Business Concentrates FINANCE
▸ Dow and DuPont submit package to regulators Dow Chemical and DuPont have submitted a remedy package to the European Commission in the hope that the proposed divestitures will be enough to appease antitrust regulators and complete their merger. The companies say they are willing to part with a portion of DuPont’s crop protection business, including associated R&D operations, as well as Dow’s acid copolymers and ionomers business. Indeed, earlier this month, Dow agreed to sell its ethylene acrylic acid copolymers business to South Korea’s SK Global Chemical. As a result of this submission, the EC is extending its review of the merger until April 4.—ALEX TULLO
ENERGY STORAGE
▸ Solvay adds DuPont battery materials Solvay has acquired DuPont’s Energain lithium-ion, high-voltage battery separation and electrolyte formulations technology for an undisclosed sum. The technology, combined with Solvay’s existing salts and battery electrolyte additives business, will enable customers to make safe high-energy batteries at an affordable cost, Solvay says. Separately, Kazakhstan’s United Chemical Company and Solvay may build a hydrogen peroxide unit in the central Asian country using Solvay technology.—MARC REISCH
CONSUMER PRODUCTS
▸ Unilever to disclose fragrance ingredients Consumer goods giant Unilever says it will begin to voluntarily disclose the fragrance ingredients in its individual home and personal care products NO2 down to 0.01% of the products’ formula-
NO2 Synthetic musks, such as musk ketone, raise O concerns because they bioaccumulate. Musk ketone
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C&EN | CEN.ACS.ORG | FEBRUARY 13, 2017
Moody’s cautions European chemical firms over deals Many European chemical makers have had their fill of acquisitions, according to Moody’s. The credit ratings agency says that after a spate of large acquisitions, a few chemical makers won’t be able to make any further acquisitions in the next 12 to 18 months without risking a credit downgrade. But companies may be tempted to make acquisitions anyway, according to Francois Lauras, Moody’s vice president and senior credit officer. “Pressure to continue acquisitions to boost future revenue and earnings growth is intense as firms struggle to grow organically post-2008,” he says. Large chemical companies that made big deals recently include Solvay, Evonik Industries, and Lanxess. However, Moody’s says a handful of other firms, including AkzoNobel, Covestro, and Arkema, have the balance sheets to make acquisitions without hurting their credit.—ALEX TULLO
tions. It will also disclose the scent that each fragrance ingredient contributes. The lists will be available on Unilever’s website by 2018. In addition, the company will label fragrance allergens on the packages of its personal care products in the U.S. Generally, fragrance formulas are considered trade secrets and are not part of ingredient disclosure rules. The Environmental Working Group, an advocacy organization that tracks ingredients in personal care and cleaning products, applauded the move. EWG says the new policy is a game changer, and it expects other major companies to follow suit.—MELODY BOMGARDNER
3-D PRINTING
▸ Printable metals forge ahead A couple of recent developments show that additive manufacturing isn’t just for polymers. The Burlington, Mass.-based three-dimensional printing start-up Desktop Metal has received $45 million in a funding round led by BMW i Ventures, Lowe’s Ventures, and GV (formerly Google Ventures). The company has raised a total of $97 million since it was founded in October 2015. “Just as plastic 3-D printing paved the way for rapid prototyping, metal 3-D printing will make a profound impact on the way companies both prototype and mass-produce parts,” says Ric Fulop, Desktop Metal’s CEO. Separately, American Elements says it has completed an expansion of its Los Angeles plant for 3-D printing metals. The company says it can now make “several metric tons of high-purity alloys monthly.”—ALEX TULLO
BIOBASED CHEMICALS
▸ BASF promotes biomass approach Falk Bouwsystemen, a Dutch maker of polyurethane-based insulating panels, is working with BASF to get renewable resources into its products. Under the scheme, BASF is adding renewable resources such as biogas or biobased liquids to its basic chemical feedstock stream. Polyurethane ingredients made with these chemicals are asInsulating panels signed a virtual “bio made with share” in a range biomass-based from 25 to 100%. raw materials from This share is credBASF. ited to customers that want biobased content. BASF says the approach promotes sustainable production without changing product quality or properties.—MICHAEL MCCOY
SUSTAINABILITY
▸ Ikea buys stake in plastics recycler Swedish furniture giant Ikea has acquired a 15% stake in Morssinkhof Rymoplast, a Dutch plastics recycling firm. The recycler makes more than 220,000 metric tons of re-
CREDIT: BASF
MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS
cycled plastics per year. Its products include polystyrene, polypropylene, and polyethylene terephthalate (PET). This is Ikea’s first acquisition since stating in December 2016 it will invest $1.1 billion in sustainable materials. Earlier this month, Ikea introduced a range of cabinet door fronts made from recycled PET bottles and wood.—ALEX SCOTT
MATERIALS
▸ Asahi Glass builds R&D center Glass and chemical producer Asahi Glass will build a central R&D center at its Keihin Plant in Yokohama, Japan. The facility will
RESEARCH FUNDING
EMPLOYMENT
▸ Chan Zuckerberg funds scientists
▸ Lilly seeks to cut 200 R&D jobs
The Chan Zuckerberg Biohub, created last year by Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan to rid the planet of disease, is granting 47 researchers from Stanford University; the University of California, Berkeley; and UC San Francisco more than $50 million in total to conduct life sciences research in their areas of expertise. The recipients include Stanford bioengineer Christina Smolke and UC San Francisco chemist Jim Wells.—MICHAEL
Eli Lilly & Co. is offering what it calls a voluntary reallocation program to its R&D employees. The firm’s goal is to reduce about 200 positions globally, or less than 3% of its R&D workforce. The company says it will still invest in new R&D capabilities and hire in strategic areas—including molecule-making capabilities, immunology, and Alzheimer’s disease research—at its U.S. research sites later this year. Lilly cut sales jobs in December 2016 after the Alzheimer’s disease treatment solanezumab failed in clinical trials.—MICHAEL MCCOY
MCCOY
MICROBIOME
▸ Artizan Biosciences debuts with funding
An artist’s rendering of Asahi Glass’s future R&D center. consolidate the R&D operations of two other facilities located in different parts of Yokohama. Asahi says the new facility, scheduled for completion in 2020, will enable a “new R&D system” emphasizing greater collaboration among internal research groups and with nearby universities.—JEAN-FRANÇOIS
TREMBLAY
Artizan Biosciences, a 2016 spin-off of Yale University, has received funding of an undisclosed amount from two investors, Hatteras Venture Partners and Ireland’s Malin Corp., which now owns 32% of Artizan. With headquarters in Durham, N.C., and labs in New Haven, Conn., Artizan is looking to address diseases involving human intestinal microbiota, including autoimmune and metabolic disorders. Its lead program will be aimed at inflammatory bowel disease. Artizan’s scientific founders are Yale professors Richard Flavell and Noah Palm, as well as Marcel de Zoete, now at Utrecht University.—ANN THAYER
Business Roundup
CREDIT: ASAHI GLASS
▸ Frutarom Industries has purchased the shares it did not already own in the savory flavors maker Protein Technologies Ingredients for $40 million. It paid $50 million for a majority stake in 2013. ▸ Oxis Energy, a Cambridge, England, developer of lithium-sulfur battery materials, says it will develop battery cells for a high-altitude “pseudo satellite” to provide remote sensing and internet connectivity in the developing world. Oxis aims to develop a battery
cell that will enable the pseudo satellite to fly above the weather for up to three months. ▸ Evonik Industries has invested an undisclosed amount in Hosen Capital Fund III, a Chinese private equity fund that invests in companies in the agriculture and nutrition sector. Evonik has budgeted $105 million to invest in startups and venture capital funds. ▸ Teva Pharmaceutical Industries has named Yitzhak Peterburg as interim CEO.
START-UPS
▸ Chondrial launches to fight rare diseases Chondrial Therapeutics has secured up to $23 million in its Series A funding round. Focusing on the treatment of rare mitochondrial diseases, the start-up has licensed a new therapy, CTI-1601, from Indiana University Research and Technology Corp. and Wake Forest University Health Sciences. CTI-1601 uses a carrier protein to deliver frataxin, a protein deficient in the degenerative neuromuscular disease Friedreich’s ataxia, to the mitochondria, where the protein becomes active. Chondrial will conduct R&D in its new lab at the Science Center in Philadelphia.—ANN THAYER
He replaces Erez Vigodman, who stepped down after clinical trial setbacks and the payment of a fine to the U.S. government to settle bribery charges against the company. ▸ Albany Molecular Research Inc. and Bruker Daltonics are joining to develop high-throughput mass spectrometry (MS) for drug discovery at AMRI’s Albany center. AMRI says Bruker’s MALDI PharmaPulse system is the first to allow MS-based assay screening and analysis. ▸ Strides Shasun, previously known as Strides Arcolab,
will spin off its active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) business to focus on its core finished drug business. In a statement to the Bombay Stock Exchange, Strides said its API business accounted for 23% of its sales, or $105 million, in the latest fiscal year. ▸ Portola Pharmaceuticals has sold future royalties on its developmental anticoagulation reversal drug andexanet alfa to HealthCare Royalty Partners for $50 million. Portola can get an additional $100 million upon FDA approval of the drug.
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