Business Roundup

Clariant has acquired Prairie Petro-Chem, a Saskatchewan-based oil services company with sales of about $30 million last year. Prairie serves some 7,000 oil-field sites across Canada with maintenance chemicals.

Nexeo Solutions is the new name for the former Ashland chemical distribution business. Ashland sold the business, which has $3.4 billion in annual sales, to private equity firm TPG Capital Partners for $979 million. Nexeo is the third-largest global chemical distributor after Brenntag and Univar.

Solutia has sold its Vocol and Santoweb product lines to the Rhein Chemie subsidiary of Lanxess. Vocol is a dithiophosphate rubber accelerator; Santoweb products are polymer-bound cellulose fibers used to reinforce rubber.

NexPlanar has completed a $10 million financing round that it says will allow it to expand capacity for its chemical mechanical planarization pads. The company says it will triple capacity at its Hillsboro, Ore., headquarters and increase its presence in Asia.

ISP and Takasago have formed a research alliance to encapsulate Takasago flavors for oral care products such as toothpaste. The collaboration, which is based on ISP’s complex coacervation technology, might be extended to fragrances for skin and hair care, the partners say.

Cephalon has rejected Valeant Pharmaceutical’s $5.7 billion takeover offer, saying the deal doesn’t adequately reflect the value of its existing products or the drugs in its pipeline. Valeant says it will take the offer directly to Cephalon shareholders.

La Jolla Pharmaceutical is licensing the rights to GliaMed’s regenerative immunophilin ligands, including LJP1485, which promotes tissue healing after surgery or injury. La Jolla, which is now focused on regenerative medicine, expects to complete preclinical studies of LJP1485 by the second quarter.

Sangamo BioSciences and the CHDI Foundation will collaborate on a new drug for Huntington’s disease. They will use Sangamo’s zinc finger DNA-binding protein technology to target the causative gene in an attempt to slow the progression of the disease.

Genzyme will work with Norway’s Algeta to create an anticancer agent. The partners will use Algeta’s expertise to attach the α particle-emitting radionuclide thorium-227 to a tumor-targeting antibody provided by Genzyme.