Business Roundup

AZ Electronic Materials and Orthogonal are joining together to develop fluorine-based photoresists that will allow the manufacture of high-performance organic electronics. Two-year-old Orthogonal is based on chemistry discovered at Cornell University.

Total has named Patrick Poyuanné president of chemicals and a member of the firm’s executive committee. He succeeds François Cornélis, who has led the French firm’s chemical operations for 12 years.

BASF will build a plant for its Ultrason polyethersulfone in Yeosu, South Korea. To open in early 2014, the plant will have annual capacity of 6,000 metric tons and will complement the firm’s existing production of the engineering plastic in Ludwigshafen, Germany.

Kolon Industries was ordered by a federal judge to pay DuPont punitive damages of $350,000 for stealing DuPont’s aramid fiber trade secrets. The punitive damages come on top of compensatory damages of $920 million a federal jury awarded to DuPont in September.

LanzaTech has signed a memorandum of understanding with Yankuang Group, one of China’s largest coal producers, to produce fuels and chemicals from synthesis gas using LanzaTech’s fermentation process. Yankuang says its goal is to increase efficiency by reducing its carbon footprint.

Mexichem has offered to purchase Wavin, which Mexichem calls Europe’s largest maker of plastic pipe. The bid values Wavin at about $580 million. It has annual revenues of about $1.6 billion.

Abbott will develop an additional companion diagnostic for GlaxoSmithKline’s cancer immunotherapy research program. Partners since 2009, the companies have been using polymerase chain reaction tests to screen lung cancer and melanoma tumors for expression of the MAGE-A3 antigen. They will now also look at the PRAME antigen.

DSM and AdeTherapeutics are joining to accelerate development of an AdeTherapeutics dipeptide product for scar reduction and pain management after neurosurgery. The partners say their agreement combines the drug delivery expertise of DSM with AdeTherapeutics’ clinical development know-how.