorities
W
ITH REPUBLICANS consolidating their
AP PHOTO/SUSAN WALSH
power on Capitol Hill in the midterm elections, chemical industry officials hope to see major progress next year on several priorities, including an overhaul of the principal law governing chemical production in the U.S. “Of significant importance for our industry is the momentum for achieving bipartisan reform of the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA),” says William E. Allmond IV, vice president of government and public relations at the Society of Chemical Manufacturers & Affiliates, a trade group representing 220 mostly small and medium-size specialty chemical makers. The key change, he notes, is that industry supporter Sen. James M. Inhofe (R-Okla.) will succeed Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) as chair of the Environment
Inhofe (right) will replace Boxer as head of Senate environment panel.
DOOMED PLANT GETS REPRIEVE PHARMA CHEMICALS: Chinese firm buys
former Boehringer Ingelheim facility
A
N OBSCURE CHINESE DRUG company has ac-
quired a chemical plant in Petersburg, Va., that Boehringer Ingelheim had intended to close by the end of the year. The firm, UniTao Pharmaceuticals, says it will spend $22.5 million to take over the active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) facility and upgrade it. When Boehringer announced the closure in 2013, it said 240 employees would lose their jobs by the end of this year. They may now find work with UniTao. “Former Boehringer Ingelheim employees, because of their proven skills and experience at the plant, are certainly first in line for opportunities as they become available,” says UniTao spokesman Christian Munson. The plant may employ as many as 376 people in three years, he adds. CEN.ACS.ORG
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VIRGINIA ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT PARTN ERSHIP
UniTao CEO Tao Ye (left) shakes hands with Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe.
UniTao is a unit of Shanghai Tenry Pharmaceutical, which was formed in 2005, according to Virginia officials. Drug industry sources contacted by C&EN in China were only vaguely aware of Tenry, but James Bruno, president of the consulting firm Chemical & Pharmaceutical Solutions, says it is not unusual for API makers to operate “under the radar” in China. Bruno says the deal is the first that he is aware of in which a Chinese API producer has acquired assets in the U.S. “But I would not be surprised if we see one or two more by the end of the year,” he adds. Lee Kang, president of P&AC, a U.S. marketing advisory firm that has done work for Tenry, says the Chinese company has about 500 employees and makes APIs and finished-dosage drugs. Tenry plans to do the same in Virginia, according to Kang, and sell its output in the U.S., China, and elsewhere. “Made in the U.S.A. is a trend” in China, he says. Although costs and regulations are on the rise in China, Chinese companies moving to the U.S. will face a raft of new challenges in environmental management, occupational health and safety, and other areas, cautions Howard J. Foote, CEO of the consulting firm Biotex Data. For Tenry, hiring former plant employees will help with this challenge, he adds.—JEAN-FRANÇOIS TREMBLAY & RICK MULLIN
NOVEMBER 10, 2014
