The N-Sensor helps farmers tailor fertilizer application according to plant need. Yara’s N-Sensor, a tractor-mounted device that uses the light reflectance properties of crops to adjust the amount of fertilizer being applied.—ALEX SCOTT
FINANCE
PHARMACEUTICAL CHEMICALS
▸ AkzoNobel plans research hub
▸ Granules expands APIs
AkzoNobel plans to build a $13.2 million coatings research facility in Felling, England. The facility, expected to open at the end of 2018, will house 100 scientists who will focus on developing formulations that protect steel and concrete structures from corrosion, abrasion, and fire. Testing facilities at the site will allow scientists to simulate the extreme environments the coatings will be subject to in mining, energy, and oil and gas industry applications.—
Granules, an Indian producer of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs), will spend $84 million on an API plant and ancillary facilities, including an R&D unit, in Vishakhapatnam, India. International Finance Corp., a for-profit subsidiary of the World Bank, is enabling the project by buying $48 million in Granules bonds. IFC previously financed various Granules projects, including investment in cleaner production. The new plant will allow Granules to produce higher-end APIs, according to IFC.—
JEAN-FRANÇOIS TREMBLAY
MARC REISCH
▸ Activist investors dog Bristol-Myers
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
NEUROSCIENCE
Bristol-Myers Squibb has become the target of activist investors because of lowered earnings expectations, setbacks in immunooncology, and a plummeting stock price. After discussions with the hedge fund Jana Partners, BMS has agreed to add three independent board members and repurchase about $2 billion worth of its stock, or about 2% of its outstanding shares. Jana owns less than 1% of the drug company. News reports indicate that investor Carl Icahn has taken a stake in BMS as well. Together, the developments raise questions about whether the drug company will become a takeover target.—ANN THAYER
CREDIT: YARA
COATINGS
▸ Gilead addiction drug goes to start-up Gilead Sciences has sold Amygdala Neurosciences the rights to GS-6637, a small-molecule ALDH2 inhibitor with the potential to treat behavior and substance addictions by preventing dopamine surges. Former executives of CV Therapeutics, which Gilead bought in 2009, formed Amygdala to acquire GS-6637. According to Amygdala, Gilead invented GS-6637 based on an initial series of inhibitors synthesized by CV. Amygdala says it plans to start Phase II clinical trials this year.—MICHAEL MCCOY
▸ Chinese court rules in Novozymes’ favor The Supreme People’s Court of China has ruled against two Chinese companies accused of infringing Novozymes’ patent on a glucoamylase enzyme used to make fuel and beverage ethanol. Shandong Longda Bio-Products and Jiangsu Boli Bioproducts had initially been found in violation of the Novozymes patent by a lower court in 2011, but the companies appealed, arguing against the patent’s validity. Novozymes says the legal win will encourage further development of the Chinese biotechnology industry.—JEAN-FRANÇOIS TREMBLAY
Business Roundup
the plant is scheduled to open by the end of 2018.
acidemia, a rare inborn error of metabolism.
▸ Asahi Kasei and China National Bluestar will build a 20,000-metric-ton-per-year plant in China for modified polyphenylene ether as well as facilities for the intermediates 2,6-xylenol and polyphenylene ether. Modified polyphenylene ether is an engineering plastic known for its high heat resistance.
▸ Mitsui Chemicals and South Korea’s SKC plan to build a polyurethane systems facility in Andhra Pradesh in southern India. The partners combined their polyurethane businesses into a joint venture in July 2015. They already operate 10 facilities around the world.
▸ AMRI and Accord Healthcare will jointly develop an undisclosed complex parenteral drug product for the U.S. market. AMRI will provide cGMP manufacturing and analytical support. The deal includes an option to partner on additional drug development projects.
▸ Haldor Topsoe and China’s Wison Engineering have agreed to collaborate on R&D. Initially, the alliance will focus on adapting Topsoe’s catalysts to the Chinese market, but the companies hope to widen their cooperation to include
engineering management and codevelopment of new technologies. ▸ Altana has acquired technology from Landa Group for making metallized graphics. Altana, a German specialty chemical maker, says the new technology enables production of metallization graphics at up to half the cost of conventional foil stamping. ▸ Evonik Industries will build a plant in Weiterstadt, Germany, for high-quality films made from multilayer polymethyl methacrylate. Costing double-digit millions of dollars,
▸ Lonza will contract manufacture an Anc80-AAV-based gene therapy product for Selecta Biosciences at its gene therapy facility near Houston. Selecta is developing the product, which is delivered with a synthetic vector, for the treatment of methylmalonic
▸ PMV Pharmaceuticals has secured $74 million in a Series B financing round led by Topspin Biotech Fund. The New Jersey-based drug company will use the funds to advance small molecules that fight cancer by targeting mutant p53 protein, found in more than half of all tumors.
FEBRUARY 27, 2017 | CEN.ACS.ORG | C&EN
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