Business Roundup

DuPont has agreed to pay $8.3 million to settle a class-action lawsuit by residents living near its Chambers Works plant in New Jersey who claim that their drinking water contains unhealthy levels of perfluorooctanoic acid. If the settlement receives federal court approval, residents can accept a cash payment or have DuPont install drinking-water filters.

Clariant has acquired Octagon Process, a U.S.-based supplier of deicing fluids for aircraft and runways. Clariant, which calls itself a leading supplier of deicers in Europe, says the acquisition will expand its capabilities in North America and improve its position in “greener” deicing technologies.

Mitsui Chemicals and Malaysia’s Scientex will form a joint venture to manufacture ethylene vinyl acetate-based solar-cell encapsulants in Malaysia. Mitsui expects global demand for the encapsulants to grow 20% annually.

Sika, a Swiss construction chemicals firm, has agreed to acquire a majority stake in Hebei Jiuqiang Construction Material, a producer of concrete admixtures based in northern China. Jiuqiang had sales of $34 million last year and employs about 300 people.

Nalco has licensed an electrodeionization technology from Argonne National Laboratory. The technology allows continuous removal of charged products such as organic acids from aqueous streams. It can be used to process biomass-based feedstocks into biofuels and chemicals, Nalco says.

Amyris will expand production of its sugar-derived farnesene through a partnership with Paraíso Bioenergia, a Brazilian sugar and ethanol producer. Separately, Amyris has inked a production and distribution deal with U.S. Venture for lubricants that contain base oils derived from farnesene.

Seattle Genetics will collaborate with Abbott Laboratories on the development of antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) against a cancer target. Abbott will pay $8 million for rights to use Seattle Genetics’ ADC technology and will provide research funding.

Synageva BioPharma, a Lexington, Mass.-based biotech company that develops drugs to treat rare diseases, has secured another $25 million in financing. The capital brings funding secured by the firm in the past two-and-a-half years to $70 million. It will be used to support clinical studies of SBC-102, an enzyme replacement therapy.

Astellas Pharma will pay $76 million to buy Maxygen’s 84% stake in the companies’ Perseid Therapeutics joint venture. Created in late 2009, Perseid focuses on developing protein pharmaceuticals, including the MAXY-4 program for autoimmune diseases and transplant rejection.