Business Concentrates AGRICULTURE
▸ Linde to boost neon capacity Linde will spend more than $250 million to increase production of neon gas. The move will help relieve shortages of the element, used mostly in a laser-enabled photolithography technique to pack transistors on computer chips. Most of Linde’s investment will go to upgrading its La Porte, Texas, air separation unit to capture 40 million L of neon annually. The gas makes up 18.2 ppm of the atmosphere by volume. Linde also says it will upgrade neon purification and distribution capabilities at several locations.—MARC REISCH
MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS
▸ Evonik gobbles up probiotics business Evonik Industries will acquire the animal probiotics business of Norel Animal Nutrition, a Spanish animal feed ingredients company. The purchase includes Norel’s site in León, Spain. Probiotics are living microorganisms that have a positive effect on the gastrointestinal system of animals. For Evonik, interest in probiotics lies in their potential as alternatives to antibiotics and antibiotic growth promoters in agriculture. “We want to position Evonik as an innovative solution provider in the field of antibiotic-free livestock management,” says Emmanuel Auer, Evonik’s head of animal nutrition.—ALEX SCOTT
EMPLOYMENT
▸ Versum will move headquarters, labs
Monsanto strikes two gene editing deals Discovering and developing a new crop trait can take seven years and cost more than $50 million. Monsanto has inked two deals to license gene editing technologies that it believes will provide cheaper and faster ways to deliver crop improvements. A deal with the Israeli firm TargetGene Biotechnologies will give Monsanto researchers access to RNA-guided gene-editing techniques. Monsanto also invested in the start-up. Separately, Monsanto has begun a three-year research project with Germany’s Nomad Bioscience to help Nomad develop its transient protein expression gene-editing technology. The agreement gives Monsanto the right to use Nomad’s technology for its own research, plus an option to license it for agricultural products. “Gene-editing technologies offer a way for scientists to develop site-directed integration of specific genes as well as the opportunity to enhance beneficial or remove undesired plant characteristics,” Monsanto says.—MELODY BOMGARDNER
in Tempe, Ariz., rather than Air Products’ current base in Allentown, Pa. Laboratories in Allentown will be relocated over the next year to Tempe; Hometown, Pa.; Taiwan; and South Korea. The company says the moves will put it closer to its main customers in Asia and the western U.S.—MI-
CHAEL MCCOY
INORGANIC CHEMICALS
▸ Huntsman closing South African plant Huntsman Corp. plans to shutter its titanium dioxide plant in Umbogintwini, South Africa, by the end of the year. The white pigment facility is the company’s smallest and oldest. “Our margins remain well below historical norms despite some recent recovery,” says Simon Turner, president of Huntsman’s pigments and additives division. Last year, the company announced it would cut capacity in Calais, France. Huntsman bought Rockwood Holdings’ TiO2 business in 2014 and has plans to spin off the combined operation as a separate company.—ALEX TULLO
DRUG SAFETY Air Products & Chemicals is relocating the headquarters and laboratories of its electronic materials division. The division, which has annual sales of about $1 billion, is set to be spun off in September into a stand-alone company called Versum Materials. The new firm’s headquarters will be
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C&EN | CEN.ACS.ORG | JULY 11, 2016
▸ Two Chinese firms get warning letters The U.S. Food & Drug Administration has sent warning letters to two Chinese
pharmaceutical chemical producers. The agency says Shanghai Desano Chemical Pharmaceutical failed to fully investigate evidence of production deviations that were revealed during analytical testing. The company also conducted “unofficial” testing and kept the data in a folder called “Test.” At Chongqing Lummy Pharmaceutical, the agency found that company analysts had falsified data generated by gas chromatographs and HPLCs by setting back their clocks. FDA also discovered that Lummy operators did not make entries in batch manufacturing records at the time operations were performed but rather completed batch records in groups.—
JEAN-FRANÇOIS TREMBLAY
PHARMACEUTICALS
▸ Takeda inks two development pacts Takeda Pharmaceuticals will work with Belgium’s TiGenix to develop the latter’s stem cell therapy for Crohn’s disease outside the U.S. TiGenix will receive an up-front payment of $28 million, as well as potential milestone and royalty payments. Takeda also will invest $11 million in the Belgian firm. Separately, Takeda is forming a partnership with Altos Therapeutics to develop Altos’s ATC-1906, an oral dopamine D2/D3 receptor antagonist, for the treatment of gastroparesis. The agreement gives Takeda an exclusive option to acquire Altos through Phase I development of the drug.—RICK MULLIN
CREDIT: C&EN/SHUTTERSTOCK
INVESTMENT
ONCOLOGY
It raised $450 million from investors last year.—MICHAEL MCCOY
▸ BMS acquires biotech Cormorant
CONSUMER SAFETY
Further expanding its immuno-oncology portfolio, Bristol-Myers Squibb has acquired Cormorant Pharmaceuticals for up-front and near-term milestone fees of up to $95 million. The deal gives BMS HuMax-IL8, an anti-IL8 antibody that the firm believes can be combined with other immunotherapies to improve responses in cancer patients. The deal brings home an asset that once was controlled by antibody developer Medarex, which BMS acquired in 2009. In 2007, Medarex handed over the rights to HuMax-IL8 to Genmab, which sold the drug candidate to Cormorant in 2012.—LISA JARVIS
▸ Food safety start-up raises $9 million Branford, Conn.-based start-up Ancera has raised $9 million in a first round of funding to help it commercialize technology that swiftly identifies microbial food safety haz-
▸ Vertex and Moderna pursue mRNA for CF Vertex Pharmaceuticals and Moderna Therapeutics are joining to research Moderna’s mRNA technology for the treatment of cystic fibrosis. Vertex, which markets two CF medicines, will pay Moderna $20 million in cash and invest an equal amount in the biotech firm. Vertex could pay future milestones of up to $275 million. Moderna struck a $200 million mRNA vaccine deal with Merck & Co. late last month.
CREDIT: ANCERA
Narrowing its focus to its clinical-stage pipeline, Arena Pharmaceuticals will lay off 100 people, or 73% of its workforce. The cuts are expected to save Arena $17 million annually. The reductions come on top of the 80 researchers the San Diego biotech firm laid off in November as it tries to support the development of three compounds in early and midstage clinical trials. Arena and its partner Eisai received FDA approval in 2012 for the weight loss pill Belviq, but the drug has not been a commercial success.—LISA JARVIS
▸ Bind nanomedicine assets may go to Pfizer Staffers at Ancera’s laboratories. ards such as Listeria, Salmonella, and E. coli. Investors included the food safety companies Packers Sanitation Services and Metabiota. Current detection systems require an often days-long incubation followed by a multistep laboratory identification process. Ancera’s PIPER technology uses a ferrofluid and magnet to manipulate, sort, and count viable pathogens from a sample.—MELODY BOMGARDNER
Business Roundup
▸ Altana, a German specialty chemical firm, has acquired Addcomp Holland, a Dutch polymer additives producer. With headquarters in Nijverdal, the Netherlands, Addcomp employs 45 people and operates production facilities and sales offices in Nijverdal and Rochester Hills, Mich.
▸ Arena Pharma cuts to the bone
MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS
DRUG DISCOVERY
▸ Lubrizol has acquired Diamond Dispersions, a British producer of water-based dye and pigment dispersions for inks used in digital printing. Lubrizol says the purchase will enhance its portfolio of products that enable digital printing.
EMPLOYMENT
▸ Solvay affiliate Peróxidos do Brasil will build a small hydrogen peroxide plant for Brazilian paper maker Suzano Papel e Celulose. The plant will incorporate Solvay’s myH2O2 technology for 5- to 20-metric-ton-per-year peroxide plants in remote locations. ▸ Croda International has acquired the cosmetics technology portfolio of Brazil’s Inventiva. The transaction will add encapsulation and delivery systems to Croda’s personal care ingredient offerings and ultimately to other sectors.
Bind Therapeutics, which filed for bankruptcy in May, has signed a preliminary agreement to sell most of its assets to Pfizer for close to $20 million. If the company receives a higher bid by July 22, it will auction its assets. If Pfizer’s offer is selected as the highest, or no better bids come in, Bind expects to complete the sale, subject to court approval, in the third quarter. Bind and Pfizer became collaborators through a multi-million-dollar deal in April 2013.—ANN THAYER
▸ Agilent Technologies will acquire iLab Solutions, a cloud-based supplier of laboratory management services to universities, hospitals, and research institutes. iLab employs about 70 people. Agilent says it will expand the software company’s offerings to other research enterprises, such as pharmaceutical firms. ▸ VWR International, a laboratory equipment supplier, has acquired PAW Biocience Products for an undisclosed sum. New Jersey-based PAW specializes in custom-designed single-use connectors and components for cell culture and purification processes.
▸ Sanofi’s vaccine arm, Sanofi Pasteur, has signed an agreement with the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research for the codevelopment of a Walter Reed Zika vaccine candidate. The French firm has its own candidate based on a dengue fever vaccine. ▸ Janssen Biotech has opted to pay $11 million to license OSE Immunotherapeutics’ FR104, which recently completed Phase I clinical testing. Intended to target autoimmune diseases, FR104 is a monoclonal antibody fragment and antagonist of CD28, a key receptor controlling effector T lymphocytes.
JULY 11, 2016 | CEN.ACS.ORG | C&EN
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