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Business

Business Concentrates

August 22, 2005 | A version of this story appeared in Volume 83, Issue 34

Lonza in biopharmaceutical deal in Singapore

Lonza has signed an agreement with Singapore's Bio*One Capital to establish a contract manufacturing organization in Singapore to produce commercial biopharmaceuticals. The building of the plant will include four mammalian bioreactor trains, each with a flexible capacity of 1,000-20,000 L and purification units. The project is a further investment of Bio*One Capital in biopharmaceutical manufacturing. The deal capitalizes on Singapore's existing strengths in process development and clinical manufacturing of biopharmaceuticals as well as the country's capabilities in Good Manufacturing Practice production of bulk actives for global pharmaceutical companies. The plant will be built in two phases: Construction of the plant shell will begin at the end of this year, and the completion of the plant is planned for 24 months after that, in line with customer commitments.

 

Pioneer chairman resigns

Pioneer Cos. Chairman David N. Weinstein, 45, is resigning at the end of the year. The chlor-alkali company brought Weinstein on as a director and later chairman when it emerged from bankruptcy four years ago. "David has brought important leadership and expertise to Pioneer as a director and as our chairman," Pioneer President and CEO Michael Y. McGovern says. "During his tenure as a director and chairman, the company and its balance sheet have been dramatically transformed."

 

BP declares force majeure

A fire that started the night of Wednesday, Aug. 10, in BP's Chocolate Bayou, Texas, complex and raged until the weekend has forced BP's Innovene unit to declare force majeure for ethylene and butadiene. The cause of the fire, which centered around a "cold box" at the site's 1.9 billion-lb-per-year Olefins II unit, is still unknown because crews have had little time to investigate the site. A BP-employed firefighter suffered cardiac problems, the only injury. The company says other units at the site are running normally. An explosion earlier this year at BP's Texas City, Texas, refinery killed 15 people (see page 27).

 

AMRI chief endows chair

Albany Molecular Research (AMRI) CEO Thomas E. D'Ambra has committed $3 million to endow a faculty chair in synthetic organic chemistry at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in support of the school's biotechnology initiatives. D'Ambra says he and his wife, Constance, "strongly believe in the direction Rensselaer is taking as it builds groundbreaking interdisciplinary programs in the basic sciences." AMRI got its start in 1991 at the Rensselaer Incubator.

 

Novozymes eyes pharma proteins

Danish enzymes producer Novozymes says it will expand its current Good Manufacturing Practice-approved plant in Lund, Sweden, to enable it to contract-manufacture pharmaceutical proteins that require FDA approval. These proteins could include monoclonal antibodies made via a microbial production method being developed in a project with Neugenesis. Monoclonal antibodies must now be made in mammalian cells. Novozymes says the project has reached a stage where the next step will involve entering a full partnership.

 

  DSM expands film facility

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Credit: DSM PHOTO
DSM's nylon film expansion in this plant in the Netherlands follows a previous hike some five years ago.
Credit: DSM PHOTO
DSM's nylon film expansion in this plant in the Netherlands follows a previous hike some five years ago.

DSM Engineering Plastics has expanded a plant in Emmens, the Netherlands, that makes Akulon brand nylon 6 film. The more than 30% capacity expansion cost "several tens of millions" of dollars, the company says, and will help alleviate a current market shortage. DSM says its nylon films are used mainly in flexible packaging for food and medical applications.

Nektar buys aerosol firm

Nektar Therapeutics, a biotech drug delivery technology and drug development firm, announced that it will acquire Aerogen, a developer of aerosol systems for respiratory therapies, for approximately $32 million. "The acquisition of Aerogen broadens Nektar's pulmonary delivery capabilities by adding advanced inhaleable liquid drug technology to Nektar's base of leading inhaleable powdered drug technology," says Ajit S. Gill, CEO of Nektar. Last week, Nektar also announced the sale of 1.4 million shares of common stock to an institutional investor for net proceeds of about $24 million, which will go toward the Aerogen acquisition.

 

DuPont unit partners on food testing

DuPont Qualicon and Applied Biosystems have formed a strategic marketing and technology partnership to develop and market DNA detection tests and systems for quality and safety testing of food. The companies will incorporate Applied Biosystems' TaqMan assay-based polymerase chain reaction technology into an upgraded version of DuPont Qualicon's BAX system for detecting pathogens and other organisms in agricultural and nutritional products. Financial terms were not disclosed.

 

Pfizer advances in biotech deals

Stockholders of Vicuron Pharmaceuticals, a biopharmaceutical firm specializing in anti-infection therapies, voted last week to approve the sale of the company to Pfizer for $1.9 billion (C&EN, June 20, page 16). Meanwhile, Pfizer has completed its acquisition of Bioren for an undisclosed sum. Bioren is a biopharmaceutical company that specializes in optimizing antibodies. "The acquisition of Bioren strengthens Pfizer's commitment to the antibody space," Nick Saccomano, Pfizer's senior vice president for worldwide research technology, said last week. "The ability to use and develop these technologies will help Pfizer identify new antibody leads as well as improve current antibodies in development."

 

SABIC sets contracts for polypropylene

Saudi Basic Industries Corp. (SABIC) has appointed Norwegian engineering firm Aker Kvaerner to oversee the Saudi company's latest polypropylene investment. A polypropylene plant will be built at SABIC's existing site in Al-Jubail, on the Persian Gulf coast. It will be built with capacity of 500,000 metric tons per year, nearly doubling the current capacity of SABIC affiliate company Ibn Zahr. Featuring Dow's Unipol polypropylene technology, the plant is scheduled to come onstream in second-quarter 2008. The output will be marketed primarily in Asia, say managers at Ibn Zahr.

 

Schering-Plough in antibody pact

Schering-Plough has exercised its rights to develop and commercialize with Centocor CNTO 148, a fully monoclonal antibody being developed as a therapy for treatment of rheumatoid arthritis and other immune-mediated inflammatory diseases. Because it has exercised its rights to the compound, Schering-Plough expects to record a charge of about $125 million in the third quarter for R&D costs previously incurred by Centocor. Schering-Plough CEO Fred Hassan says in-licensing and related actions are an important element in the company's action agenda "to transform Schering-Plough into a high-performance company for the long term."

 

Chemical prices rise in July

After slipping in May and June, the producer price index for all chemicals increased slightly in July from the previous month, according to the latest data from the Labor Department, but prices for industrial chemicals slipped. The current figures show the index for all chemicals rising 0.2% from July to 187.7 (1982 = 100). On an annual basis, the index was up 8.1% from the comparable month in 2004. Meanwhile, the index for industrial chemicals for July declined slightly, falling 0.3% from June to 179.3. Year-to-year, the industrial chemical index was up 11.1% from July of last year.

 

LG licenses Mitsui vinyl technology

LG Chem has licensed Mitsui's process technology for vinyl chloride and ethylene dichloride. As part of the deal, LG has gained exclusive rights to sublicense to other companies. LG uses Mitsui processes at its vinyl chloride and ethylene dichloride facilities in South Korea. The Mitsui vinyl production process is used by more than 20 companies in 15 countries, LG says. Mitsui itself has not been producing vinyl chloride for several years.

 

Imclone, UCB collaborate

ImClone Systems and UCB have announced a partnership for the development and commercialization of CDP-791, an antibody targeting the vascular endothelial growth factor receptor-2 (VEGFR-2) being developed by UCB. VEGFR-2 regulates angiogenesis, the formation of blood vessels in tumors, allowing cancer cells to receive nutrients and grow. CDP-791 has been shown to interfere with tumor vasculature in preclinical models. Financial terms of the partnership agreement were not announced.

 

Bayer to get spray foam maker

Bayer says it is set to take over Polythane Systems of Spring, Texas, on Aug. 31. Polythane is a supplier of polyurethane foam systems for roofing applications. The acquisition, for which no financial details were released, includes all of the Texas company's 31 employees, plus its trademarks, buildings, and facilities. The transaction will also include Everest Coatings, a wholly owned subsidiary of Polythane, which makes elastomeric acrylic coatings, polyurea systems, sealants, and base coats.

 

ICI's CFO Scott dies

Tim Scott, chief financial officer of ICI, collapsed and died on Aug. 12 while in New York City on business. The cause of death for the 43-year-old executive was given as "a sudden and severe heart condition." He held a master's degree in chemistry from St. Catherine's College, Oxford, and was also a qualified chartered management accountant. Scott joined Unilever in 1983 and was with Unilever's chemical unit when that business was acquired by ICI; he was appointed ICI's CFO in January 2001.

BUSINESS ROUNDUP

  • Hovione has increased its capacity for current Good Manufacturing Practice-certified spray-drying at its plant in Loures, Portugal, and plans to also expand capacity at its Technology Transfer Center in East Windsor, N.J. The firm added units for lab- and pilot-scale operations in Portugal. A pilot-scale plant will be completed in New Jersey next year.  

  • Rohm and Haas and Japan's JSR Corp. have settled patent litigation related to the use of ethyl lactate solvents in photoresists. Under terms of the settlement, each of the parties has obtained a worldwide patent license from the other and acknowledged the validity of the patents.

  • Huntsman International LLC and Huntsman LLC have completed their merger, meant to simplify Huntsman's operating structure. The Huntsman Advanced Materials epoxy resins business--90% Huntsman owned--will continue to operate as a separate entity.

  • Dow Chemical has inked an agreement with Bloomfield Hills, Mich.-based Pulte Homes to supply its Styrofoam Weathermate Plus house wrap on all Pulte homes requiring house wrap.

 

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