Business Roundup

Entegris has purchased Hangzhou Anow Microfiltration, a Chinese maker of filtration products, for $76 million. Anow brings Entegris polymeric membrane technologies for industries including semiconductors and drug manufacturing, Entegris says.

Orbia is the new name of Mexichem, a Mexican maker of polyvinyl chloride, fluorinated chemicals, and other products. Orbia employs more than 22,000 people and had sales of $7.2 billion last year.

CP Kelco will expand production of low-methoxyl amidated (LMA) pectin by 15% at its plant in Lille Skensved, Denmark, to meet rising global demand. LMA pectin, made from citrus peels, is used as an emulsifier and thickener in yogurt drinks and fruit products.

Lygos, a California start-up commercializing biobased malonic acid, says it received $5 million from South Korea’s CJ CheilJedang in its second funding round in late 2018. The start-up says it will benefit from CJ’s global footprint and manufacturing and logistics know-how.

SK Holdings has formed the contract manufacturer SK Pharmteco by combining SK Biotek in South Korea, SK Biotek in Ireland, and Ampac Fine Chemicals in California. Former Ampac CEO Aslam Malik will lead the US-based business.

Albemarle has completed an operations building at its Tyrone, Pennsylvania, fine chemical custom manufacturing facility. The building includes new labs with inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry for elemental metal impurity analysis.

Unnatural Products, a start-up combining artificial intelligence and chemistry, has raised more than $6 million in seed funding. The California-based firm is developing macrocyclic oncology drugs.

Atomwise, a developer of artificial intelligence for drug discovery, has signed R&D pacts with four firms: China’s Jiangsu Hansoh Pharmaceutical, Ohio-based OncoStatyx, Seattle’s SEngine Precision Medicine, and California’s Atropos Therapeutics.