Business Roundup

Rohm and Haas will take an after-tax restructuring charge of $15 million against third-quarter earnings. The charge covers a cut of 200 jobs, closure of a digital imaging business, moving R&D jobs outside North America, and other actions expected to yield $15 million in cost savings by 2008.

DuPont has acquired Process Dynamics' IsoTherming technology, used to reduce sulfur in motor fuels. The technology will be integrated into DuPont Clean Technologies, a group of businesses that includes other clean fuel, water, and air programs.

DSM's corporate venturing unit has invested $2.7 million in Jurilab, a Finnish company that specializes in the discovery of gene-disease associations and their application to health care. This is DSM's third equity investment in personalized nutrition, following investments in Sciona and Integragen.

Olin has completed the $416 million purchase of chlorine and caustic soda maker Pioneer, making it North America's third-largest chlor-alkali producer. Rockwood, meanwhile, has completed its $140 million acquisition of Elementis' color pigments and paint drier business in North America, Europe, and China.

Covance has opened a $2 million nutritional chemistry lab in Singapore to test the safety of food exported by Asian companies to the U.S. According to the New Jersey-based firm, such companies have been sending samples to the U.S. for analysis.

Nicholas Piramal's board has approved a plan to separate its drug discovery business from its traditional businesses in branded drugs and custom manufacturing. The Indian company says the discovery business has a longer time horizon and requires a tolerance for high risk.

Bayer will delist from the New York Stock Exchange by the end of this month or early next month. One of a growing roster of European companies delisting from U.S. stock exchanges, Bayer says the move will save it $20 million per year.

Lectus Therapeutics, a Cambridge, England, drug discovery firm that specializes in ion channel modulators, has received $6 million from the Wellcome Trust. The investment will fund a program to identify selective potassium channel modulator drug candidates for the treatment of multiple sclerosis.