Business Concentrates ENERGY STORAGE
▸ Umicore invests in battery materials Umicore plans to spend more than $180 million over three years to triple capacity for nickel-manganese-cobalt cathode materials used in hybrid and electric vehicle batteries. The Belgian company says the project will take place at its facilities in Jiangmen, China, and Cheonan, South Korea, which it calls the world’s largest cathode materials plant. The capacity addition should start coming onstream in the second half of 2017, Umicore says, and be completed by the end of 2018.—
MICHAEL MCCOY
MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS
Global players trade chemical businesses In two deals involving international chemical makers, Lanxess is acquiring the disinfection chemicals business of Chemours and W.R. Grace & Co. is purchasing BASF’s polyolefin catalysts business. Lanxess says its acquisition, valued at about $240 million, includes active ingredients and formulated products used in farm and hospital disinfection. A core product is Virkon S, a disinfectant based on potassium peroxymonosulfate. The Chemours business generates annual pretax profits of about $20 million and sales of about $100 million. It has 170 employees and facilities in the U.S. and U.K. The purchase is Lanxess’s first since it began a major restructuring in February 2014. Grace’s deal includes technology, patents, trademarks, and polyolefin catalyst plants in Pasadena, Texas, and Tarragona, Spain. About 170 employees will join Grace. The catalysts are used to make high-density polyethylene and polypropylene. BASF says it will focus instead on chemical and refinery catalysts.—ALEX SCOTT
SOLAR ENERGY
▸ Solar airplane resumes world tour After being grounded for nine months following overheating of its lithium-ion batteries, the solar-powered airplane Solar Impulse 2 has taken off again on its roundthe-world tour. With a new battery cooling
Mexichem and state oil company Pemex, initially reported three dead from the blast. However, the grim tally increased over the next few days as specialized canine units explored the interior of the plant where the blast occurred. All workers who reported to the plant that day have been accounted for, the companies say. Officials who are investigating the cause of the explosion have so far only stated that a leak likely contributed to the disaster.—ALEX TULLO
Currently head of Shin-Etsu’s U.S. polyvinyl chloride subsidiary, Shintech, Saitoh has held numerous positions at the Japanese firm since joining it in 1978. In a note to investors, Yoshihiro Azuma, an analyst at the investment bank Jefferies, called Saitoh’s appointment a “huge, huge positive.” Saitoh’s track record at Shintech, which is likely to be Shin-Etsu’s main profit driver for the next five years, has been “fantastic,” Azuma noted.—JEAN-FRANÇOIS
TREMBLAY
▸ Catalyst targets fine chemicals The Solar system installed, it Impulse 2 plane made the three-day flying over the flight from Hawaii’s Kalaeloa Airport to Mof- Golden Gate Bridge. fett Field in Mountain View, Calif. In addition to solar panels, the plane boasts four motors and lightweight materials supplied by partners including Solvay and Covestro.— MELODY BOMGARDNER
INDUSTRIAL SAFETY
▸ Mexican explosion toll reaches 32 The death toll from an April 20 explosion at a vinyl chloride plant in Coatzacoalcos, Mexico, has climbed to 32. The plant’s partners,
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C&EN | CEN.ACS.ORG | MAY 2, 2016
Chiral Technologies, a subsidiary of Japan’s Daicel, is joining with GreenCentre Canada to commercialize a new catalyst technology for fine chemicals synthesis. Invented by chemist Steven Bergens at the University of Alberta, the technology allows metal-based homogeneous catalysts to be attached to supports in flow reactors. According to the partners, such catalysts normally can’t be reused and often result in excess waste.—MICHAEL MCCOY
PEOPLE
▸ Shin-Etsu names new president Yasuhiko Saitoh, 60, will become Shin-Etsu Chemical’s new president this summer.
AGRICULTURE
▸ Elanco licenses canine pain drug Eli Lilly & Co.’s Elanco animal health division has licensed rights to a canine pain drug developed by Kansas-based Aratana Therapeutics. Approved by FDA in March, Galliprant is a noncyclooxygenase-in-
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hibiting, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory designed to control osteoarthritic pain and inflammation in dogs. Elanco is paying $45 million up front and up to $83 million in milestones. Aratana licensed the drug for animal use in 2011 from Japan’s RaQualia
CREDIT: SOLAR IMPULSE
CATALYSIS
BASF will combine biological and chemical protection for seed coatings.
Pharma. Aratana says it should be available in the fall.—ANN THAYER
DRUG SAFETY
▸ FDA warns another Indian firm on data FDA has issued a warning letter to India’s Sri Krishna Pharmaceuticals, citing data manipulation and failure to protect data integrity. Among its main products, Sri Krishna lists acetaminophen, folic acid, domperidone, and enalapril. During a December 2014 visit, FDA inspectors found that Sri Krishna technicians had deleted test results without explanation and fabricated sample test data. Moreover, technicians “routinely turned HPLC audit trails on and off,” FDA found. After the inspection, FDA communicated its concerns to Sri Krishna but eventually decided to issue a formal warning letter after finding the company’s response unsatisfactory.—
JEAN-FRANÇOIS TREMBLAY
AGRICULTURE
▸ BASF opens crop lab in Germany
CREDIT: BASF
BASF has opened an R&D center at its crop protection headquarters in Limburgerhof, Germany, that will be a hub for work in biological and chemical protection for
seed treatments. Combining the areas of expertise will provide farmers with strong crops starting from germination, the firm says. In 2012, BASF moved its plant health research headquarters to Research Triangle Park, N.C., because of lack of support for genetically modified crops in Europe.—
MELODY BOMGARDNER
PHARMACEUTICAL CHEMICALS
▸ Aptuit acquires Swiss services firm The U.S. pharmaceutical services firm Aptuit has acquired Exquiron Biotech, a Swiss company with expertise in assay development, high-throughput screening, selectivity testing, and hit characterization. Aptuit already has a European facility in Verona, Italy. With the purchase, Aptuit can now offer uninterrupted delivery of a research program from target to candidate nomination, CEO Jonathan Goldman says. Last month, the Chinese drug services firm WuXi AppTec made a similar European foray with the purchase of Munich-based Crelux.—RICK MULLIN
GENOMICS
▸ Twist to supply DNA to Microsoft The DNA synthesis start-up Twist Bioscience has reached an agreement to supply Microsoft with 10 million long oligonucleotides for encoding digital data. Twist says its silicon-based DNA synthesis technique presents the opportunity to store data in DNA instead of traditional storage media, which has a finite shelf life. Microsoft’s initial tests show that it can encode and recover 100% of the digital data from synthetic DNA, according to Microsoft researcher Doug Carmean.—MICHAEL MCCOY
INVESTMENT
▸ Allied Minds funds drug development The science commercialization firm Allied Minds has created a subsidiary, ABLS Capital, which has secured $80 million in funding from venture capital investors. Along with $20 million from Bristol-Myers Squibb, ABLS Capital will support up to 10 lead optimization programs for drug candidates that have completed feasibility studies. ABLS Capital is an outgrowth of a 2014 agreement between Allied Minds and BMS that created Allied-Bristol Life Sciences to identify drug candidates from U.S. universities and research institutions.—ANN THAYER
Business Roundup
sold to local greenhouses and algae producers.
▸ Advent International, a private equity firm, has agreed to acquire the Mexican fine chemicals company Viakem. Based in Monterrey, Viakem is Mexico’s only custom manufacturer of crop protection chemicals serving global companies, according to Advent.
▸ Dow Chemical will supply Silvadur, a silver-polymer complex that delivers antimicrobial silver ions, to Russell Brands for use in T-shirts and other athletic apparel. According to Dow, fabrics treated with Silvadur stay fresh longer between washings.
▸ PerkinElmer has sold its U.S. prenatal screening laboratory services business, which had sales last year of about $20 million, to Eurofins Scientific. PerkinElmer says U.S. health care reform is causing the consolidation of diagnostics testing with broad service providers.
▸ Praxair will spend $100 million to expand carbon monoxide production at its Geismar, La., plant. New supplies of the industrial gas will serve customers in the polyurethane and other specialty chemical industries, the company says.
▸ Haldor Topsøe will supply its new selective oxidation catalyst, SMC, to the Icelandic geothermal power company HS Orka to remove sulfur from CO2 that emerges from the ground during steam production. The cleaned-up CO2 will be
▸ Evotec will collaborate with Scotland’s Ex Scientia to discover and develop bispecific small-molecule immuno-oncology therapies. Ex Scientia will apply its algorithmic drug design methods. Evotec will contribute
medicinal chemistry, pharmacology, and development expertise. ▸ Biogen has named Michael Ehlers its executive vice president of R&D. Ehlers joins the biotech firm from Pfizer, where he was head of biotherapeutics R&D and chief scientific officer of the firm’s neuroscience and pain research unit. ▸ Allergan has acquired Topokine Therapeutics for $85 million plus success-based milestones. The deal brings XAF5, a topical treatment Topokine is developing for steatoblepharon, also known as undereye bags. XAF5 entered Phase IIb/ III clinical trials in January.
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