Business Roundup

Diosynth will develop a process for producing VIR-576, an HIV-inhibiting peptide developed by the German firm Viro Pharmaceuticals. Diosynth says it will employ proprietary technology that combines liquid- and solid-phase peptide synthesis.

Rhodia has sold its phosphates and sulfuric acid businesses in Rieme, Belgium, to Misa Inc. The sale is another step in Rhodia's withdrawal from the phosphates business.

Wyeth has opened what it calls the world's largest integrated biotechnology facility, in South County Dublin, Ireland. Built at a cost of close to $2 billion, the facility will make drugs such as the arthritis treatment Enbrel and the new antibiotic Tygacil.

DuPont will build a plant for nitrogen trifluoride, a chamber-cleaning gas used by electronics makers, at its site in Changshu, Jiangsu Province, China. The plant will have capacity of 450 metric tons per year when it opens in 2007, DuPont says.

DSM has opened an R&D center in Shanghai that will initially support the firm's nutritional products, food specialties, and NeoResins businesses. Separately, DSM will open a joint lab with Fudan University later this month.

Fuji Photo Film will lay off about 100 people when it integrates two chemical plants in Kanagawa, near Tokyo, that make development chemicals, photosensitive materials for color film, and plastics used to make flat-panel displays.