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Business

Business Roundup

October 19, 2015 | A version of this story appeared in Volume 93, Issue 41

Solvay has acquired long-fiber thermoplastics technology from Epic Polymers, a German firm that has developed a new method for impregnating long glass fibers with high-performance plastics. Solvay intends to use the technology to replace metal with plastics in the auto industry.

Covestro and Reverdia have agreed to jointly develop biobased thermoplastic polyurethanes (TPUs) for the footwear and electronics industries using succinic acid made with Reverdia’s low-pH yeast technology. Covestro says the partnership will allow it to increase biobased TPU production in Taiwan.

Metabolix, a maker of biobased polyhydroxyalkanoate, is getting an injection of cash from Aspire Capital, which has agreed to purchase up to $20 million in Metabolix stock over a 30-month period. The company received about $15 million through a private placement of stock earlier this year.

Energy Storage Systems, the developer of an iron-based flow battery, has raised $3.2 million in venture capital in a funding round led by Pangaea Ventures. The Oregon-based firm says it will use the money to ramp up production of its battery for storage of solar-generated electricity.

BASF will develop a high-purity form of poloxamer 188, a polymer composed of polyoxypropylene and polyoxyethylene chains, for Mast Therapeutics. San Diego-based Mast is developing the polymer as a treatment for diseases characterized by impaired microvascular blood flow.

ADC Biotechnology will spend $10 million to build a 1,500-m2 antibody-drug conjugate facility at its site in St. Asaph, Wales. The contract manufacturer says the addition will allow it to supply customers with ADCs for clinical trials and low-volume commercial applications. It expects to create more than 60 new jobs.

Roche will pay up to $575 million to acquire Berkeley, Calif.-based Adheron Therapeutics. The company’s antibody technology disrupts immune cell adhesion by targeting a cell surface protein called cadherin-11. Focused on inflammatory and autoimmune diseases, Adheron brings an antibody that has completed Phase I trials.

Protalix BioTherapeutics has sold Pfizer its share in a partnership around the Gaucher’s disease enzyme replacement therapy Elelyso. Pfizer will pay $36 million in cash and buy $10 million of Protalix’s shares. In exchange it will get all revenue from, and pay all expenses for, Elelyso, except in Brazil.

Bristol-Myers Squibb has licensed Five Prime Therapeutics’ colony-stimulating factor 1 receptor antibody program for $350 million and up to $1.4 billion in milestone payments. BMS says CSF1R antibodies could treat cancer in combination with Opdivo, its PD-1 immune checkpoint inhibitor, and other therapies.

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