Business Concentrates FINANCES
▸ Mitsubishi Gas joins ammonia project Mitsubishi Gas Chemical will acquire a stake in an $830 million ammonia plant that Mitsubishi Corp. and the Indonesian firm Panca Amara Utama are building in Indonesia. The 700,000-metric-ton-per-year plant is scheduled to come on-line in 2017. A consortium of banks led by International Finance Corp.—a subsidiary of the World Bank— agreed to loan $500 million to the project in 2014. Although Mitsubishi Gas stopped producing ammonia in 2015, it still sells the compound to customers; participation in the project will help it to secure a supply source.—JEAN-FRANÇOIS TREMBLAY
PESTICIDES
▸ BASF relocates Japan farm research BASF will open a farm in January in Chiba prefecture, near Tokyo, to test its crop protection products. The installation will
Pharma firms report positive sales growth Several major pharmaceutical companies have reported sales and earnings for the third quarter, and so far, the positive trend seen in the first half of 2016 is continuing. New product launches contributed to sales growth of between 4 and 8% at Eli Lilly & Co., GlaxoSmithKline, Johnson & Johnson, Merck & Co., and Roche. For example, sales of Merck’s PD-1 cancer immunotherapy Keytruda rose 124% as the drug continued to collect approvals for treating various cancers. Meanwhile, Biogen’s sales grew 6% on the strength of its multiple sclerosis products, which will be key to the company after it spins off its hemophilia business as Bioverativ in early 2017. And although Novartis saw limited growth for its new products, they didn’t offset generics competition to its cancer drug Gleevec. Earnings for the group remained mixed. GSK, J&J, and Merck posted double-digit gains, while Lilly and Novartis reported small declines.—ANN THAYER
petrochemical wastewater regeneration system at Dow’s site in Tarragona, Spain. The partners will combine chemical and biological treatments, ultrafiltration, reverse-osmosis membrane separation, and ion-exchange resin purification so that the water can be reused by Dow. The demonstration project is underwritten by the European Union and is expected to reduce annual water consumption at the Dow plant by 3.5 million m3. Veolia says the European petrochemical industry generates 1.8 billion m3 of wastewater annually.—MARC
REISCH
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
▸ U.S. firms target Chinese infringers BASF will test pesticides at a farm near Tokyo.
be in a region wellknown for fruit and vegetable production. At about the same time, the firm will close its Tahara Agricultural Station near Nagoya. BASF says it is developing and registering several new herbicides, fungicides, and insecticides in Japan.—JEAN-FRANÇOIS TREMBLAY
WATER
▸ Dow, Veolia test new treatment method Dow Chemical and Veolia Water Technologies are jointly designing and testing a new
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C&EN | CEN.ACS.ORG | OCTOBER 31, 2016
Celanese has filed a complaint with the U.S. International Trade Commission claiming that Chinese manufacturers of the artificial sweetener acesulfame potassium are infringing US Patent No. 9024016, which is owned by Celanese. The O O S – + firm seeks to stop imports O N K of the infringing product. Separately, Momentive O says it has settled a patent Acesulfame dispute with two Chinese potassium manufacturers, Dongguan Hungpai Shoe Material Manufacturing and Jingdezhen Hungpai Chemical Technology, over violation of a patent on its NXT silanes. The silanes couple silica reinforcing agents to rubber with a minimum of mixing steps.—MICHAEL MCCOY
POLYMERS
▸ Trinseo to expand rubber capacity Trinseo is expanding solution styrene-butadiene rubber (S-SBR) capacity at its complex in Schkopau, Germany. The company says the 50,000-metric-ton-per-year expansion will increase its global S-SBR capacity by 50% when it comes on-line in January 2018. S-SBR allows tire makers to reduce rolling resistance while maintaining wet grip and durability. This puts the material in high demand as consumers and governments look for more energy-efficient tires. Trinseo also recently announced it is building a pilot plant in Schkopau to allow it to develop new grades of S-SBR.—ALEX TULLO
MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS
▸ Evotec looks to acquire Cyprotex Evotec, a German contract drug discovery firm, has made a $68 million cash offer to acquire Cyprotex. The 17-year-old firm with headquarters in England conducts preclinical contract research in drug metabolism, pharmacokinetics, and toxicology. It employs 136 people across sites in Watertown, Mass.; Kalamazoo, Mich.; and Macclesfield and Alderley Park, England. The companies expect to complete the transaction before the end of the year.—
ANN THAYER
CREDIT: BASF
PETROCHEMICALS
DRUG DEVELOPMENT
▸ Emulate advances its organ emulation chip Emulate and Laboratory Corp. of America’s Covance unit have formed a partnership to assess “organs on chips” technology for preclinical drug evaluation. Emulate will bring to the partnership its polymer chip, automated inAn Emulate organ- strumentation, and on-a-chip. software to predict human responses to medicines, chemicals, and toxins. The collaboration will seek to identify specific applications in which Emulate’s chip technology can enhance drug development. The work will begin with Emulate’s kidney chip.—RICK MULLIN
reproductive immunologist at Miami who codeveloped Heat’s gp96-based immunotherapy technology. Heat Biologics currently uses the technology to create therapeutic cancer vaccines. The new Zika vaccines will be developed by a just-formed Heat subsidiary, Zolovax.—MICHAEL MCCOY
BIOTECHNOLOGY
▸ Cerulean secures much-needed cash Sinking Cerulean Pharma has found a way to stay afloat. Aspire Capital will buy $20 million worth of stock, providing much-needed cash to help move forward Cerulean’s two lead drug candidates. And in a separate move, Novartis will pay $5 million up front to use the biotech’s nanoparticle-drug conjugate technology to create drug candidates against up to five targets. Cerulean trimmed half its staff in August after its lead program, CRLX101, failed to show efficacy against kidney cancer in a Phase II study.—LISA
JARVIS
VACCINES
▸ Heat Biologics eyes Zika vaccine
DRUG DISCOVERY
Heat Biologics has licensed patents from the University of Miami that it will use to develop vaccines against the Zika virus. The Zika program will be directed by Natasa Strbo, a
▸ Scripps and Calibr join forces Scripps Research Institute (SRI) and the California Institute for Biomedical
Business Roundup
CREDIT: EMULATE
▸ Frutarom, an Israeli flavors firm, has agreed to buy Brazil-based Nardi Aromas for $1.6 million. The purchase of the producer of natural flavors and herbal extracts for alcoholic drinks and carbonated beverages is Frutarom’s seventh acquisition this year. ▸ Arkema will increase its production capacity for polyvinylidene fluoride by 25% at its site in Changshu, China. The company says it’s enjoying strong demand for the material from customers producing batteries and solar cells as well as from the water treatment sector.
Research (Calibr) have joined to form a single nonprofit focused on basic and translational biomedical research. Chemist Peter Schultz created Calibr in 2012 and is also the head of SRI. The partners say that teaming up will facilitate a self-sustaining research model. SRI has struggled in recent years to attract sufficient government funding to offset the loss of a research contract with a big drug firm. The two organizations have already worked together on drug discovery and technology projects, including the creation of a peptide stabilization platform.—LISA JARVIS
TISSUE ENGINEERING
▸ Hitachi builds cell plant in Japan Hitachi Chemical will spend $19 million to build a custom manufacturing facility producing live regenerative-medicine cells in Yokohama, Japan. The cells, produced in vitro at the facility, could be used for organ restoration or to repair immune functions damaged by injury or disease. Other applications are in cancer immunotherapy treatments and somatic stem cell therapy. The plant will make use of know-how and technology supplied by PCT, a subsidiary of Caladrius BioSciences in which Hitachi acquired a 20% stake for close to $20 million in March.—JEAN-FRANÇOIS
TREMBLAY
▸ Cabot Corp. is expanding capacity for conductive compounds and masterbatches for engineering thermoplastics applications at its plant in Pepinster, Belgium. The company says the new capacity is meant to meet growing demand for lightweight plastics needed to make more fuel-efficient cars.
▸ Pacific Industrial Development Corp. has purchased a plant in Spartanburg, S.C., where it expects to employ 100 people within five years. The firm, which specializes in the development of materials including specialty alumina, aqueous solutions, rare-earth powders, and formulated powders, now manufactures its products in Weihai, China, and Ann Arbor, Mich.
▸ Mexichem has acquired Gravenhurst Plastics, a Canadian maker of high-density polyethylene pipe. Gravenhurst had revenues of $15 million last year. It will become part of Mexichem’s Fluent pipe group.
▸ Teva Pharmaceutical Industries and IBM have expanded their existing alliance using the latter’s Watson Health data cloud. The expansion includes a three-year effort to find new uses for existing drugs.
▸ Enamine and FCH Group, both of Ukraine, will collaborate on compound library synthesis. Enamine will supply FCH with reagents, intermediates, and building blocks. FCH, in turn, will grant Enamine a share of the resulting compounds. Both firms will include them in their catalogs. ▸ Daiichi Sankyo and Inspirion Delivery Sciences have formed a partnership to commercialize Inspirion’s MorphaBond, an extended-release morphine sulfate tablet. Under the agreement, Daiichi Sankyo will have the right to commercialize a separate Inspirion compound upon U.S. FDA approval.
OCTOBER 31, 2016 | CEN.ACS.ORG | C&EN
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