Business Roundup

Covestro, the former Bayer MaterialScience, plans to invest more than $20 million to install a polycarbonate coextrusion plant at its Dormagen, Germany, site by 2017. The plant will meet demand for high-end multilayer films, such as those used in counterfeit-proof identity cards.

BASF and Cytoo, a French maker of cell-based assays, are joining forces to develop cosmetic active ingredients to stimulate human connective tissue cells known as fibroblasts. The partners say they will use Cytoo’s FibroScreen skin cell model to identify ingredients that increase skin firmness.

Evonik Industries has invested in Synoste, a Finnish start-up that has developed an implant for leg length discrepancy. The implant, made using Evonik’s polyether ether ketone, lengthens bones over a period of several months.

Ube Industries will build an 80,000-metric-ton-per-year cyclohexanone plant based on a new proprietary process at its site in Ube City, Japan. The new process uses phenol as a raw material instead of cyclohexane. The company will also discontinue production of 1,6-hexanediol and 1,5-pentanediol at the site.

Idemitsu Kosan will increase its annual production capacity for syndiotactic polystyrene resin by 30%, up to 9,000 metric tons, at its plant in Chiba, Japan. Used as an engineering plastic in electrical parts, the material offers high heat and chemical resistance as well as attractive electrical properties.

Nitto Denko, an advanced materials supplier, has set up a new subsidiary, Nitto BioPharma, that will build a facility in San Diego. Nitto BioPharma will focus on the development of an ongoing anti-liver-fibrosis drug program as well as other drug candidates that Nitto has in its pipeline.

Lead Discovery Center (LDC), based in Dortmund, Germany, and Roche have formed a three-year partnership to identify and develop drugs that address unmet medical needs. LDC says it will act as a “translational incubator” for Roche, carrying out small-molecule projects in collaboration with the center’s scientific partners.

Lek, a Novartis subsidiary, has opened biopharmaceutical labs in Mengeš, near Ljubljana, Slovenia, at a cost of about $10 million. The labs, which will house 100 new staff, will be used for developing final-dosage-form biosimilars, quality control, and the technical development of biopharmaceuticals.