Business Roundup

Arkema has acquired Afinitica, a Spanish maker of cyanoacrylate instant adhesives. Arkema says Afinitica brings a patented process for making cyanoacrylate monomers that will bolster its Bostik adhesives unit.

Eastman Chemical will build a facility in Nanjing, China, for dimethylaminoethanol, an alkyl alkanolamine used to make intermediates for the water-treatment and energy markets. The project will be done in the second half of 2020, the firm says.

Clariantand Neste have formed a partnership to develop chemicals, including adhesives, coatings, and plastics, derived from Neste’s renewable hydrocarbons. Neste produces C2 and C3 monomers from vegetable oil and residues such as spent cooking oil.

Perstorp will spend more than $16 million to establish satellite facilities in Asia and the Americas and expand a plant in the Netherlands for products for food and animal feed. The Swedish firm also expects to double the number of employees working in food and feed.

Indorama will acquire M&G Fibras Brasil, a Brazilian polyester fiber maker that was part of the bankrupt M&G Chemicals. Indorama earlier bought M&G’s polyethylene terephthalate plant in Brazil.

Eli Lilly & Co. will give NextCure $25 million up front and take a $15 million stake in the firm as part of a cancer immunotherapy development pact. NextCure identifies drug targets by exploring molecular interactions among healthy, cancerous, and immune cells.

BioArctic will earn a $50 million milestone payment from AbbVie, which is licensing BioArctic’s experimental α-synuclein ­antibody for Parkinson’s disease. Clinical trials of the drug are expected to begin in 2019.

MEI Pharma has licensed ME-401 in Japan to Kyowa Hakko Kirin for $10 million plus potential milestone payments. ME-401 is a small-molecule PI3K delta inhibitor being developed to treat B-cell malignancies.