Business Roundup

Braskem will supply Indorama subsidiary Oxiteno with ethylene made from renewable sources. Braskem says its biobased ethylene, which is derived from sugar cane and corn ethanol, has been certified under the International Sustainability and Carbon Certification scheme.

Montinutra has raised $2.1 million for a demonstration plant in Vilppula, Finland, that will convert forestry waste products into biobased chemicals for binders, coatings, and other products. The firm says it can make chemicals from cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin.

OMV has formed a joint venture with the plastics recycler Interzero that plans to build a plant in Walldürn, Germany, capable of sorting up to 260,000 metric tons per year of mixed waste plastic. OMV will use sorted plastic waste from the plant as feedstock for making pyrolysis oil for new plastic production.

Aclarity has raised $15.9 million in series A funding led by the water-focused venture capital fund Aqualateral. Aclarity is commercializing electrochemical systems that destroy persistent fluorochemicals in water.

Idemitsu Kosan is closing its bisphenol A plant in Chiba, Japan, citing oversupply of the polymer starting material in Asia. The site has a capacity of 81,000 metric tons per year.

Algenesis has raised $5 million in investments led by First Bight Ventures. The company already makes its biobased and compostable polyurethane in foams and will use the funds to expand into textiles and injection-molded products.

BioNTech has purchased the lipid nanoparticle firm AexeRNA Therapeutics for $1 billion and a bispecific anticancer antibody from Biotheus for $550 million plus milestone payments. The maker of a COVID-19 vaccine recently told investors it is looking for more deals.

Eli Lilly and Company has agreed to buy Beam Therapeutics’ stake in the gene editing firm Verve Therapeutics for $200 million. The cash gives Beam some breathing room after last month’s announcement that it would lay off 20% of its staff.

Resolian, a contract research organization specializing in drug metabolism and pharmacokinetics for small and large molecules, has acquired Denali Medpharma, a bioanalytical research firm based in China. Resolian has laboratory operations in the US, UK, and Australia.