Business Roundup

Occidental Chemical has spent $49.5 million to build a hydrochloric acid plant at its Niagara Falls, N.Y., chlor-alkali facility. Output will be used internally and sold to customers in the U.S. Northeast and Canada in industries such as food​processing, metal cleaning, and pH adjustment.

DuPont has filed a suit in Delaware federal district court against solar power supplier SunEdison for infringing on its conductive silver paste technology. DuPont says SunEdison is responsible for ensuring that the modules it uses from other suppliers, including in this case Samsung SDI and Neo Solar Power, do not violate DuPont’s patents.

Dow Microbial Control has agreed to market its Advanced Oxidation System for food-processing environments through Xgenex, which sells food safety products. The system produces sterilizing ozone vapor on demand using air and water, reducing pathogens on surfaces and in the air.

Merck KGaA’s EMD Millipore division has opened a biomanufacturing training facility in Tokyo at a cost of close to $2 million. The center, one of nine the firm operates, is intended to help biopharmaceutical customers develop new manufacturing processes.

Johnson & Johnson affiliate Cilag has bought Covagen, a privately held Swiss biotech firm developing multispecific antibodies. Covagen’s lead drug candidate, COVA 322, blocks two key cell-signaling proteins and is in a Phase I study to treat psoriasis.

Recipharm, a Swedish pharmaceutical services firm, has agreed to collaborate with Swedish firm Isofol Medical to develop Modufolin, a drug compound for relieving the side effects of chemotherapy. Recipharm is also investing $1 million in Isofol.

Pfizer and Merck & Co. will look at whether combining Merck’s cancer immunotherapy MK-3475 with Pfizer’s Xalkori could benefit lung cancer patients. Pfizer will conduct a Phase I study of the duo in 2015. The firms previously agreed to conduct trials exploring the combination of MK-3475 with two other Pfizer compounds.

Umicore, a Belgian metals and chemicals firm, has acquired Ohio-based CP Chemicals, a refiner and recycler of nonferrous metals. CP, with a staff of 40, converts alloy scrap into chemicals for the catalyst and petrochemical industries and recycles rhenium from alloy turbine blades used in the aviation industry.