Business Roundup

Ashland has completed its $3.2 billion acquisition of International Specialty Products. Ashland expects its integration team will find $50 million in annual savings after two years by eliminating redundancies and capturing efficiencies.

Air Products & Chemicals and the Sustainable Energy Laboratory of China University of Geosciences, Wuhan, have started a joint research project on the chemical mechanism behind thin-film deposition. The two say the program will help develop chemical precursors for next-generation semiconductors.

Lubrizol will consolidate several additives-testing laboratories that it operates in Mumbai. The firm will also purchase additional testing equipment.

Lonza, JFC Technologies, and Novoset are joining to advance Lonza’s Lonzacure aromatic amines and Primaset cyanate esters in aerospace and electronics applications. JFC will chemically modify the products to address market needs identified by Novoset.

Agilent Technologies will collaborate with South Korea’s Chungnam National University on new technologies and software for glycomics, the study of complex sugars. The partners want to develop biomarkers for diseases such as cancer that will lead to the development of therapeutic antibodies.

FMC will evaluate and develop Chr. Hansen’s library of Bacillus-based products for use as nematicides and plant health promoters. FMC says Hansen’s biologics will complement its existing portfolio of chemical crop protection products.

KalVista Pharmaceuticals has been launched with a $13 million funding round led by SV Life Sciences and Novo A/S. The British firm is focused on developing small-molecule plasma kallikrein blockers for the treatment of vision loss.

Par Pharmaceutical has agreed to acquire Anchen Pharmaceuticals, a privately held specialty generic drug firm, for $410 million. Anchen, based in Irvine, Calif., has five commercialized products and 27 amended New Drug Applications on file with FDA.