Business Roundup

The U.S. Department of Commerce has assessed duties of up to 48% on imports of polyester staple fiber from China and India because of “unfair government subsidies.” DAK Americas, Nan Ya Plastics, and Auriga Polymers initiated the complaint that precipitated the duties.

AkzoNobel will spend more than $15 million to expand its organic peroxides facility in Los Reyes, Mexico. The project includes a new facility for Perkadox CH-50, an organic peroxide used to cure thermoset resins.

Toray Industries will expand capacity for Ultrasuede by 60% at its plant in Shiga, Japan. The material is used in high-end car interiors and home furniture. Toray also owns Alcantara, an Italian producer of high-end synthetic suede.

Ingenza, a British industrial biotech firm, has joined ConBioChem, a collaboration for continuous bioproduction of commodity chemicals. ConBioChem was recently awarded $5 million by Innovate UK.

FPInnovations and Resolute Forest Products are planning a $17 million facility in Ontario to produce lignin and other chemicals from wood. The project has funding from local and national Canadian authorities.

Paragon Bioservices plans to build a second plant in the Baltimore area to provide gene therapy manufacturing services. The facility will have 500- and 2,000-L single-use bioreactors plus labs.

Kite Pharma, part of Gilead Sciences, will acquire Agensys’s R&D labs in Santa Monica, Calif., according to the real estate intelligence firm CoStar. Agensys was shut down last year after being acquired by Astellas Pharma.

BioCryst Pharmaceuticals and Idera Pharmaceuticals are merging into a new firm focused on rare diseases. The combined company will have four drugs in Phase II or III clinical trials.