Business Roundup

Evonik Industries will purchase Air Products’ Trexlertown, Pennsylvania, campus, which includes several R&D labs. Evonik plans to invest $50 million in the site, creating 50 jobs. Evonik acquired Air Products’ specialty materials business last year.

Hanwha Total Petrochemical will spend $500 million to increase polypropylene capacity in South Korea by 60% to 1.1 million metric tons per year. The expansion, like the venture’s previously announced ethylene and polyethylene projects, is based on propane imported from the US.

Clariant plans to increase ethylene oxide capacity in Gendorf, Germany. The expansion, to come on line in 2020, will increase the firm’s ability to make EO derivatives targeted at personal and home care, crop, and industrial applications.

Gelest says it is again expanding production of surface-treated pigments used in personal care products such as eye shadow. The new capacity will come on line in 2019. The last capacity boost came in May.

Gevo and Renmatix will jointly explore producing renewable jet fuel and gasoline from cellulosic feedstocks at large scale. Renmatix extracts sugars from woody materials using supercritical water; Gevo makes jet fuel using isobutyl alcohol produced via fermentation of corn sugar.

XyloCor, a Philadelphia-based start-up developing gene therapies for cardiovascular disease, has raised $17 million in series A financing. The company’s lead experimental therapy is designed to stimulate growth of new heart blood vessels in people with refractory angina.

Cyclica has signed drug-discovery agreements with Bayer and Merck KGaA. The Toronto-based firm offers artificial intelligence–enhanced discovery tools, including Ligand Express, which investigates off-target profiles of small molecules.

Aro Biotherapeutics, a start-up cofounded by Sue Dillon and Karyn O’Neil, former R&D leaders at Janssen, has raised $13 million to develop its Centyrin protein therapy platform as an alternative to antibodies. Its lead programs are for cancer.