Business Roundup

Cambrex has announced that Gary L. Mossman, its chief operating officer and president of Cambrex Pharma, will retire at the end of the month after three-and-a-half years at the company. Steven M. Klosk, who heads the biopharma division, will assume responsibility for the pharma business.

Bayer and Nufarm have entered into a multiyear European supply and distribution agreement for the herbicide diflufenican and products containing it. The herbicide was discovered by Bayer.

SABIC Europe has signed a contract with German contractor Uhde for the construction of a $250 million bimodal high-density polyethylene plant in Gelsenkirchen, Germany. The 250,000-metric-ton-per-year plant will open in late 2008, replacing a smaller facility at the site.

Afton Chemical has completed the first part of a two-part expansion of capacity for detergents used in lubricant additives. When completed by early next year, the overall project will raise detergent capacity by 20%, Afton says.

GenTek has acquired Repauno Products, a Gibbstown, N.J., producer of sodium nitrite, for $4.5 million. GenTek's General Chemical unit already operates a sodium nitrite plant in Syracuse, N.Y.

Hercules and ICI's Uniqema unit have agreed to a multiyear extension of their synthetic lubricants manufacturing pact. To accommodate Uniqema, Hercules plans to expand synlube capacity by the second quarter of 2007.

Galapagos' BioFocus DPI division has entered a pact with AstraZeneca worth close to $1 million. BioFocus will provide medicinal chemistry services to AstraZeneca's respiratory and inflammatory drug discovery programs.