Business Roundup

Sun Chemical is partnering with the Canadian firm GreenMantra Technologies to develop printing ink formulations based on recycled polystyrene. GreenMantra has a thermocatalytic technology to process hard-to-recycle polymers and is building a pilot plant in Brantford, Ontario, that will have 1,000 metric tons of capacity per year.

Dow Chemical has collaborated with the plastic packaging firm Bemis and the plastics converter Polykar to produce plastic trash bags made from postindustrial scrap. The Ocean Conservancy used the bags as part of its International Coastal Cleanup event, held last week.

GreenLight Biosciences, a Boston-area start-up, raised $18 million in a fourth round of venture funding, which it will use to develop and field test its double-stranded RNA-based pest control products. Investors included Fall Line Capital, S2G Ventures, and Syngenta Ventures.

Mitsui Chemicals and Osaka-based Microwave Chemical will collaborate to develop new manufacturing processes using microwaves. Mitsui Chemicals will dispatch some of its researchers to Microwave’s labs and will also invest in the firm.

Recipharm will acquire a solid-dose drug plant in Leganés, Spain, from Roche. The Swedish contract research firm says it also signed an agreement to supply more than $40 million per year of solid-dose products to Roche.

Immunocore will get up to $40 million from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to develop T-cell-receptor-based drugs against infectious diseases, particularly tuberculosis and HIV. The British firm says the investment will allow it to expand its focus beyond oncology.

Ultragenyx, a rare-disease drugmaker, has bid to purchase gene therapy developer Dimension Therapeutics for about $138 million. Ultragenyx’s move trumped Regenxbio’s offer of about $86 million for Dimension last month.

Honeywell will expand its capacity for Aclar poly(chlorotrifluoroethylene) pharmaceutical film at sites in Louisiana and Pennsylvania. The company says the project, to be completed in the coming years, will meet growing demand for blister packs and other forms of drug packaging.