Informex Informs

At the Synthetic Organic Chemical Manufacturers Association's Informex exhibition in Las Vegas last week, announcements highlighted the custom chemical industry's twin push toward biopharmaceuticals and business development in Asia.

Sigma-Aldrich announced that it will acquire the JRH Biosciences division of CSL Ltd. for $370 million. JRH, a supplier of cell-culture and sera products with 2004 sales of some $150 million, will bring biopharmaceuticals to 50% of sales at Sigma's newly formed SAFC fine chemicals operation, according to Frank Wicks, SAFC president.

SAFC spent last year building its small-molecule portfolio with the purchase of Ultrafine and Tetrionics. Wicks said the JRH purchase, Sigma's biggest acquisition to date, will better position the firm to service biotech and emerging pharmaceutical companies, which constitute a market growing at 15% per year.

Two firms confirmed plans to expand in Asia. Degussa's exclusive synthesis and catalysts business will commit $1.3 million to a new R&D center in Mumbai, India, that will include a kilo-scale plant, according to Peter Nagler, outgoing president of the business.

Albany Molecular Research announced the establishment of a subsidiary in Singapore that will provide fee-for-service medicinal chemistry, combinatorial chemistry, process research, and scale-up. CEO Thomas E. D'Ambra said the firm has made an initial $5 million investment in Singapore and plans to launch a similar operation in Hyderabad, India, later this year.

Avecia announced the spin-off of Reaxa, a joint venture of its polymer chemistry group and Cambridge University. The new company will work on encapsulated precious-metal catalysts that Avecia has developed in collaboration with professor Steven V. Ley's laboratory at Cambridge. Peter Jackson, vice president of Avecia's pharmaceutical business and CEO of Reaxa, expects the company to reach $20 million in sales in five years.