Business Roundup

Kuraray will spend $33 million to further expand its capacity for polyvinyl alcohol films used to make liquid-crystal displays. The expansion will take place in Saijio, on the Japanese island of Shikoku, where the company is already in the process of doubling its capacity for the films.

Dow Chemical will shut down a 35,000-metric-ton-per-year polystyrene plant that employs 17 people in Altona, Australia. The company says it could not secure styrene feedstock at a reasonable price.

Arkema is proposing a restructuring of its Lacq-Mourenx site in France that would entail the loss of 48 jobs. Arkema says it will focus the site on hydrogen sulfide derivatives, particularly dimethyl disulfide.

Ciba Specialty Chemicals has acquired ColorViz SAS, a French start-up company that develops software for 3-D visualization of colors in substrates such as plastic and paint. ColorViz will become part of Ciba's color services business.

Rockwood Holdings has named Monika Engel-Bader president of its Chemetall lithium, surface treatment, and fine chemicals business. Engel-Bader, who previously spent 15 years with Celanese, has a Ph.D. in chemistry from the University of Mainz and a degree from the University of Economics, both in Germany.

Cobra Biomanufacturing and Cequent Pharmaceuticals will develop an RNAi-based treatment for an inherited form of bowel tumor. Cobra's antibiotic-free maintenance technology will be used in conjunction with Cequent's RNAi technology, which involves engineering nonpathogenic bacteria that can produce and deliver RNAi to target tissues.

Medarex and Compugen have joined to develop monoclonal-antibody-based drugs for cancer and autoimmune diseases. Medarex will develop fully human antibodies against drug targets that have been identified through Compugen's discovery technology.

Solvay Pharmaceuticals will employ Evotec's fragment-based screening platform and fragment library to identify drug hits against an unspecified target. The companies also signed an agreement to extend an existing compound library synthesis contract until January of next year.