Business Roundup

Braskem plans to spend $20 million on a new innovation center in Lexington, Massachusetts, that will focus on renewable chemicals and sustainable materials. The company hopes to open the 3,000 m² facility during the second half of next year.

Ineos has signed a deal with Hong Kong–based Pacific Gas to charter four more very large ethane carriers. The agreement brings Ineos’s fleet, used for exporting ethane out of North America, to 16 ships.

SK On, a Korean battery maker, will buy 57,000 metric tons of lithium hydroxide from the Chilean mining company SQM over the next 5 years. The deal follows SK On’s investment and supply agreement with the Australian miner Lake Resources.

OCI, a Dutch fertilizer company, operated its European ammonia plants at 40% of capacity in the third quarter because of high natural gas prices. The company is importing cheaper ammonia to produce fertilizer.

Elkem has opened a plant in York, South Carolina, that makes biomedical-grade silicone materials. The silicones are used in medical implants.

Cytiva has opened a 1,068 m² cell-culture media development and services center at its headquarters in Marlborough, Massachusetts. The center is part of a $1.5 billion expansion program at facilities in the US and UK announced last year.

Insilico Medicine will collaborate with Sanofi to advance the development of drug candidates for up to six new targets. Sanofi will pay the Hong Kong–based firm $21.5 million up front to use its artificial intelligence platform, as well as royalties and milestone payments potentially worth nearly $1.2 billion.

Sensorium Therapeutics, a Boston start-up developing psychoactive medicines inspired by nature, has garnered $30 million in series A financing. It will put the money toward advancing its drug discovery and its initial asset, SENS-01, which it is developing to treat anxiety and depression and which expects will enter the clinic by early 2024.